Gloria Hill

A: It is, but only if you use a standard POP3 e-mail account. Most ISPs provide their customers with a POP3 e-mail account. If you are using Outlook Express, Netscape Communicator, or Eudora, you most likely have one. If that's the case, you can use one of the free e-mail services available from a companies such as MailStart (www.mailstart.com), (see FIGURE 1) or WebBox (www.webbox.com).

With MailStart you simply have to enter your e-mail address and password to see your messages. You can read your e-mail, reply to messages, delete them, or send new messages. All your messages will be available in your mailbox at home until you delete them manually.

WebBox is not as simple to use as MailStart-at least not at first. You have to register by filling in forms and providing survey information. But you get a lot more for your time and effort including an address book, a calendar, and 20MB of storage space.

- Lincoln Spector