Have you ever wanted to have an easy way to stay connected with friends or family who use email? Or, if you have an email account, do you find it difficult to manage your messages when traveling? Recently, I spoke with a client who returned from an extended vacation to find hundreds of email messages waiting in her Inbox. I recommended that the next time she travels, she use a Webmail account.

What is Webmail? Web mail is e-mail that you can access through any Internet connected computer with no special software other than a web browser.

If you’re not familiar with Webmail, many email providers offer a web-based alternative to access your account and many businesses offer web-based access to the company email. But today I want to tell you about free web mail services.

Two of my favorites are Gmail from Google and Yahoo! mail. There are many others, so look around and pick your favorite. Typically, to get started, you just choose a service and create an account with your choice of name and password. Then, you can begin using the new account to view, write, print, and forward your messages!

What are the advantages of webmail?

1. Many web mail services are free and very easy to use.
2. If you change computers, you don’t have to worry about moving your saved messages or account settings.
3. When you travel, you can check your messages from any computer with an Internet connection. You’ll see the same interface and the same information no matter where you are.
4. Many Webmail services can be accessed through certain portable devices like mobile phones and PDAs.
5. You can use it as a backup to your regular email.
6. Many people use it to separate work email from personal email.
7. If you’re an America Online subscriber, you can use webmail to access your America Online messages even when your are not logged into your account or your home computer.
8. And you don’t have to be locked in to the email that is bundled from your Internet service provider.