BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF E-MAIL ADDRESSES AND EMAIL SERVERS
For each e-mail account, you need the following settings:

  • User information (Your name and e-mail address)
  • Logon Information (User name and password)
    - If you are using Webmail, your username becomes "yourusername@yourdomain.com". (exclude the quotes)
  • Server information (incoming and outgoing mail servers)
    - incoming mail server is mail.yourdomain.com
    - outgoing mail server is mail.yourdomain.com

    Should I use POP3 or IMAP for mail?

    POP3 mail delivery is best suited for accounts that are only going to be used by one person, from one computer. Because POP3 downloads every message, attachments and all, then removes the mail from the server (by default) once your computer has downloaded it, it works best on a single computer.

    IMAP stores messages directly on the mail server, even after you've read them. It permits you to access your mailbox from multiple computers, and gives you the same view of the mailbox no matter where you log in from. IMAP also permits you to create individual folders for mail; while POP3 can indirectly support this, not all mail clients support it.

    In general, if you are on dialup or travel frequently, IMAP is the better choice (it is faster on dialup because it downloads only the messages you request, not the entire mailbox). If you use only a single computer to access your mail, and either have a low mail volume or a reasonable fast internet connection, POP3 may be a viable option.

    For most situations, we recommend IMAP. But for the average user, POP3 is the fastest and easiest.

    SETUP E-MAIL ADDRESS - CLIENTS

    Detailed Instructions For Setting Up Your e-mail address clients:

    Microsoft Outlook Express
    1. Startup Microsoft Outlook Express, then click Tools, then Accounts, then Add, then Mail
    2. Enter your name as you would like it to appear, and then click Next (ex: John Doe)
    3. Enter your full e-mail address, and click Next (ex: jdoe@yourdomain.com)
    4. Enter your mail server name for both incoming & outgoing mail server, and click Next (ex: mail.yourdomain.com)
    5. Enter your account name (same as your full e-mail address) and password, and click Next (ex: jdoe@yourdomain.com)
    6. Click Finish. The Internet Accounts window redisplays.
    7. Click on the Mail tab, and your Account you just created should appear.
    8. Click on Properties, then Servers
    9. Click on the box labeled 'My server requires authentication'
    10. Click Apply, then OK, then Close
    Microsoft Outlook 2002 / Microsoft Outlook 2003 / Microsoft Outlook 2004
    1. Start up Outlook, then click on Tools, then E-mail Accounts
    2. Click on 'Add a new e-mail account', then click Next
    3. Click on 'POP3', then click Next (or IMAP - see question above about IMAP vs. POP3)
    4. Fill in the fields for your e-mail settings, using the following as an example:
      - Your Name: John Doe
      - E-mail Address: jdoe@yourdomain.com
      - Incoming mail server: mail.yourdomain.com
      - Outgoing mail server: mail.yourdomain.com
    5. User name (same as your e-mail address): jdoe@yourdomain.com
    6. Click on More Settings, and a new window displays
    7. Click on the Outgoing Server tab
    8. Click on the 'My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication', then click OK
    9. Click on 'Test Account Settings';
    10. If successful click Close, then Next, then Finish
    Netscape Mail - Setup
    1. Open Netscape Communicator, click on Edit and then choose Preferences.
    2. When the Preferences box comes up, click on the "+" sign directly to the left of "Mail & Groups" then click on Identity.
    3. Enter the following information:
      Your name: Type in the name that you would like to appear in the from field of your outgoing messages.
      e-mail address: Enter the full address of your e-mail account. For example, youre-mail@yourdomain.com
      Reply-to-address: You do not need to enter anything here, however, if you would like for your e-mail recipients to reply to a different e-mail address, then enter that address.
      Organization: Type in the name of the organization that you would like to appear in the from field of your outgoing messages.
    4. Enter the following information:
      - User name (same as your e-mail address): jdoe@yourdomain.com
      - Password
      - Outgoing mail server: mail.yourdomain.com
      - Incoming mail server: mail.yourdomain.com
      Click OK.
    5. Your Netscape Communicator e-mail configuration is now complete. You will need to restart Netscape before you can start sending and receiving e-mail.
    Important: If you are unable to send outgoing mail through your new domain with HostingCity, please do the following steps:
    - Your Cable Modem / DSL / ISP provider blocks port 25 for security reasons. Change the outgoing SMTP port from 25 (default) to 26.
    - If you still cannot send mail through yourdomain.com, some ISP's will not let you use an alternative outgoing e-mail server. You might have to use the SMTP server provider by your Cable Mode / DSL / ISP provider. Please contact them for this information.
    - This should correct the problem, if you still have issues, please contact us at support@hostingcity.com


    E-MAIL PASSWORDS / CHANGE E-MAIL PASSWORDS / WEBMAIL SETUP

    Allow users to change their e-mail password

    If you maintain a group of e-mail accounts for your web site, sometimes users may wish to personally change their e-mail passwords. If so, here's a suggestion on how to handle it:
    1. Set up each user through cPanel and assign them a starter (default) password
    2. Instruct them to access their e-mail via the web - www.yourdomain.com/webmail/
    3. After logging in, they will be presented with the screen to select between NeoMail and Horde. On this screen is a link to 'Change Password', as shown below:
    4. Just enter their new password (twice), and that's it! They can now access their WebMail from any computer on the net through any web browser, 24x7x365.



      Important: If you are trying to use Web Mail from your work site, and get a connection refused, your company may have a firewall in place that is blocking port 2095. Contact your company's network administrator for options.
    MASKING YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS

    Posting your e-mail address on your web site is a sure-fire way to get an Inbox full of spam. There are E-mail harvesting robots (programs) which crawl (search) the web for exposed e-mail addresses.

    Below you will find links and methods for generating code that will display your e-mail address correctly on your web page, but will be virtually undetectable by these email-harvesting robots.

  • Method #1: This method requires no coding or scripting. By adding additional text to your e-mail address, its going to make your e-mail address incorrect! For anyone actually using your e-mail address, tell them to first remove the additional text.

    Example: if your e-mail address is bob@qwerty.com, then on your web site, post your e-mail address as:

    bob@NOSPAMqwerty.com
    or
    bobREMOVETHISFIRST@qwerty.com

    By the way, this solution is also recommended when you post or use your e-mail address at any web based newsgroup or forum.

  • Method #2: E-Mail Obfuscator

    Here is a great little web site that let's you enter your e-mail address, and it will then convert your e-mail address into an HTML code consisting of a series of hexadecimal values, that you can then copy and paste onto your web page wherever you wish to provide a link to your email address.

    Example: bob@qwerty.com gets converted to something like this:

    <a href= "mailto: &#98;o&#98;&#64;&#113;&#119;&#101;&#114;&#116;&#121;&#46;&#99;&#111;&#109;"> &#98;&#111;&#98;&#64;&#113;&#119;&#101;r&#116;&#121;&#46;&#99;&#111;&#109; </a>

    And here's how it looks embedded into a web page:
    bob@qwerty.com

    You can find an e-mail obfuscator at http://alicorna.com/obfuscator.html.