Sams Teach Yourself Internet and Web Basics All in One

Chapter 5. Sending and Receiving Email

Web browsing is the hottest Internet activity, but email might be the most widely used and most productive one.

Using Internet email—which has become such an everyday fixture that many people now call it plain “mail”—you can easily exchange messages with anyone else on the Internet. An email message typically reaches its addressee within seconds (or at most, within an hour or so), even on the opposite side of the globe. It's faster than paper mail, easier than faxing, and sometimes just plain fun.

It's so easy, in fact, that I know people who haven't written a dozen paper letters in a decade but who write email daily. It's a great way to keep up with friends and communicate with business contacts. In fact, ...