iMail vs Gmail

[rocknpop]

I am very confused as to whether or not I should use the iMail that came with my MacBook.

1) Is it always free?
2) Is it SAFE? Even though I hear people cannot hack or get into Apples I have to ask
3) What type of file does it download the mail as and is it compatible with PC?
4) Is there any impact on the online Gmail account?

Thanks guys

 

[spinnerlys]

If you mean the software Mail, that came with your computer:

1. yes, you already paid for it, so it will cost no more.
2. I think so.
3. It has its own format - mailboxes. I don't know if they can be opened by another software, but you can export your mailboxes to another application.
4. What do you mean by impact? Gmail uses IMAP, and Mail understands that.

Or do you mean MobileMe?

1. The trial period is free, after that you have to pay. Look here: http://www.apple.com/mobileme/pricing/

2. to 4. I dont know.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

iMail? Are you talking about Mail.app (Apple's mail client) or the mail service part of Mobile Me?

Mail.app is free, Mobile Me is $99/year (you can get it cheaper).

Either way: A GMail account is very handy, and you can use Mail.app to check and send your GMail. I'm using the IMAP protocol, as it gives many advantages over POP.

If you send mail to Windows users, Mail.app can be set up to use Windows friendly attachments.

 

[ravenvii]

Maybe it'll be easier to understand if I say this:

Mail is the equivalent to Outlook on Windows.

Well, except the fact that it doesn't suck, of course.

 

[JustGretchen]

IMAP basically is a complex term that means all of your email will be saved on your computer AND on gMail's server forever. So no matter where you check it from, you will always get those messages on your Mac as well as on gMail's web interface.

As far as compatibility w/ Windoze, you need not worry about it. Simply attach files and they will work.

As far as exporting your entire mailboxes if you ever need to switch to another Mail program, mail uses a format called .mbox which is compatible w/ Mozilla Thunderbird (firefox's email counterpart)

To Set up your gMail account to use IMAP you need to do this:

login to your gmail account
click settings at the top right
click the forwarding & pop/IMAP tab

DISABLE POP

ENABLE IMAP

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=81379
look at that link for how to set up your gMail account in Mail.app

Use Mail.app, it's GREAT. I manage 6 accounts with it.

 

[rocknpop]

Thank you guys, I was talking about Mail.app

I have one more question about security

Basically I will need to set up my Mail.app to be IMAP because otherwise I will lose it online. And yes, it seems to be safe.

My only fear is: Since the emails are now saved in your computer, they are accessible there as well -> In case someone hacks into your computer your privacy is broken...

Or... if I get a virus and it learns my password... it can start sending emails from my account?

 

[JustGretchen]

You won't get viruses on the mac. Don't sweat it. This isn't windows where viruses do hack your email and send spam to everyone in your address book.

The likelyhood of someone "hacking into your computer" are also EXTREMELY low. You have a better chance of it getting stolen than hacked.

Most Mac users use mail. You don't need to be so paranoid. You sound like my pc-using uncle that I had to hear for the last 10 years...he would run 3 antivirus apps and 3 anit-spyware apps on his pc all at the same time and turn off his cable modem when he went to sleep at night. I told him all of that pretty much counter-acted itself because you can't run that many av/as apps at the same time and have it be actually protecting the computer.

I finally got him to get an aluminum 24" imac 1.5 years ago and he couldn't be happier and safer online. Just use your Mac and be happy.

 

[rocknpop]

You won't get viruses on the mac. Don't sweat it. This isn't windows where viruses do hack your email and send spam to everyone in your address book.

The likelyhood of someone "hacking into your computer" are also EXTREMELY low. You have a better chance of it getting stolen than hacked.

Most Mac users use mail. You don't need to be so paranoid. You sound like my pc-using uncle that I had to hear for the last 10 years...he would run 3 antivirus apps and 3 anit-spyware apps on his pc all at the same time and turn off his cable modem when he went to sleep at night. I told him all of that pretty much counter-acted itself because you can't run that many av/as apps at the same time and have it be actually protecting the computer.

I finally got him to get an aluminum 24" imac 1.5 years ago and he couldn't be happier and safer online. Just use your Mac and be happy.

THANKS!

I don't want to diverge here but - if macs don't get viruses, do they eventually start running slower if I install / uninstall applications?

Thanks for your patience, I'm a mac noob...

 

[Tallest Skil]

THANKS!

I don't want to diverge here but - if macs don't get viruses, do they eventually start running slower if I install / uninstall applications?

Thanks for your patience, I'm a mac noob...

Mail the application doesn't give you free e-mail. It is merely a way to conglomerate your existing e-mail addresses.

And no, no viruses and no slowdowns from applications.

This is UNIX. It's better.

 

[PlaceofDis]

THANKS!

I don't want to diverge here but - if macs don't get viruses, do they eventually start running slower if I install / uninstall applications?

Thanks for your patience, I'm a mac noob...

just to clarify: there are currently no known viruses for OS X, this does not mean that there will never be. being safe with your computer is still needed, but a virus just has not been existent yet does not mean it cannot happen.

there are a few known trojans out there, which mean that you download and install it yourself. but if you are getting software from a trusted source you should have no issues. (the big one was propogated via torrents recently.)

as for your computer slowing down, no that should not happen except when future software demands more out of your machine. there is no registry like there is in windows and apps are much easier to uninstall than in windows leaving behind perhaps one or two negligible files. but there is no sense of 'decay' in OS X that some feel happens in Windows using the same software. etc.

 

[JustGretchen]

and if you are worried about those one or two negligible files that were mentioned, I'd recommend the free and very useful AppTrap to run in the background.

If you uninstall an app by putting it into the trash, apptrapper automatically asks if you want to move the other files that have to do with that app, usually a preference list (.plist file), straight to the trash so the uninstallation is nice and clean.

http://konstochvanligasaker.se/apptrap/

 

[IJ Reilly]

Personally I don't trust "autoclean" applications like AppTrap. The reality is you don't know what they are doing, and I don't see how they can be smart enough to know what they are doing all the time. If you decided to throw away one of your iLife applications, for example, the files it has in common with the other iLife applications could get trashed at the same time.

 

[robo456]

I'm not sure if Mail's handling of IMAP is different, but I thought the purpose of IMAP was to keep mail on the mail server and NOT on your personal machine. That way it can be accessed from anywhere.

It sounded like POP with the save message on server option was being described above?

--rob

 

[PlaceofDis]

I'm not sure if Mail's handling of IMAP is different, but I thought the purpose of IMAP was to keep mail on the mail server and NOT on your personal machine. That way it can be accessed from anywhere.

It sounded like POP with the save message on server option was being described above?

--rob

in the account preferences of Mail you can set it...
Keep messages for offline viewing: and then there are different options for what works best for you.

 

[JustGretchen]

yeah I just keep all mine for now, thats why I spoke of it as I did. I probably shouldn't, but I do. Maybe when I'm pressed for hard drive space i'll worry about it, but between the 3 gmail and one MobileMe account I have in Mail, I'm using about 3gb of hdd space and i have every email since 2003.

There's options where I could use less, but that's ok. Doesn't bother me.

 

[rocknpop]

So I moved to mail.app

Actually REALLY cool because I am used to Outlook because of work so I can better manage my email... delete the not needed and extract the huge files to my computer.

I have 5,280 emails online... thank God for gMail. I remember those aggrevating messages from hotmail and yahoo saying we had eached our limit a long time ago.

I also downloaded iAntivirus and it works well (I guess)... not sure what it checked for but I'm clean so far (480,000 scanned items so far and no infected Objects **Crossing fingers***)