I finally got a Gmail account the other day. I mainly got it just to play with the integrated chat and because several co-workers in other parts of the building use it. The chat is nice. Nothing spectacular, but nice nonetheless. However, I think I found my absolute favorite feature: the ability to use Gmail as a secure relay for my POP/SMTP email accounts.
Why is this useful? Well, say you want to send/receive some email while at a wireless hotspot at Panera Bread, Starbucks or wherever. Standard email protocols send their authentication (username and password) in plaintext. That means that anyone attached to that access point running any freely-available sniffer can inercept your information and have full access to your email account(s).
That’s where Gmail comes in.Gmail allows you to send mail from any external account you have through the Gmail interface. It will show up like this to recipients: Zack Rippy (myaccount@gmail.com) on behalf of Zack Rippy (myaccount@externalaccount.com). All you have to do is add the external account within Gmail by going to Settings – Accounts – Add another email address. Once there, just put in your name and external email address. Gmail will send a verification to that account to be sure that you actually own that account. Click on the Verify link in the email and you are good to go. You may now send mail from one of your external accounts via Gmail.
Now, what if you are on the road and want to send/receive your non-Gmail mail through your email client (Outlook/Thunderbird/whatever)? You can do this as well, since Google allows you to send and receive mail from Gmail via your mail client. You can find instructions for your mail client here. It uses non-standard ports 465 (SMTP/outgoing) and 995 (POP3/incoming) and here’s what I like – it is all secured via SSL. This is perfect if you are away from home and accessing your mail through public internet access points in restaurants, hotels or airports, but want to maintain the security of your accounts. I have been playing around with it for several days now and love it.
This feature alone is enough for me to recommend Gmail.
Tags: gmail, Google, secure email, ssl
That is great stuff. I have stopped using any other email in favor of Gmail. I had not thought of this use. Thank you for the information. Of course, you could always use a vpn client to your home vpn device to check your mail through another computer, say your desktop. But this is a good option.
I hope you like the chat stuff as well. They way they have integrated the chat into the email webpage is awesome. You can even un-dock the applet and move it around on your desktop.
Philip
March 3rd, 2006
i’ve been using Gmail for a long time….i absolutely love it….
shaun
March 4th, 2006
Hey, send me an email with your gmail address, I think I ony have an old work one of yours. I just got gmail too, Preston finally convinced me that it was easier to use! I HATE IT when he is right!!!
wencke
March 24th, 2006
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