gmail?

[Hyacinth]

There's a lot of talk currently about it, on my freecycle site. What is it & what are the advantages, anyone know?

Thanks.

[Hyacinth]

[Curryandchips]

In the UK, I think this means googlemail (problems with the name gmail apparently). I use it and find it useful. It is an online email account, eg similar to hotmail, except that it claims you never need to delete an email, as your individual account size is massive (mine is over 2G currently, and growing ...). There is an archiving system which uses labels, so you can group emails by attaching labels, for access at a later date.

Being online, it does not use your hard drive, so computer problems don't lose important emails. I have my A4A personal messages sent to my googlemail address, so I have a record of every message sent to me - I have found this useful.

In a nutshell, to me, it gives peace of mind at no cost.

Just checked - I have 2.8Gb and am only using 8Mb ...

LINK

[Spruance]

As Curry says, I think the name differentiation stems from another company holding the copyright on the gmail name in the UK.

I have had a  Googlemail account for four months now, and am more than happy with it. Like Curry I also have 2.8Gb of available pace, and am currently using 60Mb.

In addition to regular email, there is also a no frills Chat package which can be used to communicate with fellow Googlemail account holders. It doesn't have all of the bells and whistles that MSN has, but IMHO that makes it better! It also has the option of a physical record of each chat conversation.

I also have email alerts sent to my Googlemail account, and additionally use mail forwarding from Googlemail to my primary email account.

The one curiosity is that membership seems to be by invitation only. So to obtain a Googlemail account, you first need an invitation from an existing user. Here again is another oddity. At the outset I received no invitations - to invite friends -.  Then, two months later, and completely out of the blue, I received fifty. Despite having issued several invitations since then, I still have fifty!

It is certainly a very user friendly system - and still no spam!

[Curryandchips]

- and still no spam!

Yes, I forgot that bit !!!

[kitten]

Yeah, i have a googlemail account too, was sent an invitation (to my hotmail email!) by a friend about a year ago. Having previously used MSN messenger, i have to say i prefer the googlemail instant messaging, it's much easier to use. x

[Hyacinth]

Oh OK many  thanks all....I'd picked up on the invite bit, no probs there....although we've all got an invite from a fellow recycler, someone's just posted that you don't need one now..Think I might give it a whirl then....final question...like hotmail & yahoo, it just sits quietly in the background until you logon with no intrusive toolbars showing until you do?

[Curryandchips]

Being google, it will probably offer you the google toolbar when you register (just decline or remove it via control panel if you end up with it accidentally). It is online, so there is nothing on your computer, other than possibly a cookie to remember your login details if you so choose ...

Derek

[Hyacinth]

Thanks DEREK  ;) ;D

Sounds good, so I'll register & download NOW!

[Spruance]

You can sign up to GoogleTalk if you wish, but it's not essential.

With GoogleTalk enabled, you get a pop-up message every time someone sends you an email on Googlemail, and you can also use it to set your chat status, such as 'available', or 'busy' etc.

In theory it should be possible to have a person to person telephone conversation via GoogleTalk, as with Skype, but I haven't tried that yet.

[kenkew]

I've had Google Groups for sometime now but not the Gmail. I'd like to try it. What's the way forward?

[Spruance]

I've had Google Groups for sometime now but not the Gmail. I'd like to try it. What's the way forward?

Hi,

The way forward is that I have just sent you a Googlemail invitation to your kenkew hotmail account! ;)

Enjoy! ;D

[kenkew]

I tried to break it, Spruance, but it's a toughy!
Best thing about it ( after the first glance) is that only people you initially contact - or at least are like minded- are able to contact users. That alone should save quite a lot of time not having to sift through all the garbage.
Thanks for the link.

[kenkew]

Coincidence?
Since I installed Gmail I've had problems. The 'puter is crawling instead of running. Sometimes I can't access the internet, my Outlook mail is stuck trying to download an E and opening the simplest programme can take a minute or more instead of the split second it used to take.
Before I take Gmail off, has anyone else had this problem?
I've run a virus check and all seems OK....I'm thinking it could be a hard-drive problem. Any thoughts?

I was accessing this page OK but after opening Gmail in a second window I'm back to running slow...took 3 minutes for this page to open again!

[MrsKP]

I've used gmail for eons and like it lots.

My only problem is that i can't access it from work.

I've heard people say that it attracts unwanted tracking of stuff, but never found it to be the case (maybe that's if you download the toolbar).

I have an account in my professional name and my board name and have set up one account to forward to the other and can reply by using either name (when I remember to select it).

The only other problem i find is when forwarding a mail.  You have to know who you're forwarding it to rather than selecting from a complete list of contacts.  Perhaps I'm doing something wrong.

I've still got a couple of hotmail accounts going which just ends up with loads of spam.  Don't seem to get any with gmail.

[kenkew]

It's more pointing to Outlook Express. There's mail trying to come in but seems stuck. I don't think it's possible to reject it to clear things up.
At the moment I seem to be running OK again.....Strange beasties these m/c's.
If anyone is trying to contact me regarding the A4A raffle...don't panic...I'm working to fix this monster!

[Spruance]

I don't have any problems with Gmail, although I don't collect my Gmail via Outlook Express. At home I usually have GoogleTalk enabled so pick up any mail that way. Otherwise at work I either log in to my Google account or Pipex Netmail.