by Charles Miller

An email client is a software program installed on your computer or smart phone that lets you send, receive, and manage emails from your own device. That is one way of using email. The other is called Email Service Provider (ESP) or simply email provider; such as Gmail, HotMail, or Yahoo Mail via the ESPs web page. The latter is also called "webmail" indicating that you store your emails on the web rather than your device and you use the ESP's program to access your email. Using an email client can provide a lot more control over how your email works. Using an Email Service Provider means you have little or no control of how your email works; but neither do you have the worry of updating a program to keep it working. As in all things technology-related, there are pros and cons.

Among the pros of using an email client are that you can read and write emails even when you have no internet access. I often write emails while offline, then send them later. Most email clients are highly configurable, offering advanced customization that includes filters, rules, encryption, and more. Email clients are a mist for managing multiple email accounts. On the con side, any email client will require installation and routine maintenance that could require the user to be just a bit more tech-savvy.

Email Service Providers such as Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail can credit their popularity to the fact they are simple and easy. There is no software to install and so long as you have a computer, smart phone, or other mobile device with an internet connection, you can send and receive email. There are also built-in collaboration tools like calendars and file storage; all free of cost. Cons are that customization is limited compared to email client software. Also, your data stored on the ESPs servers where you may need to be concerned with the storage quotas and other potential limitations on your usage.

All of the preceding was prologue to my answering a question I received from a reader. I am grateful she also phoned me when she did not get a response, because I had not yet seen her email:

On the subject of invisible things that are hard to notice, there is yet another trick that cybercrooks and scam artists are using in their emails. A number of webmail interfaces truncate the "From" field in order to fit the screen, especially on smart phones. The result is that you might receive an email that appears to be from "D.Jones-First-National-Bank.com" but if you were able to the rest of the address that does not fit on the screen it might actually read "D.Jones-First-National-Bank.com.russian-email-scam-hq@suckers.ru." Of course, if your email inbox only displayed the first 30 characters of that long return address, then you might mistakenly think that the email came from your bank.

It is also being reported that this super-long address ploy is seen in text messages from cybercrooks. So whether using email or a messaging app, never assume that a message is legitimate based simply on the part of the name you can see.

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Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant with decades of IT experience and a Texan with a lifetime love for Mexico. The opinions expressed are his own. He may be contacted at 415-101-8528 or email FAQ8 (at) SMAguru.com.

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