Mouse Clix

By: Hobie Lunin

Doing your e-mail off –line

A few people have asked about doing their e-mail off-line if they are using a web-based e-mail like Yahoo, HotMail or Nbci. These are a few of a number of web sites that offer e-mail and the mail is sent directly from the website to the address you have indicated. This is different from “POP” mail that originates in your computer and can easily be typed off-line. The reason people may want to do this off-line is that either their phone charges will be higher or they only have one phone line and do not want to take the time on-line. Or maybe they find that their Internet Server is knocking them off the line if they are slow typists and take too long (the ISP perceives them as inactive)

No problem! Here is how to do it.

An easy program to use is Notepad, which can be found by clicking on Start and pointing to Programs and Accessories and then clicking on Notepad. If you prefer, you can use the instructions below in any word processing application. The first thing you want to do if you are using Notepad is to click on Edit and select Word Wrap so that the letter stays in your screen width, otherwise it will start running off your screen to the right and make it difficult for you to read. Type your letter and then, when you are done, click on Edit and Select All, then click on Edit once again and select Copy. A copy of the letter will then be moved to a program called “Clipboard.” You then may minimize the screen by clicking on Minimize in the upper right hand corner or even exit at that point. (Once the letter is in Clipboard, it will stay there until replaced or until the computer is turned off.)

Now go to your desktop and access your e-mail program. When you have it on the screen, select a new letter, enter the correct e-mail address to where the letter is going, add a subject and click in the frame around the body of the letter (the field) so that the Insertion Point is visible (vertical flashing line). Then go to Edit and click on Paste. The copied letter in the Clipboard is now copied in your new e-mail and you can send it at once and then exit the program if it is important for you to get off-line as soon as possible.

I often get questions about the advantage of Web based e-mail like Yahoo and Hotmail. If you are using an Internet Service Provider that does not provide e-mail, this is the way to get it. You can register at Yahoo at no charge and have yourself an e-mail address there. Mine is hlunin@yahoo.com. Why do I have an additional e-mail address? When I browse around the Internet and want information, I am usually asked for my e-mail address. As I know most sites will start sending me unrequested mail, I have found that the Web based e-mail addresses provide a great place to view your junk mail and keep it out of your regular (first class) e-mail. I can read this type of mail and delete it at my leisure while important mail arrives at my regular e-mail in small enough quantities that are easier to keep track of. In addition the mail is occupying someone else’s hard drive, not mine.

Another thing that you can do off-line is sorting your mail. I notice people tend to save their mail forever not realizing that they are cluttering up their hard drive with old mail. I strongly recommend that you take time each week to copy and paste the important information from these letters to another file and then delete the letters. After there are several hundred in there and you are looking for one, you will have difficulty finding it anyway. If you are saving the email because it has an address or phone number you want, move the data to your address book, or print the letter out and save it in a folder, or cut it out and paste the info into whatever “real” phone book that you use. This is preferable to cluttering your hard drive.

Or, if that is not the way you want to handle your mail, check out what folders you can sort your mail to and also learn how to make new folders so that you can sort them by sender or subject. This will not reduce the amount of mail but will make it easier for you to find when you want to. Look around in your e-mail program for the word “Folders” and click on it. In addition to several folders already designated, you will no doubt find a place to make a new folder that you can name as you wish.

One last item on mail: It seems to be a given these days that Microsoft Outlook is a magnet for people who are attempting to make people’s lives miserable by inventing viruses that can do internal damage to computers. Because it is such a popular but vulnerable application I urge those of you that use it to make sure you have a good virus program in your computer. Make sure you have it set to always be on and to scan attachments before opening, if indeed the program can do that. Further, be wary of opening attachments from people you do not know or whose return address on the mail is unfamiliar. It is safer to delete those messages before opening than to allow your curiosity to result in some great inconvenience.

Hobie Lunin is a Computer Instructor and Consultant, and will answer questions at: hlunin@email.com. To see previous columns and other information, point your browser to http://mouseclix.tripod.com