Pop Mail Vs Webmail

Pop mail such as MAC OS Mail, Windows Mail, Thunderbird etc are common and often the preferred method for most people to get their mail but what about Webmail such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail (Ymail)?

I have often talked about this with friends and family so I thought it was about time I wrote down my opinions.

Personally I prefer webmail and here's why.

• Webmail looks the same no matter where you access it.
• Webmail allows you to see spam BEFORE you spend ages downloading it.
• Webmail scans attachments for viruses before it EVER reaches your precious PC
• Webmail messages are always there unless you delete them.
  

Pop Mail on the other hand has some serious pitfalls in my opinion.

• You might get some large SPAM attachments, but you have to wait until they actually download before you can decide, which uses up your connection data and if you are on a dial up modem (uses up heaps of time!)
• If you want to access your mail from somewhere else (On Holiday or a mates house) you have to figure out how to access the Webmail equivalent anyway which often POP MAIL users cannot be bothered doing, do you know the URL, user name, Password etc, did you set up your account to leave a copy on the server? blah blah blah!
• Doubling Up. If you do want to do both, you have to manage not only your POP MAIL client (Mac Mail, Thunderbird, Windows Mail) but your Webmail equivalent too.

To be fair, you could say that Webmail has one disadvantage, you do have to login in each time (Unless you use Firefox like me and have everything on auto-login).

Conclusion, Webmail wins every time!