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Figure 25-37 A secure Web page

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NOTE See Chapter 26, “Securing Computers,” for the scoop on Trojans and other viruses.

E-mail

You can use an e-mail program to access e-mail. The three most popular are Microsoft’s Outlook Express, Windows Mail, and Mozilla’s Thunderbird. E-mail clients need a little more setup. First, you must provide your e-mail address and password. All e-mail addresses come in the now-famous accountname@Internet domain format. Figure 25-38 shows e-mail information entered into the Windows Mail account setup wizard.

Figure 25-38 Adding an e-mail account to Windows Mail

Next you must add the names of the Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) or Internet Message Access Protocol version 4 (IMAP4) server and the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server. The POP3 or IMAP server is the computer that handles incoming (to you) e-mail. POP3 is by far the most widely used standard, although the latest version of IMAP, IMAP4, supports some features POP3 doesn’t. For example, IMAP4 enables you to search through messages on the mail server to find specific keywords and select the messages you want to download onto your machine. Even with the advantages of IMAP4 over POP3, the vast majority of incoming mail servers use POP3.

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EXAM TIP Make sure you know your port numbers for these e-mail protocols! POP3 uses port 110, IMAP uses port 143, and SMTP uses port 25.

The SMTP server handles your outgoing e-mail. These two systems may often have the same name, or close to the same name, as shown in Figure 25-39. Your ISP should provide you with all these settings. If not, you should be comfortable knowing what to ask for. If one of these names is incorrect, you will either not get your e-mail or not be able to send e-mail. If an e-mail setup that has been working well for a while suddenly gives you errors, it is likely that either the POP3 or SMTP server is down or that the DNS server has quit working.

Figure 25-39 Adding POP3 and SMTP information in Windows Mail

When I’m given the name of a POP3 or SMTP server, I use PING to determine the IP address for the device, as shown in Figure 25-40. I make a point to write this down. If I ever have a problem getting mail, I’ll go into my SMTP or POP3 settings and type in the IP address (Figure 25-41). If my mail starts to work, I know the DNS server is not working.

Figure 25-40 Using PING to determine the IP address

Figure 25-41 Entering IP addresses into POP3 and SMTP settings

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NOTE Try using the command prompt utility NETSTAT to see the connections your applications are making. NETSTAT shows the local and remote IP address as well the port numbers used. NETSTAT defaults to using computer and service names instead of numbers. Try running NETSTAT -n to see the IP addresses and port numbers.

NETSTAT is a powerful tool for determining who you’re connected to at any moment. For example, if you see an FTP connection but you’re not knowingly running an FTP client or server, you might have an unauthorized access or even a malware problem.

Newsgroups

Newsgroups are one of the oldest services available on the Internet. To access a newsgroup, you must use a newsreader program. A number of third-party newsreaders exist, such as the popular Forté Free Agent, but Microsoft Outlook Express is the most common of all newsreaders (not surprising since it comes free with most versions of Windows). To access a newsgroup, you must know the name of a news server. News servers run the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP). You can also use public news servers, but these are extremely slow. Your ISP will tell you the name of the news server and provide you with a user name and password if you need one (Figure 25-42).

Figure 25-42 Configuring Outlook Express for a news server

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

File transfer protocol (FTP), using ports 20 and 21, is a great way to share files between systems. FTP server software exists for most operating systems, so you can use FTP to transfer data between any