GMail acount - new to me...help!

Maidenover

I hope I am in the right place for this question, apologies if not!
I would like to try this new GMail I have seen featured on this site a few times but have no idea how to set it up. I have Microsoft Outlook installed and my ISP is provided by BT Yahoo which also provides e-mail accounts. Not really sure how all this works but when I send/receive emails they appear in my MO inbox/folders. However when I click onto Mail on the BT Yahoo browser it takes me to their e-mail page which usually shows 100's spam mail which have been put into the trash bin. I don't actually use the BT Yahoo mail page only to check this out. I still get really annoying spam email coming through to MO but to be fair only about 2 or 3 a day.

Gmail looks good and I would like to use it just for certain enquiries as suggested, free tickets etc, BUT how do I set it up so that it doesn't mess up my MO accounts which run fairly smoothly at present (famous last words) and are there any drawbacks to it - I see it has ads running down sides.

Any help/advice would be great........simple directions please, as over 50's here and not up with all the techie stuff as you probably gathered
cheers
Maura

davemack_2

please take the plunge, it's not as difficult as you fear. Gmail is 'web-based', so you don't have to use your email software such as Outlook, Outlook Express, or whatever; instead, you use your browser to view, send-and-receive and generally do everything else you need to handle your Gmail online. Their help system is very good, too, and will explain how to set up your email in the way you've been accustomed to, if that's what you really would prefer.

mattogier

Firstly I sugest that you use Thunderbird as it has in built Junk Filters that "learn" - I have also got BT Yahoo but have had to turn off their junk filter as some important emails seem to get filtered out by mistake. Thunderbird seems to cope with 98% of the Viagra junk that come through and it is easy to add items to the junk folder.

You can also use your normal mail program for gmail (or googlemail as I think they are now called) using the following settings...

pop server: pop.googlemail.com

username: your gmail address xyz@googlemail.com or whatever

password: you know it!

You can use your normail outgoing mail server mail.btinternet.com - you will need to use yout btyahoo name and password for this as outgoing mail to as btyahoo check for this info.

I would suggest that you also set the incomming to never delete, leave message on server, as one of the advantages of gmail is that you NEVER have to lose a message.

As an asside I have also set my outgoing mail to BCC to gmail and all other incomming mail to copy to gmail so that I never lose any email following a crash etc or I can log on wherever I am and check ALL my mail in one place.

Hope this helps

Matt

greyster

I used to use outlook at home [still do for work] and all other email applications but just use web based email now.

As said in post #2, try and make it easier for yourself and just visit https://www.gmail.com to sign up, read and write emails.

You don't need to use any application if you don't want to.

Maidenover

Ok thanks for that to all above. I have now got myself a google mail account.........Yippee. They suggest importing contacts from other accounts but I am struggling with that a little bit as not sure what a CSV file is but I will go back to the help system and see if I can follow that through.
Matt....not too sure about the Thunderbird suggestion as I got somewhat lost in your reply - sorry - I did say I was not up to speed on all this stuff.
Also I am going to have to try and work out about those filters. Wish me luck and thanks again.

davemack_2

again, at this stage please don't worry about filters, etc. and trying to set up Gmail to work with your email client (or a new one such as Thunderbird). Spend some time getting the feel of Gmail's web interface, and use the help system to learn how to do various tasks; move on to other more tricky things at a pace that suits you. By the way, if you're worried, the spam filter is quite good, and you can a) check non-spam messages that are put there by the system and indicate that they are not to be treated as spam, and b) mark as spam any messages that get past the automatic antifilters and into your inbox by mistake.