There are more clear advantages to webmail: First, is the fact that you can access your email, address book and calendar from any computer, whether it is more than one machine in your own home network, home-and-work, or when you using borrowed computers, while traveling for example. The messages are always there and the appearance (notice that we didn’t say “interface”) is always the same and so everything is where you expect it to be. Second, and very important, is the fact that when you are using this strategy the messages stay on the mail system server, rather than to be downloaded to your computer; you are reading them remotely. This reduces somewhat the possibility of virus infections from your email.
The third important advantage of webmail is that it is not necessary to do any setup at a new computer. If you use a computer-specific “client” email program such as Outlook Express, Thunderbird, or the new Windows Live Mail, then you must enter and save a big whack of settings into the program that are specific to your email account. Remember too, that even if you travel with a laptop or netbook the problem is not completely solved, because at new locations you will be able to receive but not send messages, unless you modify the settings everywhere you stop. No such challenges if you just launch a browser and go to your webmail site.
Convinced? Enter the bad guys! Webmail is much safer than email client programs, but we have experience recently with some clients who have had even their webmail attacked and compromised, and in two of those cases the damage was permanent and devastating. What happened was that hackers first discovered the password to the user’s webmail account. This gave them access to email, but they didn’t stop there! They next changed the password, and then entered the account settings and altered the answers to the “secret questions” that every system uses to confirm that you are who you say you are when you have forgotten your password or want to change it. This meant that our clients couldn’t identify themselves to the system, and were permanently shut out. Since many people nowadays have major business and personal records and information in their email, this is a serious threat. Just to put the icing on the cake, we have to point out that this is just as great a danger to our Macintosh friends, who are usually justifiably smug on the subject of viruses and threats.
We still prefer the convenience and relative safety of webmail, compared with the much larger number of pitfalls with an email client program but as with most facets of computer use you must take precautions, and as usual, these precautions are pronounced “back up.” It is a bit tricky to back up your webmail system the first time, but it is pretty simple after that. We have prepared a step-by-step list of instructions that we think are easy to follow, and would be glad to send it to you if you write to us at the address below.