What kind of personal information is lurking in the inbox of your ‘free’ email account service? Like a lot of folks, you’re probably using a Yahoo, Ymail, Hotmail, or Gmail email service and storing all your emails online at their server. But, should your email account get hacked, that would mean the hacker not only has access to your contact list, but they also have access to your inbox. There’s a way you can stop that by using a free email client like Windows Live mail to download all your mail to your local PC such that it’s not stored on their service. Similarly, you can keep your contact list local instead of on their server.
To be able to use IMAP or POP protocols to download your mail, you’d have to pay for their upgraded services on Yahoo, Ymail and Hotmail. But, if you already have, or if you create a Gmail account, Google lets you download your gmail using either protocol.
This example below will walk you through setting up a POP connection between Window Live Mail and Gmail so you can store all your mail locally.
Setting up Gmail to enable POP mail
So, do you already have a Gmail account? If not, you’ll need to create a free Gmail account for yourself. Once you have that created and you’re logged in, we’ll need to change one of your gmail settings to allow you to download your maiil to (and for that matter, send mail from) a WindowsLive mail client on your PC.
| 1. | Open your browser and log into your Gmail account. You should now see your Gmail interface on the screen. Take a look in the upper-right hand corner of your screen and click on the gear button and select SETTINGS |
 |
|
| 2. | On the SETTINGS screen, click on the FORWARDING AND POP/IMAP link. Under POP DOWNLOAD, click the radio button to ENABLE POP FOR ALL MAIL in section 1. In section 2, click the dropdown arrow and select what you want to do with Gmail’s copy of the mail in your inbox. If you don’t want Gmail to store a copy of your mail on their server, select DELETE GMAIL’S COPY. |
 |
|
| 3. | Click on the SAVE CHANGES button |
Setting up your Windows Live Mail client
If you don’t already have WindowsLive Mail already installed, click here to download the installer. Once you’ve downloaded the application, install it.
Okay … now, let’s set up your Gmail account in Windows Live Mail.
| 1. | Open WindowsLive Mail. |
| 2. | In the upper lefthand corner, to the left of the HOME tab, click on the blue button with the down arrow. |
 |
|
| 3. | Hover over the OPTIONS entry in the menu and a pop-out menu will display. Move your mouse to select @ EMAIL ACCOUNTS. |
 |
|
| 4. | “Email Account” is pre-selected. Click NEXT |
 |
|
| 5. | Add your email account information. Make sure you click the MANUALLY CONFIGURE SERVER SETTINGS before clicking NEXT. |
 |
|
| 6. | Configure your server settings as shown in the graphic below and then click NEXT. |
 |
|
| 7. | After you click Next, it should indicate your email account has been added and is ready to use |
 |