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Nearly everyone who uses the Internet is familiar with Gmail, Yahoo Mail and MSN’s Hotmail web-based email services, but there are actually many more such services that you probably haven’t ever heard of. For instance, Zoho is becoming rather well known for their web-based Microsoft Office-compatible applications that duplicate the functions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, but they also have a very strong email service. Having your email working out of the cloud along with your document management system, all individual documents and your planning and organization systems reduces the typical computer clutter and streamlines all of your work.

Gawab is another web based email provider that offers tons of storage, a spam filter and virus protection so you don’t have to worry about heavy or unsafe attachments. This provider also offers a couple of paid subscription versions of their service for business users and those who need more than a free email provider can offer. By comparison, My Way Mail’s free server includes a lot more storage, but has less features overall. Labels and folders don’t work as well in My Way Mail as they do in Gmail and they tuck advertising into your outgoing messages. That looks unprofessional.

Of course, you can always count on the free email accounts provided by your Internet service provider, and most of those support both a desktop mail application and online access. Larger ISPs, by nature of their popularity, are beginning to run low on available user account names. Unless you don’t mind having arbitary numbers or letters in your email address, you’re probably better off choosing a lesser-known free email provider.