AOL Mail
Technically, AOL Mail is free, and yet it's not. What's the deal? AOL members can access their AOL mail from any browser using AOL Mail, but nonmembers can't get the same free account. If you're not using AOL, then head to Yahoo Mail instead. If you're already signed up for AOL, though, this crude Web-based mailer is the only game in town. And that's too bad, since AOL Mail is one of the skimpiest, spammiest e-mailers we've seen. If we knew of another way to access AOL e-mail accounts from the Web, we'd use it.Faster start
Because only AOL members can access AOL Mail, there's no actual setup/sign-up process; to log in to AOL Mail, just enter your AOL screenname and password. Once in, AOL pulls up your 25 most recent messages--a nice change since the last time we reviewed AOL Mail. In the past, the system displayed all of your messages, which took much longer to load.
Still bare to the bone
It would be an understatement to call AOL Mail spartan. Although it looks a bit like your AOL mailbox--there's a list of message headers near the top with tabs labeled New Mail, Old Mail, and Sent Mail--AOL Mail is missing the basic features found in most Web mail services and even on AOL itself. Contrary to what the help file says, you still can't sort the messages by sender or date received. Nor does AOL Mail pull mail from POP3 accounts or let you create custom folders for better message organization, as do Hotmail and Yahoo Mail. All you can do is read your mail, reply to and forward received messages, compose new mail, and delete messages from your mailbox. The one bright spot: the most recent messages come to the top.
Not even up to AOL standards
If you want to view your address book and composition screen simultaneously, AOL Mail crowds the monitor by opening an additional browser window for each. Composing a message, however, is straightforward: just call up the address book to help fill in the Send To and Copy To fields, type your message, and if you want to attach a file, click the Browse button to scan your hard drive. Finally, AOL Mail lets you attach multiple files to each message, but it still lacks a dedicated BCC, or blind carbon copy, function. To keep a recipient's address secret, you must enclose that address in parentheses--not very intuitive.
Worse, AOL Mail doesn't include a spelling checker or virus protection to sniff incoming or outgoing attachments for bugs. To top it off, AOL Mail's online help file is too terse and doesn't do more than scratch the surface for troubleshooters, and there's no way to reach AOL from the AOL Mail site via e-mail.
Shared features and flaws
However, AOL Mail does afford AOLers some benefits. For example, it automatically updates any changes that you make to your mailbox, such as message deletions. The program also updates the address book on your AOL account with your AOL Mail account, so you don't have to monkey around synchronizing address books. What's more, AOL Mail doesn't limit your storage space like Yahoo and Hotmail do. However, AOL deletes unread messages after 27 days and won't store more than 1,000 messages.
AOL's Web's Spam filters are a joke. Junk messages inundated our test account; on average, our AOL mailboxes racked up nearly 15 spams per day. By comparison, fewer than 1 spam per day slipped through Yahoo Mail's filters. Worse, unlike other Web mailers, AOL doesn't filter spam into a separate folder, so in-box clutter is inevitable, and you can refuse mail from only specific senders. Once you've read a piece of mail, it shifts to the Old Mail folder, where it lives for just three days before AOL erases it. The only way to revive an old message is to cruise to Old Mail, select the message, then click the Keep As New button. What a pain.
At least AOL Mail's security is up to snuff. AOL encrypts your username and password as they travel to AOL's servers, and the system automatically logs you off after 30 minutes of inactivity.
Your only option
If you're already using AOL, you may welcome AOL Mail's familiar style and airtight AOL integration, but there's better fare elsewhere. And since the rest of us can't use AOL Mail anyway, Yahoo remains the best all-around option.
| Introduction | AOL Mail | Hotmail | Mail.Com | Yahoo Mail |
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