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Email BasicsEmail Client vs Email NotifierWhat is an email client?Any software that you use to retrieve and send email is considered an "email client." However, when someone refers to an "email client" they are likely referring to software that does more than just that (more information on that later). Examples of email clients are Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Eudora.What is an email notifier?The primary use of an email notifier is to let you know when you have new email. Although email clients can generally do the same thing, notifiers are geared more specifically to this purpose. For example, most email notifiers work better than email clients when you have several email accounts. Although some email notifiers will allow you to send email, most do not allow you to save messages to disk for permanent access. POP Peeper is an example of an email notifier.What's the difference between an "email client" and an "email notifier"As previously stated, when someone refers to an "email client" they are probably referring to software such as Outlook Express, and not POP Peeper. So what's the distinction? The most important distinction is that email clients have the capability to store and manage your messages while notifiers do not. One other important aspect of a client is that it must have the capability to send mail. While some notifiers can, it is not a defining characteristic of a "client."Types of Mail ServicesA "protocol" refers to the method that the client or notifier uses to access your email. It's not important to know how this works, but it is important to realize that not all clients can access all your email because the client may not have support for the particular "protocol." This section describes the three most common protocols.POP3POP stands for "Post Office Protocol" and is the most common type of email account. Virtually every ISP will give you a POP3 account while you are using their services. Because of this, POP3 is the most popular method that email clients (and notifiers) support. Most email clients and notifiers support POP3.IMAPThe POP protocol was developed in the early 1980's and hasn't changed significantly since 1988. Because of this, POP3 is very limited and does not address all the needs of today's Internet user. IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) and particularly IMAP4 was developed more with the needs of the Internet in mind. IMAP offers many features that POP3 does not, including a server-side "read" status (which means that if you read a message using one computer, another computer can also know that it's been read). Despite this, or perhaps because of this added complexity, IMAP is not as well-supported as POP3 is. Most email clients support IMAP, but most email notifiers do not.WebMailWebMail is email that you access using your webbrowser. Hotmail was the first instance of WebMail, and started in 1995 (3 years later it was bought out by Microsoft). Since then, there are hundreds of free WebMail services to choose from, including Yahoo and MyWay. Most WebMail services cannot be accessed with email clients because there is no defined protocol to do so. There are a limited number of notifiers that can access some of the more popular websites.Is POP3, IMAP or WebMail the best choice?The choice between POP3, IMAP and WebMail is based on your needs:POP3
IMAP
WebMail
Services that give you POP3 or IMAP access will usually have WebMail access; however, in most cases the added benefit of POP3 or IMAP access may decrease the other benefits, such as the amount of storage space. There are hundreds of sites offering free EMail accounts, and it helps to know what you want before you choose one.
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Jeff Meier
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