Riverland Web & Email Services

Setting Up an Email Program

for users of Riverland Web & Email Services


Introduction

There are too many different email programs for us to give the setup details for every one. Sorry!

If you're using Outlook Express, which probably came with Windows, please use the instructions here.

You could be using email software that 'came with' Windows (several possibilities!), you could have one that was installed with your Macintosh system, you could be using the email feature of Netscape Navigator, or you could have found an email program on a CD, or downloaded one from the Internet.

(If you don't yet have an email program, we recommend you get a copy of Mozilla Thunderbird. It's free to download and use.)

However, it's not all that hard, because all email programs need the same information to send and receive mail.
Many programs ask configuration questions (meaning: how do you want to set this up?) the first time you use them, so that's a good time to fill those details in.
Here is the minimum information that any email program needs to know before it can send and receive mail:

If the email program doesn't start out by asking you 'setting up' questions, you'll need to find the Settings, Options or Preferences part of the program (inside one of the menus at the top of the window, e.g. File, Edit, View...), and then enter the settings yourself before you can use email at all.

Then, of course, you need to learn how to use the program.
There is usually a README or Help file which you can read to get started, or a more experienced friend who can help you.
Once you get online with your web-browser program, you can find and save more information about how to use your program, and even go through interactive tutorials, which show you exactly what to do.
Remember, five minutes spent learning at any time, saves you hours of frustration later.

SMTP and POP servers

The SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server is the one you send your mail messages through.
The POP (Post-Office Protocol) server is the one you receive other people's mail messages from.

For people still connecting through Riv Web & Email dialup, they're both the same machine, which is called:

It's a little different for anyone on broadband. They should use the SMTP server provided by their broadband provider. For instance, if you're on Big Pond, the servername is probably mail.bigpond.com - but check with Big Pond.

POP username / account / login

When your email program checks to see if you have new mail waiting, it has to 'log in' to the POP server before it's allowed to look in your mailbox for any messages waiting for you. This means other people can't read what's in your mailbox.
If your email program hasn't asked you for identification before this, it will now ask you for a username and password..

To access your mailbox, use the same username and password that you use to identify yourself when your modem dials our number to make a connection .
Normally you type the username, on its own, into a dialog box (a box that pops up on the screen, giving you information or asking you to do something), in lower case.

If you leave the password field blank, most programs will ask for it the first time they check the mail. This is better security. You don't want other people to be able to access your account.

EXCEPTION: For Eudora 3 only: when you are asked for the 'POP Account' setting, the older versions of Eudora want a combination of your username and the name of the POP server.
Type in your username followed by "@" then the name of the POP server.
For example, if your username is 'fred', type in:

Back to Mail Program Setup index

What's my email address?

Your email address, like your street or post-office-box address, is specific information people can use to send mail to you and only you.
Your email address identifies you in the email system worldwide.
All Riv Net users have an email address based on their username:

where '@' means 'at', and 'riverland.net.au' is the rest of the address, a bit like street.town.postcode, but easier, because each Internet Service Provider (ISP) like Riverland Internet has their own 'domain', their own 'rest of the address'.
This means that everyone at Riverland Internet has an email address that ends in @riverland.net.au.

So, if you log in as "fred", your username is "fred", and your email address would be:

Some Riverland users have asked to have their email address changed - in which case, you know about it, as you chose the new one. But for everyone else, your riverland.net.au address is based on your username.

About email addresses

Remember that 'D. Dog, 3/5 Smith St., Largetown' is not the same postal address as 'de Dog, 35 Smits Ave., Largton', and even the amazing people at rural Post Offices (who deliver letters no matter how badly the name or the street is spelt) would not be able to deliver your letters if they were sent to the wrong address.

Email is sorted and sent entirely by machines, using computer programs that rely completely on humans putting in the right details.

You can not just 'make up' an email address and expect it to send mail to the person you want. An address you think up might belong to someone else, or it might not belong to anyone, so the message would be returned to you, its sender.
You will receive messages only if they are sent to your real, working address.

There are some exceptions to this, but none of them work unless something special has been set up on the mailserver.

There is an explanation of what email and other Internet addresses actually mean, at

which is part of the Plain English computing/Internet information site, here on the Riverland website.


Return address

People may not always put 'from' or 'sender' addresses on the back of envelopes anymore.
For email, though, this setting is more important than you might think.
Make sure that any Setting/Option/Preference called 'Return Address', 'Reply-To Address', and/or 'Your Email Address' has your correct email address typed in.

Why does your email program need to know your email address?
There are three main reasons:

Testing your email setup

If you've just put in the Settings in your email program, how can you test it to make sure they're right?
You may not know anyone's email address yet.

A good way is to send yourself a message.
Send the message to your own email address, then check your mail on the server, and if you get it back again, most of your program is doing the right things.
This might sound like a non-achievement, but the message has travelled from your email program to our mailserver, been delivered to your mailbox, and come back again.

This doesn't test the return address.
To do that, you could send a test message to the "mirror", our automatic email answering program. It will reply instantly - to your reply address. If you get the reply, then all is well. If you don't get the reply, have a good look at your return address, and your settings for checking mail. The mirror's address is

If you see an email address underlined (like the mirror one above) on a webpage, it is a mailto: link, which means that when you click on it, a 'new mail message' window will pop up, and you can Send mail to that person right Now, or tell it to Send Later.
If you click on a mailto: link and don't want to send mail, just close the 'new mail message' window.
If you want to try this out, or try sending mail to the mirror, click on that link and have a go!

More information

An overview of email - on the Look Here First site (plain English explanations about computers)

There's an email address you can write to if you have problems or questions related to the Riverland Internet mail service. (Every mailserver should have a 'postmaster' address - write to them if you have a problem with email to or from their users.) The local postmaster's address is:

What to write in an email message - a style guide: A Beginner's Guide to Effective Email


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