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Short for electronic mail - e-mail
E-mail
Short for electronic mail, e-mail is the transmission of messages over communications networks. The messages can be notes entered from the keyboard or electronic files stored on disk. Most mainframes, minicomputers and computer networks have an e-mail system. Some e-mail systems are confined to a single computer system or network, but others have gateways to other computer systems, enabling you to send electronic mail anywhere in the world.
Using an e-mail client (software such as Microsoft Outlook or Eudora), you can compose an e-mail message and send it to another person anywhere, as long as you know the recipient e-mail address. All online services and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer e-mail, and support gateways so that you can exchange e-mail with users of other systems. Usually, it takes only a few seconds for an e-mail to arrive at its destination. This is a particularly effective way to communicate with a group because you can broadcast a message or document to everyone in the group at once.
One of the biggest black clouds hanging over e-mail is spam. Though definitions vary, spam can be considered any electronic junk mail (generally e-mail advertising for some product) that is sent out to thousands, if not millions, of people. Often spam perpetrates the spread of e-mail Trojans and viruses. For this reason, it's important to use an updated anti-virus program, which will scan your incoming and outgoing e-mail for viruses.
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