This question might have become insignificant in recent years as all three email providers have started to follow suite if one of them raised a limit or introduced a new service. But not everything is equal and some email users might be surprised if they take a look at the differences between these email providers.

Did you for instance know that a free Yahoo Mail account expires after four months of inactivity but is the only one to offer free unlimited storage space?

Gmail on the other hand is the only email service that is not expiring the account after a certain time of inactivity. It is on the other hand the email service that is offering the least amount of free storage space if you take Microsoft by the word that they increase the Windows Live Hotmail storage space automatically if the limit of 5000 Megabytes is reached.

Take a look at the following chart to see how the three email providers compare.

The chart should be up to date. If you spot an error let me know and I fix it asap.

Back to the original question: Which email provider are you using primarily and why? Here is my answer..

I mainly use email accounts that have been created for my web projects. I also use a Gmail account; Primarily because it is linked to other Google services that I need to use. I do have a Yahoo Mail and Microsoft Live Hotmail account but I barely use them. Mostly for services that require such an account.

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These users have two alternative options on how to connect with their Yahoo Mail account if they experience the problems. The first is by using a desktop email client like Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird, the second a notifier like Yahoo Mail Notifier for Firefox.

Both solutions obviously only work if the username and password of the Yahoo Mail account are at hand and still working. They can however cope with display or loading problems of the Yahoo Mail website. Yahoo Mail Notifier is a simple Firefox add-on that will display the unread mail count of a Yahoo Mail account in the Firefox statusbar. The add-on supports multiple Yahoo accounts which can be switched easily from the statusbar.

The preferences contain options to change the frequency new email checks, clicking preferences to open Yahoo Mail and notifications if new emails have been received.

Yahoo Mail Notifier is a simple Firefox add-on that can be helpful for users who do not want to check the Yahoo Mail page all the time to see if new emails have been received. It is available at the Mozilla Firefox website.

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Yahoo Mail accounts are hit by phishing attacks regularly and Yahoo recommends to perform the Yahoo Mail Login only at the official Yahoo website and not at other websites (unless they are also owned by Yahoo).

The official Yahoo Mail login website is https://login.yahoo.com/config/login_verify2?&.src=ym. Another option is to visit the main Yahoo website and open the Yahoo Mail login website from there. The Yahoo Mail login screen should look exactly like the screen above except for the red stars and rectangle around the username and password fields. Those are added by the Last Pass password manager add-on that is available for several web browsers including Firefox and Internet Explorer. Last Pass can automatically fill out the Yahoo Mail login data and perform the login as well. Best of all, it is a very good protection against phishing attempts as the Yahoo user does not need to enter any data in the login form at the Yahoo Mail website.

Yahoo has created a password helper application for Yahoo Mail that can aid users if they cannot login into Yahoo Mail. It can help when users have forgotten their Yahoo Mail username or password.

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Yahoo and Xoopit have now announced that they will discontinue the Xoopit services for Gmail, Facebook and basically any other service except for Yahoo Mail. Xoopit for Gmail and the Xoopit web service will be closing down on November 13. The Xoopit team has created a faq for Gmail and Xoopit users that is trying to address the most common questions.

Xoopit itself has been rebranded as the My Photos application in Yahoo Mail where it allows Yahoo Mail users to quickly look at all pictures that have been send to them. Additional features include photo uploading and sharing capabilities. The following video outlines the features that My Photos is offering to Yahoo Mail users.

The official reason for discontinuing support for Gmail is the following:

We’re sad to say goodbye to our users on Gmail but we know that we will not be able to keep investing in our Xoopit for Gmail product, and don’t want you to end up with a lousy experience.

Many users on the other hand suspect that it has more to do with the competition between Yahoo Mail and Gmail that the service is discontinued.

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Yahoo Mail today announced the integration of the Drop.io service as an application into Yahoo Mail. Drop.io is a file hosting service on the Internet that can be used to upload and share files on the Internet.

The Yahoo Mail solution adds a one-click solution to upload attachments with a size of up to 100 Megabytes. Users who receive emails with attachments that have been uploaded this way will see a link that is pointing to the uploaded files. Recipients have then options to view online or download the attachments to their computer system.

Yahoo Mail users who do not see Applications in the left sidebar need to visit the Yahoo Mail Applications page to enable them. The Attach Large Files is then available from the applications menu. The feature makes it a bit easier and more comfortable for users to share larger files although this method can be easily replicated manually by users who use different online email services like Gmail.

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Yahoo Mail now comes with a redesigned mobile version that is available at http://m.yahoo.com/ that now offers one click access to important functions, attachment downloads like pdf or Microsoft Word documents and access to personal folders. The attachment size was raised from 10 Megabytes to 25 which is the exact same size that Gmail is offering it’s users. The inbox of Yahoo Mail is expanded with an application box that is bringing third party apps like Picnik, ZumoDirve or PayPal to the inbox with more (Evite was mentioned) to come in future updates.

Yahoo Mail Contacts are improved as well as they can now be automatically updated whenever a contact changes their name, e-mail address or phone number.

Yahoo Messenger 10 Beta is now available for download. It introduces HD video calling and social improvements that keep users informed about their contacts including status updates. Other additions include Flickr uploads, Yahoo! Buzz stories, Tweets and more that are all available from the messenger’s interface.

Yahoo Search was upgraded as well. It does however seem that only search engine users from the United States will be able to access the new functionality that allows them to explore related concepts, filter results by popular websites only or narrow down search results by type.

Yahoo is adding more social elements to their products. They also started to add features that were introduced by Google and Microsoft services like the email attachment size of 25 Megabytes.

via Ycorpblog

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This will open the general settings window. A click on the Accounts and Import tab will display an Import Mails and Contacts button. Pressing this button will initiate the process. Gmail will ask for the email address and password during configuration.

The following email providers are supported by Gmail:

* aol.com
* aol.fr
* clear.net.nz
* cox.net
* comcast.net
* cs.com
* earthlink.net
* freenet.de
* freeserve.co.uk
* gmx.at
* gmx.ch
* gmx.de
* gmx.net
* hotmail.com
* hotmail.co.uk
* hotmail.de
* hotmail.fr
* Ihug.co.nz
* juno.com
* laposte.net
* live.com
* mail.ru
* msn.com
* netscape.com
* netzero.com
* neuf.fr
* optonline.net
* optusnet.com.au
* orange.fr
* orangehome.co.uk
* orcon.net.nz
* paradise.net.nz
* rr.com
* slingshot.co.nz
* sprint.ca
* sympatico.ca
* tiscali.co.uk
* verizon.net
* voila.fr
* wanadoo.co.uk
* wanadoo.fr
* web.de
* worldnet.att.net
* yahoo.com
* yahoo.co.uk
* yahoo.co.in
* yandex.ru

The import of the data usually takes about a week. It does depend largely on the amount of emails and contacts in the other email account.

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Webmail Notifier is without doubt one of the most popular Firefox email notification add-ons. It supports a wide variety of email services with some already build into the add-on and others available as userscripts.

Webmail services that can be configured right away include Google Mail (Gmail), Yahoo Mail or Live Mail (with msn, live and hotmail). Userscripts are available for GMX, Web.de, Lycos, Fastmail, QQ and Orkut among others.

New email accounts can be added in the options of the add-on after installation. The users only need to add the username and password of the email account.

Some options are available that include the frequency of email checks and if alerts should notify the user if new or unread emails have been received.

Userscripts can also be added in the options. Several userscripts to add new email providers are available at the developer’s homepage.

The Firefox add-on can be downloaded from the Mozilla website.

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The mailto links in the format mailto:email@example.com are launched with the default application that has been set in the Firefox web browser. To change that one needs to open the options of the web browser. Windows users go to Tools > Options to open the Firefox options.

Users then need to locate the applications tab and filter for the term mailto. The menu should then look pretty much like the menu in the screenshot above. They then need to click on the pulldown menu on the right side to change the default email client in Firefox. Displayed are the current email client, the web based email clients Yahoo Mail and Gmail, the option to always ask the user and to select another email client not on the list.

The last option opens the file browser which makes it possible to select an executable on the computer system. It is therefor possible to select installed and portable email clients on the local computer system. It does feel a bit strange that neither Windows Live Mail nor Aol Mail are available from the menu.

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Interested users find the email import option in the Gmail account settings. The second link is displaying as Accounts for users who have not had this new email import feature enabled and as Accounts and Import for those who have.

Gmail users have to provide account login data of the email service that they want to import into Gmail. Options that are provided allow the user to import emails and contacts, add a label to all imported mails and to enable email imports for the next 30 days.

Being able to import emails into Gmail is another feature of Gmail that is poised to become popular as soon as it is activated for most Gmail accounts.

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When we look at the requirements we see the following. An online email service requires an online connection which might not always be given, either because of the location of the user or a problem with it. It might also be that the email service itself is down and not offering services. All those cases would mean that it would be impossible to read or send emails.

A local client does not have these restrictions as it stores all emails locally which ensures access even without Internet connection. It requires on the other hand that one (or the few) computer(s) to work with.

I think it’s pretty much a matter of personal taste. I prefer to have my data close to me, as silly as it may sound. If something unforeseen happens I can still access my data providing I took care of creating backups and stuff like that.

Security is another aspect that might be worth investigating. Many email service providers like Yahoo or Google use the email accounts for various services on other parts of their sites. Google users can use Google Analytics, Adsense, Adwords, Google Talk and several other services all with that one account. This increases the chance of loosing the account due to an attack. Could be phishing, could be an exploit that makes use of the fact that you can be still logged into your Google account even if you closed the mail application. Just look at the top right of a Google search form. Do you see your email address listed there? If yes you are still logged in. Attackers have way more possibilities to attack the online accounts than local ones.

It’s on the other hand very convenient to use online accounts. Being able to log in from anywhere is a huge selling point. The question is if this feature is needed by many users. I for one use only my main computer and my laptop to check emails. If the need would arise for an online account I would still want to have all my mail on my own computer even if I would use an online service from time to time.

Which leads to the question: What about you? Are you using email clients or online email services? Let me know.

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PayPal and eBay finally made the decision to sign all emails originating from their servers including the international versions which means that it is possible to eliminate PayPal and eBay phishing emails before they even reach the inbox or spam folder. The system was tested for a few weeks silently and only a few users did notice according to the official Gmail blog.

Now any email that claims to come from “paypal.com” or “ebay.com” (and their international versions) is authenticated by Gmail and — here comes the important part — rejected if it fails to verify as actually coming from PayPal or eBay. That’s right: you won’t even see the phishing message in your spam folder. Gmail just won’t accept it at all. Conversely, if you get an message in Gmail where the “From” says “@paypal.com” or “@ebay.com,” then you’ll know it actually came from PayPal or eBay. It’s email the way it should be.

Sounds like a dream come true and could pose an end to phishing if more companies, and mail providers, would jump on the bandwagon of signed emails. Companies that come to my mind first are financial companies and other online stores. I still would not blindly trust any email from PayPal or eBay that would arrive in my inbox but it definitely is a step in the right direction. The best way to handle it is to visit the websites manually and perform the eBay or PayPal login there.

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A component is a plugin for one of the mentioned email services which means that if you use AOL and Yahoo Mail you would download and install those two. The main advantage of webmail is that you can configure all settings in Thunderbird without having to run an external software that listens on the mail port.

Setup involves three steps. First you make sure that webmail is up and running. You do that by opening the options of webmail. It should display a graphic that looks similar to the one below.

If everything is up and running select domains from the tab bar and make sure that the webmail providers that you use are in the list. If that is the case exit the options.It’s time to create a new account to retrieve and check email from those webmail accounts.

POP3:

Server Type : POP
Incoming Server : localhost
username: your email address which has to include the domain, e.g. @yahoo.com

SMTP:

Server Name : localhost
User Name : your email address which has to include the domain, e.g. @yahoo.com

Check out the setup guide if you are unsure about this, it explains every step with pictures. My thanks to Si Howard for pointing this out. Another option would be Freepops that I wrote about as well.

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How to change your content preference:
* log in to Yahoo Mail
* click Options
* select Account information from the left panel
* go to Member Information, General Preferences, Preferred Content
* select, for example, Yahoo UK
* click Finished
* go to Yahoo Mail
* you’ll see a page that says “It’s the New Yahoo! Mail Beta… and you’re invited.”
* click on “Try Beta Now”.

If you need to enter a valid zip here are some for Germany: 45130 Essen, 12159 Berlin, 16356 Berlin

[tags]yahoo beta, yahoo, mail, mail account, yahoo mail beta[/tags]

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