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Electronic Communication and Computer Security >>
Configure your email program
If you are using an email service, like Hotmail or UVic Webmail, there is nothing for you to configure, but you should read through the instructions below for configuring either Outlook or Eudora to learn about topics related to using email. An email service is web-based. That means you access your email through a website, where your settings (i.e., address book, signature, etc.) are recorded on the server that runs the service.
If you are using email software programs, like Eudora, Outlook, or Netscape Mail, then you will have to tell your program who you are, what your email address is, etc. An email software program runs on your personal computer. This program will access your messages through a mail server and pull down the messages for you to view. Your personal settings are stored in the program on your computer, which is why it is important to remember to back up your email messages, your address book, your list of filters, etc.
It is important to note that having an Internet connection through a company is separate from checking your email. For example, a person can use Shaw cable to connect to the Internet, but they can use that connection to check their UVic email. The naming of the incoming and outgoing mail servers determine which email system you are going to use. Another useful example is as follows:
A person living in Victoria has a dial-up connection through Telus and uses a Telus e-mail account. She travels home to Ontario for the holidays. She wants to check her email, and plans to use a modem to phone long distance to call the dial-up number she uses in Victoria to connect to the Internet. In fact, the dial-up number has *nothing* to do with accessing her email - it is only used to connect to the Internet. It is not where one dials or how to connect to the Internet; rather, it is the email server names you enter. Her brother in Ontario has a cable Internet connection, so she can check her email using this Internet connection. All she has to do is configure the email program to the settings she uses at home. This is easy with Outlook, since she can create a new Account and then delete it at the end of her trip. With Eudora, she needs to overwrite her brother's configuration, so it's important for her to get his permission to do so, then write down his settings so she can easily revert it. She configures the program to leave her mail on the server, so that the mail can still be downloaded when she returns to her computer in Victoria - as long as she remembers to switch it back to her brother's setting. No long distance charges necessary!
While we are on the topic of checking email while traveling, there are a number of Internet Service Providers (ISP), that now have a graphical interface for checking email through a web browser, so no configuration is needed. The following ISPs allow their clients to check email while traveling using a browser:
University of Victoria: http://webmail.uvic.ca/
Shaw Cable: http://webmail.shaw.ca
Telus.net: http://www.telus.net/webmail.html
Click on the program below that you are using to complete this module to access a tutorial on how to configure the program. You will then return here to complete this lesson.
Before moving on to the next section, you should be aware of a new web-based tool by UVic Computing that tells you how much disk space your UVic email files are using. You may find it at:
This tool may be especially useful for those users who have received emails from UVic Computing warning them that their incoming email files are too large. You can check to see how much space you had freed up from deleting old mail by visiting the site before and after your deletions.
You are ready now for the next section on signature files.
Copyright © 2001-2002 Valerie Irvine. All rights reserved.
Revised: September 23, 2002.