by Nilooka Dissanayake
"Knowledge itself is power," says Francis Bacon (1597). This is as true today as it was over 400 years ago when Bacon lived. For this reason and for others, we seek knowledge.

According to Samuel Johnson, knowledge is of two kinds. "We know a subject ourselves," says he, "or we know where we can find information upon it". Most people learn subjects. The other type of knowledge comes from developing your curiosity and interest; it comes out of expanding your own horizons. The internet is a vast resource for acquiring both kinds of knowledge.

However, by itself, the internet is like water — neither good nor bad. When you mix medicine with it, you can cure ills; when you mix poison to it, it can be deadly. So, let us learn to use the internet wisely.

This series of articles will help you find what you want easily on the internet, without wasting much time about it. The series will take a theme and list down websites that give information or services related to that theme. Today, as the first in the series, we will look at creating your own free email account.

Getting Your Own Free Email Account

Some people have their own computers. They probably have their own email account and internet connections as well. Others will have email and internet access in office. They are still the lucky handful.

The majority of you will neither have a computer at home nor access to one in office. You may be a student, a small businessperson or a housewife. Do not despair. You can still have your own email account and learn things on the internet. Neither you, as an individual nor this country can afford to ignore the power of the internet until everyone has computers and internet access at home, office or school. So, we must make do with what we have. Of course, you may have to go to an internet cafe or get access to a friend’s computer. But, let us remember that if there is a will, there is a way! We have the will, let us find the way.

Many organisations offer free internet based email facilities. The best part is, you can access them from any computer, anywhere in the world. Here are some of the more popular ones.

yahoo.com [http://www.yahoo.com]

Want to get "yourname@yahoo.com" as an email address? Try Yahoo! This is my favourite, and has been for over 8 years. Yahoo is the most popular internet site in the world because it receives the largest number of visitors a day.

Once you enter the Yahoo! site, click the icon for email. It is right next to the Yahoo! name at the top. Then click Get Yahoo! Mail and sign up for the Free Edition as a new user. Remember to have a password ready.

hotmail.com [http://www.msn.com]

Want to support Bill Gates? Join Hotmail from the Microsoft Network. You can create Hotmail accounts on site at msn.com. Or else, if you are using a computer with the Outlook Express email software, you can create a new account through that.

Simply open Outlook Express, go to Tools — New Account Sign Up — Hotmail and create your own Hotmail account. You can check out Outlook Express Help facility if you need more information.

Other Free Email

[http://www.others-vs-hotmail.com/]

This site gives a good comparison of different sites including Yahoo and BizLand.com. It also provides links (clickable web addresses) for you to go and register yourself at those sites.

You can also go into Yahoo! and type in "Free Email" and you will end up with hundreds of links to free email service providers. It would be nice to try out some of them because they have interesting names. You could surprise your friends with these.

HYPERLINK "http://srd.yahoo.com/drst/37617561/*http://www.firstname.com/"First Name.com — offers addresses with your first name as the domain name, such as you@darrensmail.com.

HYPERLINK "http://srd.yahoo.com/drst/47979421/*http://www.ad-free-email.com/"Good Cause Email — free email accounts with upgrades that support good causes.

HYPERLINK "http://srd.yahoo.com/drst/26993474/*http://www.grlmail.com/"GrlMail.com - free web-based email address for girls.

How about sending email in Sinhala?

Check out lanka.info [http://www.lanka.info] and learn how to send an email in Sinhala. Learning to type the Sinhala will take some time though.

That is all for this week. Enjoy emailing. Remember not to become a pest on the internet by abusing your email account.

If you want to learn more...

Please let us know which subjects you are interested in. We will try to cover them in future articles. You can reach us on ezine_athwela@sltnet.lk

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The writer is the Managing Editor of Athwela Vyaparika Sangarawa (Athwela Business Journal), the only Sinhala management monthly targetting the small and medium sized business operators and its English version, Small Business International, to be launched next month.