Going Beyond The Call of Duty With YAHOO MAIL =)
Written: Aug 18 '02 (Updated Nov 09 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use with lots of space!
Cons: Very few cons to using Yahoo! Mail.
The Bottom Line: A simple to use and very powerful free online e-mail program.
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| firstcontact21's Full Review: Yahoo! Mail |
What more can I say about a product that already has 440 reviews? Well, let's see...
A Brief History of Time...
If you search through the Yahoo! website you will find a history of Yahoo! with this interesting tidbit about the origins of the website's name:
"The Web site started out as "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" but eventually received a new moniker with the help of a dictionary. The name Yahoo! is an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle," but Filo and Yang insist they selected the name because they liked the general definition of a yahoo: "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth." "
And actually, I find it quite fitting that this wildly popular and perverse thing called Yahoo! all started in two kid's University Dorm room.
Since first signing onto the Internet back in late 1996, Yahoo! has been a part of my life. Specifically, I love Yahoo! Mail because it's fast, reliable and easy to access. I can use Yahoo! Mail from home, at work, and even when I'm halfway around the world on conference or vacation. Overall, Yahoo! Mail offers many features that make it by and large the best free e-mail service on the web.
The first feature that makes it great is the fact that it's free. Yahoo! Mail doesn't cost anything and I've never felt any pressure at anytime to upgrade to a paid account.
A Plethora of Space...
Another thing that makes Yahoo! Mail great is the fact that Yahoo! offers users up to 4MB of space. And, if you signed on a few years ago, you will actually have 6MB available to you, as there was a time when they gave more. But even at 4MB, Yahoo! essentially doubles what MSN Hotmail and other free providers offer.
Personally, I like the 6MB size as it does allow me to receive both larger files or just more files without having to worry about exceeding my account limit. And for those times when I do reach my limit, Yahoo! clearly warns me if I'm within 1MB of approaching my 6MB limit.
Very Cool Looking Indeed...
The interface of Yahoo! Mail is very easy to use. Once you have logged in, Yahoo! Mail provides you with an easy to use menu that takes up a column on the left hand side of my screen. It provides links to all the options I need to make the most out of my Yahoo! experience, including:
1. Mail Home: Click this anytime to be taken to the main page of your Yahoo! Mail experience.
2. Check Mail: Click this to see what mail lurks inside your inbox.
3. Compose: Click this to write someone a little e-mail.
4. Folders: Click this to take a look at the folders Yahoo! has setup for you, including your
5. Addresses: Click this to see your address book, which is very customizable, allowing you to enter a lot of information about somebody. Everything from e-mail addresses to home and work mailing addresses, phone numbers, cell numbers, pager numbers and much more!
6. Search: This option is handy as it takes you to a page that allows you to search your e-mail. This is handy if you're like me and you let your inbox pile up with e-mails, and you need to find that one that's just right there and you know you didn't delete it - but where is it??!?!??!
7. Options: Clicking on this will take you to the heart of your Yahoo! Mail experience. This takes you to a page that lists out all the things that you can adjust to help make your Yahoo! Mail experience all the better. Here, you'll find options listed in three categories:
A. Personalization: Allows you to access options regarding your account information; mail preferences; signatures and vacation responses.
B. Mail Management: Allows you to block addresses; check other e-mail accounts and setup filters so that e-mail can go into different folders.
C. Delivery Services: Something I never use, but it allows users to sign up for special Yahoo! offers.
8. Help Desk: Clicking on this option will take you to the Yahoo! Help page, listing many topics to help solve any problem you may have with your Yahoo! Mail.
9. Sign Out: Clicking on this will log you off of your Yahoo! Mail session.
Yahoo! Mail offers many options, and the side menu I've just described is the heart of the Yahoo! Mail experience.
Yahoo! Mail also places links on many of its pages that are useful and specific to that page. And of course, all of the options on any page are fairly self explanatory. And if you're afraid to click on something, then by all means, check out the help page which should easily guide you down the right path.
Easy to Use Folders...
Out of all the options, I love using the filters. One of the filter options offered helps to keep SPAM out of your inbox. By offering users the option of having a BULK MAIL FOLDER, Yahoo! can automatically filter whatever may be junk mail into this folder. And if you get something that isn't junk mail, you can tell Yahoo! to redirect it and any future messages from that address into whatever other folder you want. But like most people, I get a lot of junk mail, and it all goes into this folder which frequently gets dumped into Yahoo! Mail's trash can.
I can also setup other e-mail FOLDERS by simply clicking on FOLDERS on the Yahoo! Mail menu. With these FOLDERS I can have specific e-mails such as different e-mailing lists, forwarded to specific FOLDERS related to those topics.
Specifically, I have a FOLDER setup for directing all the e-mail I receive from the Epinions e-mail list-servs I belong to. This is handy, because as most people who are a part of an Epinions e-mail list-serv know, you can get a lot of e-mail from other Epinion users. And by having this folder setup, I don't have these e-mails cluttering up my inbox, and I can visit my Epinions folder when I have time.
Error Free Composition???
I love the options provided to me when I compose an e-mail to someone. First off, I love the fact that Yahoo! has a spell-check that allows you to check your spelling and even offers corrections for you to choose from.
Secondly, I love the fact that I can save my e-mail as a draft, allowing me to access and finish at a later time. Attaching documents is easy, and Yahoo! allows you to attach up to three documents at one time, that can add up to a total of 1.5MB. Overall, I've found these options to be great, useful and as always, easy to use.
A Few Other Things...
Yahoo! Mail is very well integrated into the other features Yahoo! offers. On the "main page" of your Yahoo! Mail screen are links not only to your unread mail, but links to Yahoo! Personals; Yahoo! Hotjobs.ca; Yahoo! Website Services; Yahoo! Store; Yahoo! Movies and of course, a link to the latest version of Yahoo! Messenger.
I'll be honest and say right now that I don't check any of these other links with any kind of regularity. I have checked out Yahoo! Personals, and browsed the profiles of the nice young women in my area, but even this has bared no fruit, as it costs money to sign up and reply to any of the young women who have posted pictures on the site.
Another nice option however, is a series of links on this "main page" along the top right hand corner of the screen, which stay at the top of every page during your Yahoo! experience. It includes links not only back to your e-mail, but to a customizable Yahoo! Calendar (which I have used and have found fairly useful), and to
Yahoo! Notepad (which I have never used). There are links provided to your Options, the help menu and a link allowing you to sign out. These links provide a nice continuity when signed into Yahoo! and make the site feel more than just a free e-mail provider.
Only Two Problems...
I only have two problems with Yahoo! Mail, one of which is probably my computer's fault at work.
The first problem occurs when I go to log into Yahoo! Mail at work, and I get an error from Yahoo! saying my password is incorrect. The only way to avoid this error is to double click on the "Sign In" button more than once, very quickly. I suspect however, that this is a problem with my computer at work, as I don't have this problem at home or anywhere else.
The second problem, which is one I have everywhere, deals specifically with my address book. Occasionally, when I click to go into the address book, MS Internet Explorer asks me if I want to download the CHINESE SIMPLIFIED Language Pack in order to view the page properly. I always click on "Cancel" and it doesn't install, leaving me with a page full of scribbles and marks for everything but the names in the book.
Luckily, I know what each button does, so I can select my addresses and click "Done" and go about my work. It gets annoying however, when it does this and I want to add new information. Unfortunately, I'm not at the point where I know what each box represents for adding information about a person. I've never e-mailed Yahoo! about this problem, which I've had for about a year. I don't know why it does this, but it seems to do it every time I go into my address book, whether I'm on a Mac, or using Win95, Win98 or WinXP.
This problem however, isn't the end of the world, and the pluses of using Yahoo! Mail far outweigh this negative. So give Yahoo! Mail a try today - you won't regret it!
Grade: A -
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
firstcontact21
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Steven Lee
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Reviews written: 173
Trusted by: 123 members
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