# The Computer Revolution/Communication/Email

There are millions of emails sent everyday worldwide. Over the last decade emails have exploded in popularity and have become one of the primary methods of communication. It has become so increasingly popular because it is instant and cheap. Originally emails were all via programs and the content was stored to the hard drive of each individuals personal computer, the web was only accessed to send and receive.

## Different Types of Email

Major companies like Yahoo, MSN, Microsoft, AOL are very common email domains. There are also private domain names that belong to organizations or groups that can be designated to individuals.
There are two types of email:
* those which are programmed to the hard drive of a personal computer
* ones that store the information on the web mail
This restricted the access to emails, only one computer could be used to view the emails sent to an individual. In web mail the information is stored on the web and accessible from any internet station.

## Spam

There are a number of a precautions that can be taken to ensure reducing spam & in protecting the privacy of your personal information on the internet. One of the first & best things you can do is safeguard your email address. Another good technique is be very cautious of revealing your personal information to anyone. This includes reading web site private policy & avoid putting to much information about yourself out there on the web. Then, the last thing you can do is have filters on your email account that is dedicated to spam & opt out of emails that you know won’t use.
Some people take a different approach to blocking spam: create two e-mail accounts. One e-mail account is for family, friends & trusted sources. The other e-mail account is for shopping, promotional offers, blogs, etc. The second e-mail account is often referred to as a disposable or throw-away e-mail account. Some internet service providers even offer disposable e-mail addresses to customers.
If having two e-mail addresses doesn't sound appealing, you can always unsubscribe to e-mails from companies. Most marketing e-mails will include a link to unsubscribe, which will remove your email address from the distribution list that is sending the e-mail.
* ↑ Understanding Computers Today and Tomorrow, 13th Edition- pages 611 and 612

## Business Advantages

Today many companies in the business world are using Email as there number one form of communication. No long are faxes, phones, and Snail mail being used as a number one form of communication. It can be received almost everywhere, with the use of communication devices such as the Blackberry and where internet access is found. On Outlook such things as keeping documentary confirmation, scheduling and reminder are some of the features that can be utilized. There are functions that allow you to know if your client has opened your sent email.
I am not surprised that email is the number 1 form of communication. It has its advantages, such as the sender has the ability to send a quick note containing a question or comment to a co-worker, the respondent can then send back their answer instead of having a phone conversation that could potentially take a lot of time and sometimes break your concentration. This can be extremely beneficial when you are very busy and have time constraints. In addition when co-workers in different parts of a building or country are working together on the same document, being able to attach what you are working on and send it off to a co-worker for proofing or editing instead of actually walking it over to them, faxing it to them or even mailing it to them is a great option. But on a downside, I think that sometimes the text in the email can be misread or taken the wrong way which could possibly result in multiple emails, which in the end could have been faster in a quick phone conversation. That being said I think that the good definitely outweighs the bad when it comes to email correspondence in the workplace.

## Personal Advantages

An individual can send a message as well as attach documents like music, video, and images to another individual or to a group of people. Individuals have a number of options when deciding which domain should host their email address from. Most of these popular web-based email accounts offer huge amounts of storage (up to 250 GB) that is free with the account. This allows the user to send messages and media files with great ease.

## Tips for Use

-It's a good idea to have multiple e-mail accounts. One for personal communications, one for business/work related communications, and one for signing up for services that might solicit your account or sell it off resulting in it being filled with spam/junk mail. This keeps your messages prioritized and clutter free, and will also make sure you don't accidentally send something inappropriate, that might be okay for friends to read, to a business associate.
-Keep passwords for different accounts separate because if one password is compromised, you lose exponential access and information.
-Don't open suspicious looking e-mails and be wary of any messages trying to solicit a response or action on your behalf. Virus's and trojans can spread through e-mail and the security and stability of a computer can be seriously compromised through e-mail.