Email Basics

Don't worry. In no time, you'll have an email account, send and receive messages, master email etiquette and know how to beat junk mail once it starts to creep in.

1. Get an Email Account or Email Program.
2. Email Etiquette.
3. Find People's Email Addresses.
4. Email Stationery and E-Cards.
5. Spam: Get Rid of Junk Email.
6. Email Terms.
7. How Email Works.

Get an Email Account or Email Program.

For free, you can find decent email services with unlimited storage and all the things an email user can want (except spam). Of course, you can shop for desktop email programs as well.

• Top free email accounts
• Top free Windows email programs
• More free email services
• More email programs (Windows, Mac, and Linux)

Email Etiquette.

Mention "etiquette", add "rules" for good measure, and it all sounds a lot more difficult than it really is. Email etiquette is easy enough, if you know a few simple, well, rules.

• The 26 most important rules of email etiquette
• How to clean up emails before forwarding them
• How sending an email to multiple recipients works: Cc: and Bcc:
• How to send an email to undisclosed recipients
• Why you should compress files before sending them via email
• More about forwarding emails
• More email etiquette tips

How Email Works

Are you curious to find out what happens when you click "Send", or how all kinds of files, images and videos fit into email messages?

• The big picture: what email is
• SMTP inside out: how internet email works
• POP basics: how your email program gets the mail
• More from Behind the Email Scenes