"Electronic Mail", often called "E-Mail" is the most common form of communication on the internet. E-Mail messages are sent to and received by people who have an E-Mail Address which looks something like username@domain.com and who have an E-Mail Program to read and write E-Mail messages.

To send an E-Mail message you need to know the person's E-Mail Address. Likewise you'll also need your own E-Mail address to send and receive E-Mail. When you sign up at Active Web Hosting, you can set up as many E-Mail accounts as you wish. Each account is an E-Mail address with it's own unique username and password which you can choose.

Here are some useful tips for getting started with using E-Mail:

• Be Careful What You Open
  
  Never open an E-Mail from someone you don't know or that has an attachment you weren't expecting. Viruses transmit via E-Mail which can cause your computer to crash or do other undesireable things such as send your personal information and/or passwords to someone you don't even know.

• Don't Forward Everything
  
  Do not forward E-Mail chain letters and pyramid schemes. These letters often are forwarded to a great many people, and insist that it is important that you send it on to everyone you know. Many of these are hoaxes and some are illegal to send out. Nothing bad will happen to you if you ignore and delete them. Do not forward or send anything that your recipient does not expect from you. If you are sure that your recipient wants a forwarded item, please edit out other people's E-Mail addresses and any quoting marks which look like this: >

• Do Not Spam
  
  Do not send the same E-Mail message to a great deal of people. Spamming is not permitted on Active Web Hosting servers. If you want to share something with several of your friends, that should be ok as long as it's not too many people and it's not done too many times. While you may receive messages from your favorite mailing lists, you are not allowed to run mailing lists on our servers. A mailing list is a program that sends it's members' messages to everyone else on the list. This also sometimes is done manually, as in sending a newsletter to many people on a list.

• Keep Your Friends' E-Mail Addresses Private
  
  If you are sending E-Mail to more than one person, be sure to find the BCC: (Blind Carbon Copy) line in your E-Mail Reader and put the recipient's addresses in that field. Put your own E-Mail address in the To: field. This way you can help keep everyone's E-Mail address private. Everyone will see your E-Mail address but not anybody else's.

• Be Nice
  
  This normally goes without saying. Be nice when sending E-Mail to a new friend and treat them as you would meeting a new friend in real life. Sometimes not seeing the person face-to-face or hearing their voice you can't always tell what they mean unless they used emoticons (see below). Have patience, but have fun!

• Make Use Of Emoticons
  
  Emoticons are text symbols that can be typed on the keyboard but if viewed a little sideways, look like smile or sad faces. Most often, emoticons are called smilies. Below are a few common exmples.

  :) or :-) Smile
  ;) or ;-) Wink
  :( or :-( Unhappy
  :| or :-| Indifferent
  :> or :-> Smirk
  :O or :-O Surprised or Shocked