Many Netizens are trumpeting the fact that many Web-based services are now being offered for free. Yahoo!, Google, and Microsoft are at the forefront in providing freebies on the Internet. The most notable of the services that these three giants are providing millions of people with is e-mail addresses.

How Do They Survive?

One might wonder as to what is the catch on all these costless offerings. Surely the companies that offer free cyber “spaces” or virtual mailboxes are spending millions just to keep the accounts up and running. So what do they get in return?

Many e-mail hosts explain that they try to recoup their costs in sponsoring the e-mail accounts by attracting advertisers to their sites. Indeed, ads are very familiar sights on the pages of companies offering free Web services. Some ads may seem benign, appearing as very small and negligible icons. Others can be very evident, such as a banner appearing at the heading of the e-mail page.

Date With Disaster

Web sites for dating and socializing are also mainly offered for free. The most popular of such services include MySpace, Multiply, and Friendster. Millions sign up for accounts on these Web services. Again, the costs of maintaining these sites are financed through earnings from advertisements.

e-mail accounts and social sites are just a few of the many Web services that are being offered without any monetary consideration. While the big names in the industry dominate the market, there are small or not-so-known companies that offer Web-based services that one should be wary about.

It should be noted that when opening an e-mail, dating, and other Web-based accounts, one must provide sensitive details about himself or herself. You might think that giving out your middle name, surname, or birth date is inconsequential or harmless. Indeed, questions asking for the said facts or details are already staples in almost all application forms. However, these details are also the ones that you use in financial and other important transactions. These details can be collated and later on used to the detriment of its owner.

Not Fine

Identity theft or the use of personal information is usually involuntary. These data are usually taken cunningly through scams. However, there are times when these are taken with consent.

Whenever you sign up for Web-based services, you enter into a contract with the provider. As with ordinary contacts, electronic ones are usually written in fine print. Be very cautious when agreeing to the terms and conditions of the service. Many do not read the provisions of the contract as they are often voluminous and littered with terms that only law degree-holders could understand. Among the most dangerous provision therein is the one which allows the provider to use and share the personal information that you’ve provided on the application form.

Vigilance

Nothing good is for free. More often than not, there’s always a catch. Some conditions may be benign, such as allowing advertisers to post their banners on your e-mail account. However, there are also risks. You might inadvertently allow somebody on the Net to use your personal details for purposes that could be very damaging to you or to others. Prudence is a virtue that one must have not only in the real world, but also in the virtual one.

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How many e-mail addresses do you have? I bet that you have at least two. With all the free offers from MSN, Yahoo!, and Google, it’s hard not to keep a few mistresses. My primary e-mail account is sponsored by Yahoo!, while my secondary account is from Gmail.

Some say that the viability or feasibility of free e-mail accounts would soon be defeated by users like me who keep two or three addresses. The argument seems persuasive, but it is also flawed. True, the needless opening of accounts wastes space on Yahoo! or Hotmail’s servers. However, with storage real estate getting cheaper by the day, one would wonder if anything is wasted at all.

Before @

One thing that’s definitely squandered, though, is the address. It’s almost a certainty that the e-mail address that you prefer has already been taken by somebody else. You’ll probably need to add a series of numbers after your preferred e-mail address in order to make it unique and personal.

There are people who purposely register multiple e-mail addresses. They won’t be using those accounts, though. Instead, they would be selling it to persons who want to have that account. Those addresses usually bear a very common name or a popular or catchy word.

Segregation

Going back to my contention that having multiple e-mails is not exactly needless or wasteful, many people keep multiple addresses in order to separate the good from the bad, the precious from the worthless, and above all, the spam from the ham.

Like thousands of people around the globe, I keep separate e-mails for work and play. My Gmail account keeps all correspondences from my boss and officemates, while my Yahoo! address keeps all those letters, e-cards, and hilarious mails from relatives and friends.

Bigger and Better

Five years ago, one of the main reasons why people maintain multiple e-mail accounts is because of limited storage space. Those who receive mails with large attachments always keep around 3-5 e-mail accounts.

Storage space problems are already relics of the past. Gigabytes of space are now being offered even on free accounts. This is virtually limitless, unless you’re constantly trading large multimedia files. If size is all that you’re worrying about, then I could assure you that you only need one e-mail account. To borrow Gmail’s ad, you’ll never need to delete another message again. To have a secondary e-mail, then, due to space concerns is a needless glut.

Spam

Another reason why people open up second or third accounts is that their primary e-mail has already been infested with junk mails. Spam has been a major problem for both e-mail account providers and holders alike for the past several years. Those who had it bad receive hundreds, or even thousands, of worthless and unsolicited mails on a daily basis. While many e-mail accounts have a “Report as Spam” feature, the unwanted mails usually find their way back to the addresses.

E-mail account holders should be very responsible in opening and maintaining addresses. It’s common knowledge that free services or products tend to be abused. Don’t waste precious space and addresses. They might be free and abundant, but they’re certainly not unlimited.

Be also vigilant in checking the source of suspicious or unknown e-mails as they usually carry harmful attachments or point you to links that contain unwanted applications which could modify your Windows registry and other system files. Always scan attachments before downloading them. If you think you’ve inadvertently opened an infected e-mail, open up your registry cleaner and antivirus and conduct a complete system scan.

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