Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Webmail vs. Email Programs.

This is topic Webmail vs. Email Programs. in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Thomas Dieter (Member # 2507) on 09-26-2005, 02:43 AM:

Okay, for a while now, I've had a Gmail account that I was invited to have, then I was offered on by Gmail, so I have 2. Makes no sence I know, but don't ask. I have 4 email addresses. 2 with Gmail, 1 with Yahoo, and 1 with a forum site I use to moderate. With that said, Yahoo only allows you to use the webmail version, unless you pay to use the pop server. My forum email address, I can only use an email program. But Gmail, I can use either.

With Yahoo, I have come not to use as my primary cause of all the spam. I've had the email since I was in high school. With my Gmail, I've used both an email program and a webmail, and from experimentation, I like the webmail better. And with my forum, I've been using Mozilla Mail witch has worked fine.

Here are my pros and cons about using a mail program.
Pro: You always have the email, and you have no limit on the number of email you can have.
Con: To hold every email for reference, you need to keep adding memory to your computer.
Pro: You don't have advertisements on the page, unless they are in the email.
Con: There's another program on your computer you have to open for internet use.
Con: If spam comes through, you have to sift through all your emails to delete them.
Con: If there's a virus on the email that your anti-virus didn't catch, and you have the preview pane on, your computer is now infected.

For my Webmail pros and cons;
Pro: The email is never on your computer, so memory is never an issue.
Con: There's always a limit on the size storage.
Pro: Gmail has 2 gigs of email storage space and growing.
Pro: You only have to use 1 internet based program.
Pro: Gmail keeps your emails in a message form, so you never have to look for previous emails if the sender didn't keep the message.
Con: Yahoo has all the ads through out their webmail and site.
Con: Yahoo tends to have alot of spam, granted, since they implemented spam blockers, it's gotten a little better.
Pro: Most webmail services have an anti-virus program, usually Norton, to delete the email or virus, and your computer is never exposed to the virus say you download the email to your computer.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 09-26-2005, 06:17 AM:

POP email pro: if you use a reasonably secure email client (e.g. Eudora with the 'disable HTML executable content' option in use) together with a decent firewall and antivirus package, you are about as safe as anyone can be from malware in messages. Anyone who is dumb enough to use Outlook Express deserves all they get, IMHO.

POP email pro: Your email client program will probably have more versatile editing facilities than a web interface - e.g. you can indent quotes with a margin, or insert images into your message. That having been said, the MS Outlook web interface is pretty good; but I don't like the fact that most of its features will only work through IE.

POP email con: it's often impossible to send outgoing mail from a remote location (e.g. via a wi-fi hub in a hotel room or airport departure lounge), as some POP servers won't accept messages except from your usual dial-up or DSL location.

Web-based pro: You can use it anywhere there's an internet conncetion - wi-fi hotels and airport lounges have the same functionality as the home or office.

Web-based con: it's potentially less secure. Once you've downloaded a message into your email client and deleted it from your server, then - theoretically, at least - that message is gone from the Internet and only exists in the sender's and recipient's computers. OK, we've all heard stories about how all email is kept by shadowy secret service agencies for ever and ever Amen: but even if that's true, I'd speculate that your message is less likely to be divulged to a third party than if it was stored on a web-based system. I've also heard stories about how Google and Yahoo scan the text of your email for keywords which are then used to target advertising spam at you. There's also the risk that if you store address book data and stuff like that on a web-based email system, that this could be used for spamming purposes as well.

All but one (which I hardly use anymore) of my addresses have both, which I do find I need. Mail2Web is also very useful if your email account doesn't have a web facility - you don't even need to remember the POP and SMTP server addresses.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 09-26-2005, 07:25 AM:

IMAP. OK, I don't know what this is thread is about but I saw POP and got nauseous.

quote: Leo Enticknap

POP email con: it's often impossible to send outgoing mail from a remote location (e.g. via a wi-fi hub in a hotel room or airport departure lounge), as some POP servers won't accept messages except from your usual dial-up or DSL location.

POP never accepts messages -- it doesn't do that. SMTP on the other hand does. Any form of authenticated SMTP (or if the users resist change, 'POP auth') will take care of your roaming-dynamic issues.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 09-26-2005, 07:45 AM:

Sorry - I meant SMTP for outgoing. I've often found that if you try and send email through a connection which is not your usual one, it'll say 'error - no relaying' or something like that, meaning that the only way you can get a message out is to use a web interface.

Posted by Thomas Dieter (Member # 2507) on 09-26-2005, 09:41 AM:

Actually, I posted this thread to find out which is the better way to go? I ment it to go along the same lines as the Opera thread

Posted by Dieter Depypere (Member # 3184) on 09-26-2005, 12:52 PM:

Try the "Magic Mail Monitor" (google it!). It is a small tool for POP3 and/or IMAP accounts which checks for emails regularily.

The big advantage is that it only shows the headers first. So you can delete suspicious/unwanted mails before you even open up your mail program. Blacklists can also be generated to delete emails automatically.

It doesn't need lots of resources. I would recommend this tool.

PS: Once you have set up your accounts, do not forget to save the accounts file!

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 09-26-2005, 02:03 PM:

Mailwasher also lets you pre-screen POP email on the server before downloading it.

Posted by Brian Hogan (Member # 940) on 09-26-2005, 06:50 PM:

ive been using Pop Tray (www.poptray.org)for a wee while and its been doing the job pretty well. you can set it up to check multiple accounts, each of which are placed in their own tab in the program. you then get the message header in the tray and can open the message for viewing. you are also able to save any attachments via the program as well. the website has different plug-ins so that you can check various web mail sites, such as gmail.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-26-2005, 08:50 PM:

I always proof e-mail headers in both my personal and company e-mail accounts through web-based systems. I rarely use a traditional e-mail client anymore, just Mozilla Thunderbird to download messages I want to keep.