In order to be able to send and receive email you probably use an email client software. There are two major types of email clients:
- stand alone email clients: Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Pegasus etc.
- web based email clients: Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo.
With an email client you can do the following:
- Compose new emails
- Download received emails on you computer
- See received messages in a list (usually displaying From, Subject, Hour and Day of delivery)
- View the full body of the message by clicking on the subject.
- Send attachments with the message
- Download received attachments
An advanced email client will feature even more options: highlight messages according to their urgency, let you manage multiple lists, apply filters to spam messages, set autoresponder functions etc.
How Do the Email Clients Work?
Email clients help you send and receive email. However, you also need an email server that the client connects to. An email server has a list with email accounts that can receive emails on that specific server.
So, basically, for sending and receiving email, you need:
- an email client which is practically a software installed on your computer;
- a SMTP server (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) that is responsible with outgoing email, and uses port 25
- a POP server or an IMAP server (they are both responsible with incoming email), and use port 110 and port 143 respectively.
The main difference between POP servers and IMAP servers is: while POP servers download messages on your desktop and don't save a copy of them on the server, IMAP servers save copies of the messages on the server and you can download them let's say, both on your desktop and your laptop. In conclusion, once downloaded from the POP server, your emails become 'local'.
Best Email Client Softwares
| Name | Description | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Outlook | Works as a complete organiser (contact management, agenda, reminders etc.) Poor on security. | Part of the Microsoft's Office Suite. |
| Outlook Express | A most basic email client bound with Internet Explorer. You can download email comming into your Hotmail account. To increase security, the Backup Wizard has been released recently. | Freeware |
| Eudora | Projected to deal with moderate to heavy e-mail traffic. Displays an easy to use interface and incorporates efficient spam filters. | $49.95 |
| Pegasus | Sharp looking interface, option to build and manage an emailing list. Compatible with Windows operating system. | Freeware |
| Netscape Mail | You can set up and maintain multiple business and personal e-mail accounts and Internet newsgroups, all from one window. In addition, you can access Netscape WebMail, AOL mail even your work or ISP account from within Netscape Mail. | Netscape Mail is the Netscape e-mail program. |
| Thunderbird | The email client from Mozilla, Thunderbird can run on Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000 and XP, as well as Linux, MacOS X, OS/2 and Solaris. Features: IMAP/POP support, has built-in spell checking, integrated news reader and advanced spam filters. | Freeware |