Email

Email was invented in the early 1970’s as a text-based only type of communications unlike the vast array of communications e-mail is now (pictures and links etc.).  The origin of e-mail was before the introduction of the internet.

The advantages of email originate from its simplicity, it’s easy to use, it's fast, provides a permanent record of the communications, is able to be both formal and informal. With attachments the email is able to be to deliver any message, whether it is text, pictures or files. It is able to be sent to anyone in any place at any time, making it a quicker and cheaper way than by telephone.

The disadvantages do however come from the advantages, as email is so simple it can be misused very easily. At a simple level, inappropriate messages, e.g. spam, can be used and at a higher level accounts can be hacked, Trojans or viruses sent and all details taken.

Simple mail transfer protocol is standard feature of email. SMTP is an internet standard across IPs. SMTP allows senders to communicate with the mail receiver by issuing commands and supplying necessary data.

POP3, post office protocol, is an application for email that allows local email clients to receive emails from a remote, private server.  POP3 currently has several authentication methods to provide varied levels of security for the server.

Spam is unsolicited email, which contains commercial content. The emails are not wanted by the account user and first became a problem in the mid-1990’s. Now a days email accounts contain a spam box, which instantly puts all spam into, making sure you do not accidently open it and receive viruses etc.

A computer virus is a malicious program which infests your computer, making it unusable and easy to get information off of. Viruses can copy themselves and infect computers.

There are many devices that can now send and receive mail, computers still lead the way in this department but now phones and even computer consoles such as the PS3 are catching up with it. People in this generation are blessed with the large amount of different ways as to which you can communicate between people, and we as a generation should be very grateful.