FAQS - EMAIL ACCOUNTS
TO POP, TO IMAP, TO EXCHANGE, WHAT?
POP - Post office Protocol - where email started, and for many where it stayed. You download your emails onto a computer or device, they are just on that device, may be 1-2 weeks of emails on a mobile, any sent emails are only on that device. You lose it they are gone. If you have BTinternet email - POP.
IMAP - Internet Message Access Protocol - been around since 80's better in 90's - most modern email uses this - email is kept on a Server in the Cloud/internet, you get a copy to a PC, or mobile, you send an email a copy is saved on all devices and the cloud. Much better, Gmail uses this.
Exchange- IMAP on steroids - lots more functions, mostly for business use, but anyone with Office365, has this, even HOME licences
MY INTERNET PROVIDER EMAIL OR OTHER?
Whatever works, but if you change internet provider, you can't usually keep your email address, or it costs money to keep it live, or mostly you just can't keep it. Historically, yes you used what you were given. These days with Gmail, and so many others out there you really should use an email provider that is separate from the ISP, so you can change whenever you want without having to tell everyone what your new email is! If you really want to get all cool about it, get yourself a Domain name, say- www.thesmiths.com or www.taylor.co.uk, then setup your own email say, email@thesmiths.com or david@taylor.co.uk. Search for what you want then get creative. We did, help@TechHelp4U.uk, we bought the domain name www.TechHelp4U.uk, then we can create as many emails as we like, we have to pay, but it's not much, to be unique.
IS EMAIL SAFE? SECURE? I HAVE SSL?
Simple answer - no. 99.999999% of all email is not secure, SSL, TLS, or not. In the beginning, email was sent a lot like a postcard is sent by normal Royal Mail, for all to see. Then came SSL and TLS, which improved things a little, adding a bit of encryption, for parts of the journey across the internet. Can I encrypt emails to people, yes, but then you must sort out how they can decrypt it, they need the keys to unlock it, how to you send those to them? So came PGP, or pretty good privacy. Smart people came up with Public-Private encryption keys, which is great be you still need to manage those keys, and the person at the other end has to have the right software to decrypt the message! So don't send passwords, or tax information or anything you would not want to put on a Postcard! for all to see, by email. So, what do we do, we use other methods and systems for secure exchange, are they perfect, no, are they better than email, YES.
HOW DO I STOP EMAIL SPAM?
Quick answer - you can't, you can only reduce it, mitigate it, put systems and processes in place to try and block it, but some will inevitably get past all that. The only way to truly stop it is to not have an email. Email systems like Gmail from Google and Office365 from Microsoft to a great job of SPAM filtering and protecting you from malicious emails of other sorts, but SPAMmers are clever, and they are always thinking of new ways to get around the blocks.
One good method of reducing it or being able to turn it off, is the use of email aliases. That's where you have an email you use with friends fred@gmail.com, but have another email name linked to it onlineaccount1@gmail.com. You use that one to register for things online, at websites. You can have lots of them one for each account. Then if you get lots of SPAM on one of them, you can just delete it. Only use your main one with friends. But again, it only reduces it.