An e-mail message is a document that is composed on a computer and remains in digital, or electronic, form so that it can be transmitted to another computer.  Anyone who has an e-mail account can send email.  E-mail predates the internet and it was actually used to create the concept of the internet.  It was used as early as 1965.

An e-mail message is composed primarily of two parts: a header and the body.  The header contains information about the sender, receiver, or other information about the e-mail.  The body is the same of that of a regular letter.

The nice thing about e-mail is that it is easy to reply to or forward the messages that you receive.  You can also attach a variety of things to your original e-mail.  This would be called an attachment.  You could attach picture, sound files, or other media in the form of an attachment and send it to recipients.

As with a regular letter, there are “rules” regarding on how to compose an e-mail.  This is called “netiquette”.   Basically what it means is this:  compose your e-mails wisely and appropriately for the recipient.  If you are replying to an e-mail about a job interview, you may not want to use the shorthand found in a text message.  Some other points would be to use upper and lowercase letters in your message, check spelling, be careful what you send, be polite, and be cautious when using sarcasm and humor, for they can be easily misinterpreted.  As for the technological aspect of it, don’t send huge attachments (especially if you know the recipient has a dial-up connection) and stay alert for viruses, notifying possible recipients of a “forwarded” virus.

There are a couple of other terms that I have learned concerning e-mail.  The first is flaming.  Flaming is when a person sends an e-mail with angry or antagonistic content.  Because of the impersonal nature of an e-mail, one may spout out things they typically wouldn’t do in a face to face situation.  The second is e-mail bankruptcy.  This occurs when one receives too many emails or lets their account lapse for an extended period of time and instead of reading the emails, a message is sent out that the mail box is being cleared out.

In addition to the already presented spam, phishing, and pharming, there are two other e-mail scams that I found.  The first is called spoofing.  Spoofing is when the information in a received e-mail is altered to make it appear that it has come from a known or trusted source.  The second is bombing.  Bombing is intentionally sending a large amount of e-mail to a particular address.  The overloaded e-mail address can make the account unusable and can even cause the mail server to crash.

E-mails need equipment and software that carries and manipulates the messages.  This is called an e-mail system.  An e-mail system includes computers and software called servers that sort, store, and route mail, and also the personal computers that will receive the mail.

There are three types of e-mail systems that are used today:  POP, IMAP, and Web-based mail.  POP (Post Office Protocol) temporarily stores new messages on a server.  You need to connect to your ISP to request your mail and it is downloaded to your computer.  IMAP (Internet Messaging Access Protocol) is similar to POP, except you can either leave your email on the server or download it to your computer.  Web-based e-mail keeps your mail at a web site, where it can be accessed through a web browser.  Most who use POP or IMAP e-mail have obtained an e-mail account from on ISP.  POP mail accounts are more widely available.  Using POP requires that you use a client software, such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, or QUALCOMM Eudora.  Web-based e-mail needs an e-mail account with a web-based provider such as Google’s Gmail, MSN’s Hotmail, and Yahoo’s Yahoo! Mail.  Below is a link showing a picture of a Thunderbird inbox.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mozilla_thunderbird_empty_screenshot.png

1.) http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+I545S-1476N+Desktop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Pentium%26%23174%3B+Processor+%26+18.5%22+LCD+Monitor/9999119000050003.p?id=pcmprd119100050003&skuId=9999119000050003

2.) http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/537939/HP-Pavilion-p6232p-b-Desktop-Computer/

3.) http://www.officemax.com/technology/computers/desktop-computers/product-prod2550290

In light of these links posted, my recommendation would be to simply just upgrade your existing computer.  With a few upgrades, your computer would be every bit as good as buying a new computer, meeting all you needs and requirements, without paying the price.  And if you look to these sites, most computers do not even come with a monitor, so it is something you have to purchase separately, thus increasing your “buying a new computer” expense.

I would also recommend that she upgrade her graphic card to get better quality. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Galaxy+-+NVIDIA+GeForce+9500GT+1GB+DDR2+PCI+Express+Graphics+Card/9182859.p?id=1218049410617&skuId=9182859

And lastly, I would recommend that she upgrade her Windows XP from the service pack 2 to the service pack 3. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=68C48DAD-BC34-40BE-8D85-6BB4F56F5110&displaylang=en

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Router