Some people have been using email for many years, while there are still a whole lot of folks who have yet to sign up for an email account! If you haven’t yet experienced the convenience and speed with which email accounts handle a huge volume of information and messages, read on to see how setting up email is a simple, fast and easy process to navigate. After setting up email and using it for just a few weeks, you’ll see what a valuable tool it is – and wonder how you got along without it!
The term ’email’ is an acronym for electronic mail. Many people who are not familiar with computers and do not regularly spend time on the internet are unaware that setting up email is a free service provided by a number of reliable sites, such as gmail (Google’s free email service) and Yahoo.
Setting up email is a simple process – here a quick guide from the guys at Masgra Hosting There are just a few things you need to know before you begin.
1. Some of the free email providers require that you check your email at least once every 30 days. If you don’t, your email account may be closed by the provider. This is because many people sign up for an email account and then ‘abandon’ the account, which takes up space on their server. So be sure to check your email periodically.
2. In the process of setting up email, you’ll be asked to provide a password for your email account. Your password helps ensure that the contents of your email are not available to anyone but you. Choose a password that is easy for you to remember, but not a word that anyone could easily figure out. For example, if you’re setting up email on Yahoo, choosing ‘yahoo’ as your password would not offer much security.
3. Most free email providers will display a ‘strong-weak’ metric which registers the relative strength or weakness of your password. If your password is deemed to be weak, it’s probably either because it’s too short or too common. Adding 3-4 numbers that are significant to you, (such as the first or last 3-4 of your social security number, or your car’s license plate) to your password usually results in a strong password.
4. In case you should forget your password, most providers anticipate the possibility. When setting up email, you’ll probably be asked to choose a ‘secret answer’ you would provide in order to regain access to your email account. One example of such a question might be ‘Who is your favorite Aunt?’. You provide the name of that person, ‘Aunt Sue’. Should you forget your password, the provider asks the ‘secret question’, you provide the correct answer, and reset your password.
5. If you’re using a public computer, such as one at school or a library, you’ll want to pay attention to the sign-in page. There may be a check box, already checked, which says something to the effect that you wish to remain signed in. Be sure that you click on the check box so that it is unchecked. Otherwise, the next person who comes to use that public computer will have access to your email account.
6. The same caveat applies to the ‘remember my password’ box some browsers, such as Firefox and Internet Explorer, display at the top right hand margin of your browser window. If you’re using a public computer, you’ll want to be sure you click on the ‘not now’ button to ensure the privacy of your email account.
That’s about all there is to setting up email, in a nutshell. Enjoy!
