Most people think very carefully about what email messages they choose to read. And many people decide when and how often to check incoming mail. But few take the time to consider HOW they actually read mail. Maybe you didn’t even realize you had choices about how you read your email. Your options will vary, depending on who your email provider is.

Assume that you use a cable modem and have access to the Internet through Comcast. Mail that is sent is physically stored on a mail server maintained by Comcast. You have a password that gives you access to the account. You can turn on your computer, open your browser (for example, Internet Explorer), navigate to the Comcast.net page, and sign in with your email address and password. You will be able to see your mail, read it, order it, reply to it and delete it, all from the browser.

Actually, it performs all these functions while you are online. You can log out when you’re done. With this method, you haven’t downloaded anything to your local computer, so you haven’t used any hard drive storage space. And as long as you haven’t opened any attachments, you probably haven’t exposed your computer to any threats from viruses, Trojans, or other “bad guys” (the official term is malware). Messages that you haven’t deleted after reading them will remain on Comcast’s server, where you can read them again. You can consider this your online backup storage for emails.

If you prefer to retrieve messages and store them at your location, you have the option of using an email client such as Outlook Express, Eudora, Incredimail, or Pegasus to perform that process for you. It requires a bit of setup, but once it’s set up correctly, it’s pretty easy to use on an ongoing basis. You can use both methods at different times. If you’re out of town, you can check your email anywhere you have Internet access. You can then download the messages you want to save when you return to your computer. Pretty slippery.

Many of the popular free services, like Hotmail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail, were originally designed for reading email online. With a little work (and sometimes an add-on product that’s also free), you can set them up so you can download messages to your computer for offline reading, too.

What about commercial email that is sent to your website? Most web hosting companies provide an email service that allows you to choose whether you want to read it online (this is often generically called “webmail”) or whether you want it automatically forwarded to another place (such as your Comcast account). ).

You can also choose to forward one part to one place and another part to another. You may have different email addresses set up for your business and want email addressed to [email protected] to be forwarded to you and everything else to your assistant. Please note that if you choose the webmail option, you can always choose to forward individual messages after opening them. Remember, if you read and manage your email while connected to the Internet, you won’t use storage space on your local computer.

The choices are yours. Look at the volume of mail you receive, think about who needs to deal with it (and where and when), and work with it in the way that works best for your unique situation.