Personality factors:
Before we dive in, there are some important things to consider about yourself. If you're new to email, let's look at some behaviors that you already exhibit. What do you do when you get physical mail? Do you hold on to every personal letter you receive? Do you file everything away in a well organized system? Do you toss everything away as soon as you are done reading it, or are there maybe a few items that you want to hold on to while discarding the rest? Do you look through all the coupons you receive? After thinking about these questions, would you consider yourself more of a collector or a consumer(toss when done)? If you're more inclined to hold on to your letters, would you consider yourself more organized or controlled chaos? The answers to these will guide how you should and will use email.
Included Accounts with ISP's:
If you pay for internet service, you probably have an email account assigned to you by your provider. In most cases, I would recommend against using such an account. The more people know about that email address, the more susceptible you are to identity theft, or being targeted for other scams. The reason for this is that such email addresses are frequently based on your name, so if a less-than-reputable person or business were to come across your address, they could pretend that they already have a rapport with you by addressing you by name. This is not to say that this assigned account is useless, but it's certainly not Ft. Knox, and should be treated with a bit of caution or respect.
Free Email accounts: There are a number of excellent options available for free email accounts, and among the most popular are Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail, which are offered respectively by Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!. Some of the advantages to using these accounts is that they are web-based: all of your mail is stored on the web, meaning that you can access it from any internet-connected computer. Local email accounts basically live on your personal computer which means they can primarily be accessed only through you own computer. Another advantage to these web-based email services is that you have some flexibility in creating your own personalized address. Picking a name that doesn't include any part of your real name is a bit of added security, and can be a simple to to express yourself in a limited fashion.
Multiple accounts(Pros and Cons)
Web-based or provided email, which should I use? Honestly, both. Web accounts are excellent for keeping in touch with friends and anything that you may do online that's "fun". But everybodyluvskittens@madeup.com(not a real email address, I hope) might not be a good thing to put on a resume. You should be very selective with you you give your email address to, especially if it includes your name. Prospective employers are a safe bet, as are banks(for setting up bill-pay), but for anything else, I would highly recommend using a separate account. There is a simple truth to remember about giving out your email address: the more you give it out, the more junk mail you will receive. Giving your web-based account to everyone that's not strictly work or bill related is a simple way of keeping all of your junk limited to one area, leaving the email you use for more professional business clean and easier to deal with.
Risks Inherent with Emails:
Junk Mail is an insidious part of any email account that's been active at all, and even the best filters are going to let some of it slip through. Most of it is just advertisements, but some of it is actually harmful to a computer. Sometimes simply opening a junk message can install a virus, and many others require you to click on a link, image, or attachment before it can install. If you don't understand the subject, or who the message is from, play it safe and delete the message without opening it. Another risk that you face with email is scammers. They have a colorful variety of names online, but they all do not mean you well. If anyone, and I mean anyone, asks you for any type of account number, password, social security number or other personal identifying information do NOT give it to them. This is the equivalent of someone in a suit or uniform asking you for your wallet. A polite, well dressed thief is still a thief. Something else to be aware of is that email is not as private as you might think. Some one with the know-how and interest can very easily read your email messages, so as long as you keep private info out of your emails, you should be fine. Don't worry, they aren't interested in any secrets of yours that aren't in the form of an account number or social security number. Your secret crush is still a secret. That video of you dancing like a fool at your cousin's wedding: well, that's probably on You Tube by now.
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