Q: I have always used Web-based mail accounts that let me do everything online from anywhere. I know there are advantages with Outlook and other programs, but is it really worth the hassle of managing mail on the local machine?
A: Maximum mailbox size used to be a major factor when choosing between a Web-based mail service and a program that downloads your messages to your hard drive from your Internet provider’s servers.
This is not as much of an issue now, with services such as Google’s Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Windows Live Hotmail now offering at least 2 gigabytes of mail storage.
Many Web mail services have added text-formatting options, spelling checkers, spam filters and easier ways to sort your messages, all things that have been features in stand-alone mail programs such as Eudora and Outlook for years. Dedicated mail programs usually provide more robust versions of these features, however, and sending a file attachment can be as easy as dragging a file onto the message body instead of having to locate it on your computer and upload it to your mail account. And you don’t have advertisements on your messages with a mail program.
Web-based mail does let you keep all your messages in one place, instead of potentially having them spread out on multiple computers, but unless you’ve saved mail to your hard drive, you have to be online to get to it. Many Web mail providers now let you have it both ways by letting you download copies of your messages with a stand-alone mail program.
Q: How can I get my Mac to give an audible notice when alert boxes appear on the screen?
A: Spoken-word alerts can help get your attention when the computer needs something.
In Mac OS X, go to the System Preferences under the Apple menu.
When the System Preferences box opens, click on the Speech icon and then on the Text to Speech tab for the alert options.
Several versions of Windows include a Narrator program that can announce events as they are signaled on the screen. There is a tutorial on using Narrator in Windows XP at tinyurl.com/wm69j.
