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I want e-mail for my office. Exploring Exchange Server, Hosted E-mail, and more

There are four common approaches to e-mail. Many of these combine well with each other.

Hosted e-mail

A multitude of hosting companies exist that can provide you with the three main internet host services

Domain registration : This allows you to purchase, reserve, and use your own domain name, such as computerandnetworksupport.net
Web hosting : This allows you to have a web site associated with a domain. Many hosts offer this option separately, letting you save cost if you only need e-mail.
E-mail hosting : E-mail hosting allows you to receive e-mail at your domain name. Even better your host is always on, so you can download and check e-mail at your leisure.

These services are the mainstay of your host. As such it is less expensive because hundreds of customers can be supported with one machine, and there's no additional cost to you for repairs and maintenance. Many hosts also provide 24/7 troubleshooting. Two that we have had good success with technical support from include www.networksolutions.net and www.godaddy.com. When your e-mail is hosted there are two common ways to access it, and mosts hosts let you use both of them at the same time:

POP3 access through programs such as Mozilla Thunderbird Ž and Microsoft Outlook Ž

These programs allow you to download e-mail from your host and store them on your PC. This allows you a greater ability to organize, and enables you to backup locally your e-mail. When setup, your e-mail program can either remove the e-mails from your hosts server or leave them there. The second option combines well with:

Web access to hosted e-mail

The majority of e-mail hosting companies provide a web site through which you can access your e-mail. The downside to web based hosting is that your access requires internet access and not all hosts keep adequate backups in case of a crash. If, for example, you are traveling with a laptop and do not have an internet connection, all e-mails are inaccessible to you. The upside to this approach is that if your computer dies you need simply go to another machine with internet access to see all of your information.

POP3 access through Cellular phones, Blackberries and organizers

Many cell phones and organizers are capable of downloading e-mail in much the same way as regular PCs do. The principle differences here have more to do with interface (small display and keyboard), though backing them can be much more challenging.

Hosting your own e-mail

Hosting your own e-mail frees you from being tied to a host. While this is much more expensive, it grants an additional layer of privacy. Always remember though that e-mail, all e-mail, by default is transmitted in the clear. Without an additional layer of security such as gnupg http://www.gnupg.org/ you still are unprotected.

Sharing Calendar, To-do lists, and Contact information

Some hosts, such as GoDaddy, and Google enable you to share information with other users in your business. When done through the web this technology works fairly seamlessly. This places us back to the issue of depending on internet access. There are numerous tools and add-on programs, that enable us to do this and still use a client based e-mail program. Each is frought with serious limitations making this options excellent for features, but poor for stability. Here are some details from personal experience:

Google Calendar : The calendar synchronization program has difficulty cleaning up deleted appointments when synchronizing. Thus if you remove a calendar online or in your PC side e-mail program it does not synchronize on the other side. Contacts and to-do lists do not synchronize.
GoDaddy : Provides Microsoft Exchange Ž hosting. This is the most features rich, enabling you to share contacts, calendar, e-mails, and to-do lists. The downside is all of this is dependant on your internet connection being live. Your computer does, however, keep a local copy of your data, enabling you to access personal information while disconnected.
In-house Exchange server Ž. While more expensive than other options, this enables you to have access to your information while in the office even if your internet connection is down. The downside is that I have never had an effective recovery from a backup. After four incidents requiring recovery, all with excellent backups, I have yet to have one that did not loose substantial quantities of data. Paying over $250 an hour for Microsoft's Ž best tech support only provided me with the consolation that it was a fluke. All four times.

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Last updated: 2/6/2012

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