It seems that just about everyone knows what e-mail is. The e stands for electronic. With e-mail, you type a letter or message on your computer, you send it to the recipient’s e-mail address, and it ends up in the recipient’s e-mail Inbox a few seconds later. You can attach things like pictures and other files to the message so that the recipient gets those too. It’s a lot faster than the postal service (called snail mail by computer jocks), and it doesn’t cost a cent. To use e-mail, you need an Internet connection, an e-mail address, and an e-mail client. All e-mail addresses follow the format someone@somewhere.tld, where someone is your user name and somewhere.tld is your ISP’s domain name. The e-mail client is the program you use to send and receive e-mail. This article is about Windows Mail, the optional e-mail client that comes with Windows Vista.

How E-Mail Works

Every person who has Internet access has an account with an Internet service provider (ISP). That ISP provides the connection between your computer and the Internet. There are thousands of ISPs in the world. But there is only one Internet. The Internet is basically a system of cables covering the entire earth, like a giant net, connecting tens of millions of computers together through their ISPs. When you send an e-mail message to someone, it goes from your computer to an outgoing mail server (a computer) at your ISP. That server then hands your message off to the Internet. The Internet moves the message to an incoming mail server at the recipient’s ISP. That incoming mail server then gets the message to the recipient.

Introducing Windows Mail

Windows Vista comes with an e-mail client named Windows Mail. If Windows Mail is your default e-mail client (the main program you use for sending and receiving e-mail), you can start Windows Mail by clicking the Start button and choosing E-mail Windows Mail. The first time you open Windows Mail, you might be taken to a wizard for setting up your e-mail account. If you have all the factual information you need about your account, you can proceed through the wizard to set up the account. Otherwise, you can click the Cancel button and open Windows Mail. Then set up your account later.  Don’t be alarmed if you’re missing some components. Many are optional and easily turned on and off with a mouse click or two. If Windows Mail isn’t an option on your Start menu, you can still open it. Click the Start button, then click All Programs  ->  Microsoft Windows Mail. Whether or not you can use Windows Mail is an altogether different matter, which we’ll tackle in a moment. The title bar, menu bar, and toolbar appear near the top of the program window and work the same as in other programs. The other components are as follows:

- Folder bar: Shows the name of the folder whose contents you’re viewing in the contents pane.

- Folder list: Shows folders into which you can organize e-mail messages.

- Contents pane: Shows a message header for each e-mail message in the currently selected folder.

- Sample message header: Every e-mail message shows a header showing who sent the message, the Subject of the message, and the date you received it.

- Preview pane header: Shows the message header information in a large and more detailed format.

- Preview pane: Shows a portion of the e-mail message whose message header is selected in the contents pane.

- Views bar: Lets you choose what e-mail messages you want to see.

- Status bar: Tells you the status of various program facts and operations. To change an option, click its checkbox and then click Apply. If you don’t like the results, click that same checkbox again and click Apply again. When you’re happy with how things look, click OK to save your current settings and close the dialog box. Before you can use Windows Mail to send and receive e-mail, you have to configure it to work with your e-mail account. Your ISP (Internet service provider) supplies your e-mail account. Windows Mail is just the e-mail client (program) that lets you send and receive messages through the e-mail account that your ISP provides.

What you need to know to get started

Before you attempt to use Windows Mail as your e-mail client, you’ll need to acquire some basic facts about your e-mail account. Only your Internet service provider, or e-mail provider, can give you that information. Here’s a quick overview of the information you need: - You need to find out if you can use Windows Mail with your Internet account. Only your Internet service provider (ISP) can give you that information.

- E-mail address: You must know your own e-mail address, the one that people use to send you e-mail messages. You get your e-mail address from your ISP or e-mail service.

- Account type: Typically this would be either POP or HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol).

- User account name: The name you use to sign into your ISP’s service.

- E-mail password: You should be able to define your own password. But if your ISP has set up a temporary password, you’ll need to know what that is to set up your account.

- Outgoing (SMTP) mail server: You will need to know the exact name of your ISP’s outgoing mail server.

- Incoming (POP3) mail server: You will need to know the exact name of your ISP’s incoming mail server.

Keep in mind that if you’re dealing with multiple e-mail addresses and accounts, you’ll need to fill in the blanks in Table 18-1 for each e-mail address. You’ll need to set up a separate Windows Mail account for each e-mail address. After you’ve filled in the Table 18-1 blanks for an e-mail account, you’re ready of configure Windows Mail to use that account. Remember, Windows Mail doesn’t work with all e-mail systems. So . . . - If your answer to Line 1 is No, ignore this entire article. Use whatever e-mail client and methods your ISP provides. - If your information for Line 3 is not POP3, or IMAP, check with your ISP for specific instructions on setting up Windows Mail as your e-mail client. Assuming you know Windows Mail will work with your e-mail account, and you’ve accurately filled in the blanks in Table 18-1, you’re ready to configure your e-mail account.

Setting up your e-mail account

If several people share a single computer, each user should have his or her own user account and e-mail address. (See Article 3 if you need to set up user accounts.) Before you configure Windows Mail, make sure you log in to the user account for the e-mail address you’re about to configure. Then configure Windows Mail for that user’s e-mail address only. Start Windows Mail as described earlier in this article and follow these steps:

1. From the Windows Mail menu bar, choose Tools  ->  Accounts and click Add.

2. In the Select Account Type box that opens, click E-mail Account and click Next.

3. On the page titled Your Name, type your name as you want it to appear in your e-mail messages. Typically this would be your first and last names. But you can enter your name or a nickname however you wish. Click Next. When typing information in the remaining steps, be aware that even the tiniest typographical error, misspelling, or a blank space will prevent your account from working.

4. On the Internet E-mail Address page, type your e-mail address exactly as provided by your ISP and in Line 2. Click Next.

5. On the Set up e-mail servers page, choose options and fill in the blanks according to what you entered in Lines 3–6. Choose Outgoing server requires authentication only if your ISP requires it. Click Next.

6. On the Set up Internet Mail Logon page, type your e-mail account name and password as provided by your ISP (Lines 7 and 8). You won’t be able to see the password as you type it. You must use the same uppercase/lowercase letters given by your ISP. So type carefully.

7. If you don’t want to enter your password every time you check your e-mail, choose (check) Remember password. However, don’t choose that option on a public computer, because it will allow anyone to use your e-mail account. Click Next.

8. If you see a page asking about customer improvement, you’ll need to decide for yourself if you want to participate. There is no risk or penalty either way. Click Next after making your selection.

9. On the Congratulations page, click the Finish button. The new account will be added to the Internet Accounts dialog box under the Main heading. Yours will likely be different. To test your account, click the Send/Receive button. If you get an error message, you made a mistake or entered wrong information somewhere in steps 1–9. To review, and optionally change, any information you entered, choose Tools  ->  Accounts from the menu bar. Then click the name of the account you just created and choose Properties. In the Properties dialog box that opens, review what you entered and make any necessary corrections. Remember, only your ISP (or e-mail account provider) can help you troubleshoot any problems you might have.

To give the account a more meaningful name of your own choosing, click its name in the Internet Accounts dialog box and click Properties. In the first text box on the General tab, replace the current name with a name of your own choosing. Then click OK. Click Close to close the Internet Accounts dialog box.