Exploring Email

What is E-mail?

It is the electronic mail service allows an internet user to send a mail (message)
to another internet user in any part of the world in a near real time manner.

Email is a text based mail consisting of lines of text and can include attachments
such as audio, messages, pictures and documents.
Compare between E-mail and Postal mail
 E-mail Postal Mail

Fast. E-mail takes few minutes to deliver messages all Slow. It takes longer time to deliver messages from
around the world. four to five days to weeks depending on the
destination

Cheap. E-mail costs just the cost of a local phone call. Expensive. Costs as per the national and
international tariff rates.

Convenient. Sending the similar message to many Time Consuming. For sending the same message
people, only the address book needs to be selected. to many people, the same number of envelopes
with addresses will have to be used each along with
a copy of the message

Mode of Travel. Email is passed on from one It makes stops at different postal stations which
computer to another over the network. Each computer come on the way while travelling by air/road etc. till
on the path routes the message further until it reaches it reaches the destination
the right destination

Rate independent of quality and data type. All sorts of Rate depends on the weight of mailing document
graphics, sound, video, text image and multimedia files and the destination
of any length can be sent over the internet.
E-mail Address

It identifies a person and the computer for purposes of exchanging electronic mail
messages.

The basic structure of an e-mail address is

username@hostname

Domain name (or) hostname

E.g. arora11@gmail.com

Here, gmail is the mail server where mailbox arora11 exists.

Write the differences between e-mail address and
web address?
 E-mail address Web address

An e-mail address looks something like Every web page has a unique web address, which is
abc@gmail.com, abc@hotmail.com etc. referred to as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). For
instance, Google is uniquely identified with the web
address - https://www.Google.com

It consists of a user name and a domain name. A A web address consists of a protocol, domain name, and
domain name represents the service provider occasionally the path to a specific web page or location
while a user name represents the unique user on a web page.
identity.

E-mail (Electronic mail) is the transmission of A web browser retrieves the data of any web page using
messages and files through a computer network. its unique web address and shows it to the user.
Today E-mail is a primary verbal exchange
technique for both private and enterprise use.

Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail are the most popular

email service provider
Advantages and Disadvantages of E-mail
Advantages
● Faster
● Easy to reference - Sent and received messages and attachments can be stored
safely.
● Easy to use
● Reliable and Secure mode of communication
● Automated e-mails
● Environment friendly
● Inexpensive
● Advertising tool - Many individuals and companies are using e-mails to advertise
their products, services, etc.
● The person communicating each other need not be available at the same time.
Disadvantages

● Need to check the inbox regularly

● Emails may carry viruses.
● It can become a distraction and can prevent people from doing any productive
work.
● E-mail has created an information overloaded. People are swamped by junk
mail and finding what is relevant and need to be read from the hundreds of
mails that one receives can become a daunting task.
Types of E-mail

● Webmail – this is when we need to use the web browser to

log into an email account, such as Gmail.

● ISP-hosted mail – ISP (Internet Service Provider) can give an

email address.
Question

Q1. Can you use webmail offline as well as online?

Q2. What will happen if you write new emails offline?

Answer

Q1. No. If you use webmail, then it will be online.

Q2. The emails would automatically go into your outbox folder. As soon as
you go online, they will be sent.
Components of Email

● E-mail Header- To and From Field, subject line, Date, CC and BCC.

● Salutation- It is the opening of the actual message.

● Message content- The content of the message.

● Signature-This is the final part of an e-mail message. It includes Name of

Sender, Address, and Contact Number.
Sample Email Header
List the features available in E-mail
• Inbox (mailbox) - the place where our emails (new and old) are stored.

• Draft - the place where our emails are drafted and send later.

• Sent - the place where our outgoing emails are stored.

• Trash - the place where our deleted emails are stored.

• Compose - the place where we can write mails to send.

• Custom folder/label - It is the custom folder (or) label that we can create our own to move the
mails accordingly.
• Contacts - it is also called as address book where we can store contacts along with their email
id. Through contacts we can create single contact or multiple contacts at a time.
• Calendar - we can book an appointment (or) block our calendar for meetings or any other
events.
• Header - It is the part of email message that contains sender and recipient email addresses.
Address Book Groups

• Sometimes you want to send an email to a whole group of people such as your
family, or your friends, or everyone in your class.
• This is when an address book group is useful.

• If we give each group a name that is an easy identifier for that group, we only
need to use that group name when we want to send them all group members an
email.
Compose Text Tools

• In an email, we can highlight words that we want to change, then

choose the font style, size or colour.
• We can use bold, underline and italics, just like a word processor.
• We can also use copy and paste, as well as the spellchecker.
• We can also insert photo, attach files, insert links and insert signature.
• It also provides other formatting options are text alignment, text
indentation, bullets & numbering, strikethrough text.
Create an Email Signature

● Sign in to Outlook.com and select Settings. > View all Outlook settings at the
top of the page.

● Select Mail >Compose and reply.

● Under Email signature, type your signature and use the available formatting
options to change its appearance. ...

● Select Save when you're done.

Add Email Signature to the message

● Open a new email message.

● On the Message menu, select Signature > Signatures.

● Depending on the size of your Outlook window and whether you're composing
a new email message or a reply or forward, the Message menu and the
Signature button might be in two different locations.
Calendar

● Calendar is the calendar and scheduling component of Outlook that is fully

integrated with email, contacts, and other features.

● Just as you write in a notebook, you can click any time slot in the Outlook
Calendar and start typing. By using the Calendar you can create
appointments and events, organize meetings, view group schedules, and
much more.
 WHAT IS EMAIL PROTOCOL?

E-mail Protocols are set of rules that help the client to properly
transmit the information to or from the mail server.
Protocols For Email

● SIMPLE MAIL TRANSFER PROTOCOL (SMTP): SMTP is designed to send and distribute
outgoing e-mail. This is termed as outbound mail

● POST OFFICE PROTOCOL (POP): POP3 is designed for receiving incoming e-mails. It is
termed as inbound mail

● INTERNET MESSAGE ACCESS PROTOCOL (IMAP): Internet message access protocol

(IMAP) is an internet standard protocol used by e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail messages
from a mail server (eg. Lotus notes mail server) over a TCP/IP connection. It is termed as
inbound mail
 SMTP
• It was first proposed in 1982. It is a standard protocol used for sending e-mail efficiently and
reliably over the internet.
• SMTP is text based protocol.
• It handles exchange of messages between e-mail servers over TCP/IP network.
• Apart from transferring e-mail, SMPT also provides notification regarding incoming mail.
• When you send e-mail, your e-mail client sends it to your e-mail server which further contacts
the recipient mail server using SMTP client.
• In case, message cannot be delivered, an error report is sent to the sender which makes
SMTP a reliable protocol.
 POP3

• Email clients use Post Office Protocol 3 for retrieving messages from email
servers.
• Email clients that use POP3 store messages on the user’s computer, deleting
them from the email server.
• It does not keep the server and client in synchronization. When you download
your mail, it is deleted from the server.
 IMAP

• IMAP keeps the two synchronization - you download only a copy. It is only deleted
from the server when you manually delete it.

• IMAP allows multiple users to send emails at a time. This is a helpful feature for
business owners, who assign communication with customers to different team
members
Difference between POP and IMAP

POP IMAP

Emails are stored on a single device once they Emails are stored on the server and can be
are downloaded and removed from the server. accessed using multiple devices.

Only one mailbox can be created on the server. It Multiple mailboxes can be created on the server.
doest not allow to organize mails. Allows user to organize the mails on the server.

It does not allow syncing of a user’s emails. Users can sync their emails using this protocol.

It requires minimum use of server resources. Clients are totally dependent on server.
 WHY IS COMPUTER SECURITY
IMPORTANT?

In this digital era, we all want to keep our computers and our personal information
secure and hence computer security is important to keep our personal information
protected. It is also important to maintain our computer security and its overall health
by preventing viruses and malware which would impact on the system performance.
There are various types of computer security which is widely used to protect
the valuable information of an organization.

• Data security is securing information such as protecting files, databases,

accounts from unauthorized access, modification & deletion
• Application Security is securing an application by building security
features to prevent from Cyber Threats such as Denial of Service (Dos)
attacks which makes website not available to the user, data breaches and
etc.
• Cybersecurity is defined as protecting computer systems, which
communicate over the computer networks
 TYPES OF SECURITY RISKS

• HACKING
• VIRUS
• PHISHING
• PHARMING
 HACKING

• Hacking is the process of gaining unauthorized access

(Hijack usernames and passwords) into a computer
system, or group of computer systems.
• It can lead to identity theft or gaining personal information
• Data can be deleted, changed or corrupted.
 PHISHING

The creator sends out a legitimate-looking email. As soon as

the recipients clicks on a link in the email/attachment, the
user is sent to a fake/bogus website.
 PHISHING

• Many of us have
received similar emails
as shown in the
following screenshot.
They appear as if
coming from a genuine
source, but in fact if we
analyze them a little
carefully, they are not.
Such emails are called
“phishing”.
HOW TO DETECT A PHISHING EMAIL?

• Spelling and Bad Grammar

• Links/attachments in Email
• Spoofing Popular Websites or Companies
• Salutation
 VIRUS

• Computer virus is a malicious code or program designed to alter the way

a computer system operates and is written in such a way that it can
spread from one computer to another (duplicate) by itself without the
user's knowledge with the intention of deleting or corrupting files, or cause
the computer to malfunction.

• A computer virus can spread through internet downloads, e-mail

attachments, the infected removable disk, social media scam links, etc.
 HOW TO PROTECT AGAINST VIRUS?

• Install an anti-virus program and keep it up-to-date. There are

several free anti-virus, but, it is recommended to always use
good quality premium anti-virus software on the computer.
• Don’t install software from unknown sources.
• Be mindful, when opening an email/attachment from the
unknown person.
 PHARMING

Pharming attacks involve redirecting user requests by

rerouting the target from its intended IP address to one
controlled by the hacker.
 HOW TO PROTECT AGAINST PHARMING?

• Choose a trustworthy internet service provider (ISP)

• Check URLs for typos
• Look for URLs that begin with HTTPS
• Evaluate websites before taking action
• Avoid links and files from unknown sources
• Install some strong antivirus software from a reputable provider
• Ensuring strong password security on routers to help prevent drive-by
attacks.
HOW TO STAY SAFE IN EMAIL
AND ONLINE?
 STAY SAFE

• Do not tell anyone your email address unless you know them.
• Do not open an email if you do not know who it is from.
• Do not open a hyperlink in an email without checking with an adult first.
• Check the spelling of an email address carefully before you send the email.
• Never give anyone the password to your email account.
• Never give out personal information in emails.
• Never open an attachment from someone you do not know.
• Only research appropriate topics when using the internet.
 KEYWORDS
Webmail: when we log into our email account using a web browser. We can access this from
anywhere.

Web browser: software that opens websites such as MS Internet explorer, or Google Chrome.

Download: to copy data from a website to our own computer.

Online: when we are connected to the email server.

Offline: when we are not connected, or offline, we can still access emails already stored on the
computer, but new emails will not be sent or received.

Mail Server: A remote or central computer that holds electronic mail (e-mail) messages for clients on
a network.

Server: A server is a software or hardware device that accepts and responds to requests made over
a network.

Client: The device that makes the request, and receives a response from the server, is called a client.
 KEYWORDS
ISP-hosted mail: Download emails onto the computer using software, for example, Microsoft
Outlook or Thunderbird.

Host: A server that stores your emails. You have access to this server to read or send an
email.

ISP: Internet service provider. The company that provides your internet connection.

IP Address: An internet protocol (IP) address is a rational numerical unique address which is
allocated to every single computer to connect to the Internet.

Folder/Label: A named location in your mailbox. You can move emails into different folders
to keep them organised.

Offline: when you are not connected, or offline, you can still access emails already stored on
your computer, but new emails will not be sent or received.
 KEYWORDS
• Mailbox: the place where our emails (new and old) are stored.

• Blind carbon copy (bcc): a copy of the email is sent to the person who is bcc’d. The other
people who receive the email will not know that the bcc person has been included.

• Carbon copy (cc): a copy of the email is sent to the person who is cc’d. The other people who
receive the email will know that the cc person has been included.

• Address book: stores names and email addresses so we do not have to remember them each
time you want to send them an email. Example: creating contacts in gmail account.

• Attachment: a document, or file that is sent in an email.

 KEYWORDS
• Hyperlink:a word, or words or an image on a website or email, that when we click on it, takes
us to another webpage.

• Software: a computer program.

• Malware: software that is installed without our knowledge, usually to damage our computer.

• Virus: a type of malware that makes copies of itself and can delete the data on our computer.

• Upload: to copy data from our computer to another computer. Sending an email uploads our
email from our computer to the server.