Email (electronic mail) 

With a Web-based email account, you can go to any computer that has access to the Web to do your email (read, write, and send messages).  Please be aware that the Cabrillo College Library's Acceptable Use Policy for electronic resources specifies that reading/writing email is a secondary use of the library's Information Workstations. 

A variety of free Web-based email services are available.  The Free Email Address Directory provides access to hundreds. You have a lot of choices! 

The ones listed below appear to be well-established and stable.  The reason for listing more than one is that, occasionally (e.g., at the very time you want to sign up), one may not be available. 

When you register for an email account 

1. You will be asked for some basic demographic information about yourself, which the email providers use to better understand their user populations. Often, the questions you must respond to in order to register are highlighted, or marked with an asterisk.
2. You will be asked to read and accept a statement about your responsible usage of the service, and about the provider's liabilities.
3. You may be asked if you want to be on advertisers' email lists. Generally, you can say no. Unless you love junk mail and spam, you're best off saying no (sometimes you have to watch for checkboxes you have to uncheck). 

It is important that you select a user name and password you can easily remember.  Note both down accurately somewhere safe.  [Really and truly, we mean this!] Both your user name and password are case sensitive (meaning that whether the letters are capitals or lower case does matter).  Some of these email services have literally millions of users. If you choose a fairly common (and sometimes not so common) user name, you may find that someone else has taken it already.  One trick: try adding a numeral to the name, e.g., jparker2005 may not yet be taken, wheras some other user may have already registered as jparker. 

Your email address will consist of your user name @ the name of the service (with no spaces anywhere in the address).  For example, my user name on HotMail is topsyn.  Therefore, my email address on HotMail is topsyn@hotmail.com.  This is the address you give others who want to send you messages. 

To read your email, you go to the Web address for your email service.  For example, if you have HotMail, you go to http://www.hotmail.com/   Once you are at your email provider's Web site, you'll be asked for your user name (sometimes called a login) and password…..and you're off and away! 
 
 
 
 

T.N. Smalley; last rev. 08/05