Welcome

Thank you for choosing Phoenix Web Services as your e-mail provider. Please follow these simple directions, and in less than five minutes you will be able to send and receive electronic messages (e-mail) from your computer as easily and as reliably as you can mail and pick up letters from the post office. 

Browse to http://mail.phoenixws.net 

PWS Mail is an electronic post office. It keeps mail for everybody on a mail server (a computer that handles the mail). The first step is to go to http://mail.phoenixws.net 

Log on 

Since we have e-mail for thousands of clients, our virtual e-mail clerk must ask who you are. Please type in your email address (UserID) and your password (the secret code you use to make sure nobody else can impersonate you). Then click "Log On" with your mouse. 

Click on a service 

Now you can ask for your mail, send a message to someone else, or change the way you want things delivered to your computer. All you have to do is click on one of the buttons on the left hand side of the screen with your mouse. MAIN is where you new mail comes in, you can click on that (anything that is blue is clickable) or clicking "Read Mail" will tell our electronic mail carrier to deliver your mail instantly to your computer. Clicking "Compose" will allow you to mail a letter electronically to anyone you want. Clicking on "Options" will change the way mail is delivered to you. When you have finished reading and composing your e-mail, click "SUMMARY". Each message that has been sent to you will be listed individually. The sender, subject matter, time, and date will also be displayed. 

Reading Your Mail 

After you have clicked on "Read Mail" a new screen will appear. The number of messages you have in your mailbox will be displayed on the left hand side of the screen, and your first message will be opened automatically for you. After you read your e-mail you now have the option of replying to the message, saving it, or deleting it. Just click the appropriate box at the bottom of the page. Clicking "Next" will open the next message you have received. 

Sending Mail 

After you have clicked "Compose" a new screen will appear. The first thing you must do is address your e-mail. You can also choose to have an exact copy of your message sent to someone else at the same time (this is known as a carbon copy or CC). NOTE: Messages can only be sent to a valid e-mail address (e.g. Greg@phoenixws.net). Just like the post office, we have to have a correct, complete, and exact mailing address. If not, your e-mail will be returned to you marked "undeliverable". It's a good idea to summarize what your e-mail is about and put this information in your "Subject" line. Now all you have to do is type your message. If you have a file or picture you would like to enclose, just click on "Attachment" and tell us where we can find the file you want to include with your letter. You can also elect to save a copy of the e-mail you have composed for your own personal records, or even 
add your own electronic signature to personalize and authenticate your e-mail. Just click the appropriate boxes. 

Fingering 

This option is for Unix users (and if you don't know what Unix is, you don't have it). By enabling this command, up to 1,000 characters of personal and/or technical information about you or your system can be sent automatically to respondents when they request it, much like FAX on demand. 

Passwords 

If it's working why mess? But if you have a really good reason for changing your password (e.g. your mother got it, and she's reading your e-mail before you do), you can change it. All you need to do is type it twice in the indicated fields. TIP: Only use letters and numbers. Punctuation marks or other symbols won't work. And if you change your password to something our system can't recognize, you won't be able to get your mail. Even worse, you may not be able to change back to your old password! Another Tip: Don't outsmart yourself. If your password's too complicated, you might not be able to remember it after returning from vacation. That's why it's a good idea to use all lower case letters too. 

Forwarding 

If you have multiple e-mail boxes, but you want everything sent to one address, this is the place to go. Just tell us where you want everything sent. If you use this option, you won't have to log on multiple times to get all of your mail. It will be waiting for you in one box. Note: If you are on a list-server, or receive a lot of junk e-mail from one or more e-mail boxes, you're probably better off keeping multiple addresses. That way you can get your important e-mail without having to wade through a ton of junk. 

User Info 

Sometimes we need to get in touch with you by snail-mail or by telephone. So if you get married and change your name, or move to a new address and change to another phone number... we really need to know about it. Note: User data is kept strictly confidential. We don't give it out to anyone. It is for administrative purposes only (like billing, opening or closing accounts, etc.). 

Vacation Message 

If you go on vacation, and would like everyone who e-mails you to know about it, use this option. You can tell them when you will return, or how they can reach you in an emergency. When you return all suntanned and rested, you can delete the message, and get your mail as usual. Note: This is a nifty feature, but... be forewarned! Once installed, it's operation is totally automatic and blindly universal. Everyone who e-mails you will get your vacation message. 

Rule Changes 

This option is for people with multiple e-mail boxes, more than one business, or very complicated social lives. For instance, you could set up your rule base to intercept all e-mail from "Gloria", and forward it to a new "Personal" e-mail box, instead of the existing one that both you and your wife can now read. You could just as easily trash all e-mail sent to you by "Mabel", your ex-wife. And you can even set up a rule base to intercept all messages with the word "opportunity" in the header to be sent to a never-used e-mail box named "junk". Changing your rule base is a way to filter your e-mail. It channels or funnels what could be an overwhelming assortment of important and unimportant messages, and sorts them out for you by "rules" you decree. Just click on "add" and write your own rules. 

Address Book 

If you have trouble remembering e-mail addresses (and who doesn't?), just type them into the PWS address book. Once an entry has been made for someone, his e-mail address will come up automatically every time you want to e-write him. All you'll have to do is type Harry in the address field instead of hleonardo67523/ix@buncomb.state.edu.nc.com 

Multiple Mailboxes 

You have the ability to manage your e-mail account from your own PC. This feature enables you to make new e-mail boxes (just type in the name and click "create"), rename existing ones (select the old one, type in a new name, and click "rename"), or delete existing mailboxes (click on the one you want to delete and click "delete"). Tip: When renaming an existing e-mail box, be sure to remember to have your e-mail forwarded from the old one. And please... don't go hog wild. Keep it simple. 

Auto Responder 

If you own a business and operate it on the web... this feature is for you. It's like having a secretary on call 24 hours a day. As soon as someone sends you a message, your PC will send one back. You can thank a customer for his order, give him additional product information, or remind him about anything you want. All you have to do is type it out in the indicated field, and it will be sent out automatically to anyone who e-mails you. Additionally, you can make different auto responses for different mailboxes. Just select the box you want before you type in your response. Be sure to click "update" when you are through. Typically, this feature is used to acknowledge receipt of e-mail. Unfortunately, if the sender also has an auto responder, his machine will auto respond back to you... "et cetera, et cetera, and so forth". But that doesn't happen very often. Note: Do not use this feature to acknowledge receipt of e-mail, if you do not check your e-mail on at least a daily basis. Otherwise, the sender will think you've read the e-mail he's sent. He will have no way of knowing he's received an automatic form letter from you. 

Preferences 

You can tailor the way you receive your e-mail much like you can alter the look of your windows environment. You have fifteen choices, covering everything from how many messages will be displayed on a page to where and how you will file them once opened. The choices are self-explanatory. Just click your personal wants and be sure to click the "save" box when you are through. 

Signature 

This feature allows you to end every message with a personalized close ("Say good night, Gracie"). It can also be used like a signet ring to "seal" or authenticate a message, assuring recipients that the message they have just received is genuine and really from you. 
If you have host Administrative privileges for your domain we have included extra information here..