• Email stands for Electronic mail. It provides a way of sending messages from one computer to another.
• Each Email you send must have an address to identify who the Email is to be sent to and should also include a subject. The subject should give an idea what the Email is about, and encourages people to open their Email, and not automatically delete it.

An Email address identifies the user and where their mailbox is. E.g. paulsmith@hotmail.com shows that the user Paul Smith has a mailbox at hotmail.com (@ is pronounced 'at').

A wrongly addressed email, e.g. paulsmith@hotmal.com will not be received by the person it is being sent to. In this case, the Email will 'bounce', which is where a message is sent to your account saying that the Email could not be delivered.

• Email is faster than sending a letter by post. An Email message is sent across the world in seconds instead of a number days.
• Email can be checked from anywhere in the world, as long as you can access a computer linked to the Internet.
• A single Email message can be sent to many users at the same time.
• Email is usually cheaper than sending a letter by post.

• 'Junk' Email can be a problem, where strangers send you mail that you do not want (often trying to sell you something). Too much of this junk Email fills up your mailbox and gets in the way of Emails that are important to you.
• Email is not as secure as the postal system. If someone finds out your Email password, they could read ALL your Emails and even block you from reading it by changing your password.

• You may not be able to open an attached file if you do not have the required software package on your computer.
• If an attached file is very large, it may take a long time to download onto your computer.
• If an attachment is very large, it may fill up all the space in your mailbox.
• An attachment could contain a virus, which may stop your computer from working.