General webmail safety tips
- Use webmail services from well-known and trusted companies.
- Enable spam filtering or switch to a webmail provider that can do this (see Viruses & Spyware).
- Use a strong password to log in (see Passwords).
- Always log out of your webmail when you have finished emailing. This is particularly important on a shared computer.
- We recommend that you connect to webmail only when your webmail provider has a secure connection (indicated by a padlock in the bottom right hand side of your browser window and the letters ‘https://’ at the beginning of the website address). If the connection is not secure, take care not to send email which could reveal personal or financial information about yourself.
- Be wary about attachments in emails from unknown or untrusted sources. Some webmail systems automatically scan attachments for malware.
- Make sure you have the latest antivirus/anti-spyware and firewall software installed.
Don’t lose your old email messages
Some webmail systems may delete email messages if you exceed a storage quota. If your email archive is important, consider a paid-for online storage service, or using a webmail service without these restrictions.
Please also note that some webmail providers may suspend your account if you do not access it for an extended period of time.