Free Email Services

Giving up on Microsoft Outlook mail takes longer for some users. Many of us who got our start with email in the workplace are used to having a desktop application download our mail and give us the tools for sorting through it all. Eventually, convenience wins out and we start to look around for a way to access our personal email at work, and our work email at home. Web-based email offers such a solution. There are so many services to choose from, and it can be difficult to sort through the options. We will look at the three top services in terms of number of users, and help you sort out which you should use.

Hotmail was one of the early services on the market, starting in 1996, and remains one of the most popular. Like all of the others, Hotmail offers a Spam filtering service, which is essential for any email program, web based or desktop. The chief benefit of Hotmail is the integration with other Windows Live technologies, like their Calendar, and Messenger applications. You might enjoy having your address book integrated across a software platform with which you are already familiar. The only drawback to Hotmail is that its spam filter sometimes neglects fake emails and discards real messages.

Yahoo! Mail launched a year after Hotmail, in 1997. It is the most popular electronic mail service in the world, with millions of users who have accounts under their own name or an anonymous user ID. Of all the web-based providers, Yahoo! Mail has the interface most like Outlook, and that can be important for many users. There is no fee to use the service, although you may upgrade to a more full-featured business-level account for additional fees.

Gmail launched in 2004, making it one of the newest of the online email services, and the fastest growing. The service, run by Google, features a calendar and a messenger service like Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail. Google also recently released a fully functional web browser, called Chrome. Google offers over 7000 MB of storage, and the revolutionary concept of saving every email you ever receive in a mail archive, and being able to search for them whenever you might need to refer back. Gmail has a quick sign up process, and makes using a fake name, or remaining anonymous easy. Instead of charging for service, Gmail looks through your emails and serves up ads on the side of the page. They don’t get in the way, but this has led some to have concerns over privacy issues.

Which email service is right for you? Start with what you are most familiar with, since all three of the big players offer similar services. Spam protection seems to be best with Gmail, although it is difficult to be certain. All of the services allow you to sign up using a fake name, if you need to stay anonymous or protect your privacy. There doesn’t seem to be a guarantee against these providers reading your email, but even having Outlook download your mail won’t protect your messages from watchful eyes.

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