HOWZAT

Mail providers will also often offer “consolidation” services, which import messages from a variety of accounts, so that you need only one inbox, and can hang on to your old e-mail addresses too. Even if you have dumped an ISP, you can often keep yourname@isp.com, sometimes for a small annual fee.

How do you find the right service for you? This is the net — virtually all will offer a free trial of up to 30 days. Explore whichever takes your fancy, and kiss goodbye to older, unreliable methods in favour of souped-up e-mail fit for the future.

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WHAT NEWER E-MAIL SERVICES OFFER

FREE E-MAIL
Gmail — www.gmail.com
Google’s newish service offers a generous 2GB of free storage, though many regard it as a backup for their existing service. Gmail has a specially designed browser interface, where all mail appears in a conventional webmail inbox, but is stored permanently and is also highly searchable. This makes it a doddle to find e-mails from only the briefest of details, yet involves much clicking to perform simple tasks. Gmail crawls your e-mail to display adverts, which raises many people’s privacy hackles. Certainly worth trying, though whether it is good enough to be your primary account is a moot point.

Pros No charge, storage size.

Cons Essentially a webmail service, with POP3 access only through software such as Outlook, plus rudimentary antivirus and spam protection. The browser client is clunky — you can’t drag and drop items into a simple personal folder, as you can with Imap. Gmail’s labels, in place of folders, work for a few e-mails, but soon become frustrating.

PAID-FOR SERVICES

Alien Camel — www.aliencamel.com, £2.80 per month or £9 for six months
Pros Some of the best spam and antivirus filtering around. Unlimited storage space for personal mail.

Cons Limited webmail; primarily a clever Imap store, accessible through PCs or Apple Macs.