Different Types of Email

Web-based: You can access them through a web interface only. Usually they are free and they come with no support or guarantees against email loss. If someone hacks your email, you have no legal action you can take against the email provider. There is no encryption offered with them either, so confidential emails that you send through them are sent as plain text and can be easily intercepted. Examples of this type of email is Yahoo and Hotmail. I would not recommend sending any SSNs or contracts through this type of email. Gmail is encrypted. If you are unsure about your email and whether it is encrypted or not, contact your email provider's website. AOL has some encryption, but the abundance of AOL decryption programs makes AOL a poor choice for sending business emails.

Pop3: Pop3 downloads to a single computer and stays on that computer. You are limited only by the storage limit of your email client. The disadvantage of Pop3 is you can view your email on only the computer that it is downloaded to.

IMAP: IMAP is an Internet folder and can be used as either web-based or with an email client. It has a storage limit set by the Internet provider. The advantage is its versatility and you can see your email from any computer in the world. That's why it is my personal favorite.

Using company provided email is usually the best option for business customers because there is both the encryption that you need for confidential transactions and the guarantee if something goes wrong. At my company, we can restore emails up until 2 weeks after the email loss.

Exchange email: Exchange is an email system that provides both web based email and Outlook email. The storage limit is limited only by the hardware of the host computer. The disadvantage is administration and cost. A medium sized company will need an Exchange administrator full time to take care of this email system. The software and hardware are expensive to replace. Ten years ago, Exchange was the all the rage, but it has gone out of fashion because of the high expense needed to maintain it. In today's economy, Exchange is losing big time.

Whatever email you use, it's important to know how to back it and if you need to do so. It's also important to know if it provides encryption or falls short of being a good business email system.