Accessing e-mail on the road May 2000 [Update 3/03: ThatWeb is now charging. An alternative may be http://mail2web.com] You basically have two choices with e-mail: using e-mail software (such as Outlook Express or Netscape Communicator) or using a web-based e-mail account (such as Hotmail). An advantage of e-mail software is that it's usually faster to interact with your e-mail; plus you can do it "offline." An advantage of web-based e-mail is that you don't need to be tied to a particular computer: you can access your e-mail from any computer in the world that has Internet access. People who use e-mail software also often set up web-based e-mail accounts so that they can access their mail when away from their computer. The problem is that many don't find it simple and obvious to configure web-based e-mail to access their regular e-mail remotely. And almost always these services require you to know the address of your "POP server." This is where ThatWeb comes in. It's quickly become the favorite of travelers who need to access their regular e-mail account while on the road. It's easier than the other web-based services because you don't need to know the address of your server, nor do you even need to set up an account. You simply connect to ThatWeb, type in your e-mail address, type in your e-mail password, and then check your e-mail. ThatWeb logs on to your e-mail account and shows a screen listing all your unread e-mail messages. When you click on a message, it appears in a popup window, which seems faster to me than the approach of the other web-based services. Another difference is that ThatWeb doesn't store your e-mail on their server: you are simply using their service to interact with your e-mail that resides on the server of your Internet provider. If you read your messages using ThatWeb, they still remain on the server. When you're back at home they will still be there for you to download in the regular way. However, if you choose, you can have ThatWeb delete messages that you've read. If you reply to a message using ThatWeb, it shows your regular e-mail address as the return address. Someone receiving the message probably wouldn't be able to tell that it had been sent from a different service (no ads or anything). Once you're done reading and replying to messages, it's a good idea to click the button that says Sign Out. That way, if someone else comes along and tries to use the "back button" to see your messages, they will no longer be there. ThatWeb has a range of other features, including Clic'Card, which attaches cute cards to your messages, universal messaging, and an address book. © 2000 by Jim Karpen, Ph.D. |
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