Mail Help

General E-mail Questions

• What is email?
• What is an email address and what does it look like?
• How do I get an email address? Can I pick any name I want?
• How do I see my email? Can anyone look at my email?

What is email?

Electronic mail (email) is a way for people to send written text messages, and files to other people anywhere in the world using a computer. All you need is Internet access and an email account to send or receive messages. Email is one of the fastest and most conveinent ways to send messages to other people, and is becoming a very popular form of communication.

top

What is an email address and what does it look like?

Like a Postal address an email address is a series of letters and/or numbers identifying a person's name at a certain location. There are two parts to every email address. The first part is the person's name, called the user name. This identifies the specific user at the email provider's address, where the box resides. The second part is the location of the email provider or domain name. This tells everyone else where your box lives. This is like your street address, city and state. The first and second parts of each address is separated by the at (@) symbol. A typical email address may look like username@domain.com.

top

How do I get an email address? Can I pick any name I want?

Unlike a postal address there may not be two people with the same user name at one location (domain). There may be users with the same name at different domains.

 

When you sign up for an account with an internet service provider (ISP), you will receive an email account from that ISP. Each ISP has different types of limits on what username you can choose. For example, there may be character limits (you may have to keep your username short), or there might be someone else with your username already.

top

How do I get my mail? Can anyone see my mail?

You will need software for your computer called an "email client" to look at your email messages. For more information on setting up different email clients to send and receive email, look at our Mail Settings pages.

 

You will be required to enter your username and password before you can view your email. Both of these things will be determined by you upon signup. No one else can view your email unless they know your username and password.

top