A Guide To The Internet

Table of Contents

This Guide:
Section 1	The Internet
Section 2	E-mail
Section 3	Newsgroups

Other Guides

Web Design Guide

2. E-mail

E-mail is short for Electronic Mail. It is a useful communications tool that enables you to send and receive text messages, documents, images and other files via the internet.

The most common e-mail packages are the following:

	Microsoft Outlook Express
	Microsoft Outlook
	Netscape Communicator
	Pegasus Mail
	Eudora

Of these I recommend using Microsoft Outlook Express as it is the easiest to setup and use. Outlook Express comes automatically with versions of Internet Explorer versions 4 & 5. You can download these from microsoft.com if you do not already have it, or alternatively request a themail CD with IE5 from here. We will now go through an example of how to send a message with Outlook Express:

Open Outlook Express by double clicking the icon on your desktop

We are assuming that your account details have already been setup in Outlook Express by your ISP software. If this is not the case, you will need to see their support section for details on manually setting it up.

You will start off in the Outlook Express Introduction Screen. You should see a list of folders on the left hand side of the screen, a contacts menu in the bottom left hand corner and the main screen informing you what you currently have set up. Here is a quick introduction to your folders list:

	Inbox - the location where incoming mail is delivered to
	Outbox - the location where outgoing e-mails are stored until you connect to the internet to send
	Sent Items - saves a copy of all outgoing e-mails
	Deleted Items - deleted e-mails are normally stored here until you exit
	Drafts - allows you to save part-drafted e-mails to finish later

You can customise your folder list and add and remove folders as you so wish, but these main folders have to be retained.

We will now go through how to send an e-mail. Select the New Mail button in the top left hand corner of your screen, or select the Message menu and select New Message. A window will appear as below.

Here is a brief explanation of the New Message Screen:

	To - enter the e-mail address of the person you want to send to. Alternatively click the To button and select a name from a contact list (you will need to set this up first).
	CC - (Carbon Copy). Type an e-mail address here if you want to send a copy of the e-mail to someone else. It is normally used to send a copy to someone for 'their information'.
	Subject - Type the subject of the e-mail here
	The final box is where you type your message. You can use fonts, sizes, colours and alignment but be aware that the person you are sending it to must have software that can identify and display these correctly. Otherwise it will not appear on their screen as it appears on yours. So fancy e-mails are not always the answer, it is sometimes better to keep them plain and simple!
	The Send button at the top is what you click when you have finished preparing your message and want to send it. The message will then move into your Outbox. When you next dial in and connect to your Internet Service, select the Tools menu, select Send and Receive and select Send and Receive All. This will send any e-mails waiting in your Outbox and also check for any incoming mails.

That concludes our introduction to e-mail. Take a few moments to browse around the Tools menu of Outlook Express and have a look at the Address Book and the Options Menu to customise Outlook Express to your requirements.

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