It is a known fact that Gmail is used globally by both individuals and organizations. Therefore, it only makes sense that such a widely-used and acclaimed email client provides nothing but the best service. But, if you thought you had seen or heard it all, just wait till you learn what new trick Google has got up their sleeve.

Google just recently announced that Gmail now blocks 99.9 percent of “spam, phishing, and malware from reaching your inbox!

If this news isn’t a jaw-dropper, we don’t know what else is!

Gmail has upped its security game, making it the most secure Email service provider ever! According to Google, Gmail’s new technology blocks approximately 100 million additional spam messages every day. That’s a large number of spam messages for one day, don’t you think?

So, what’s this amazing technology that has made Gmail literally indomitable?

Well, Gmail’s unmatched security is powered by its open-source machine learning framework known as TensorFlow. TensorFlow allows Gmail to block spam messages, including those that used to be difficult to detect. What this means for the average Gmail user is that the odds of getting one of those infuriating spam messages is one to a hundred. You won’t even have to click the “Report Spam” button anymore.

Google’s adoption of TensorFlow has drastically improved its security service and is sure to leave Gmail users more relaxed and happy. As stated by the company, “Using TensorFlow has helped us block image-based messages, emails with hidden embedded content, and messages from newly created domains that try to hide a low volume of spammy messages within legitimate traffic.”

The best part is that TensorFlow is not a replacement of other existing technologies but simply complements them, to give users unbeatable security at all times. Gmail can now block emails with hidden content and even image-based documents.

If there’s one thing Gmail users can be sure of, it’s that none of those sneaky spam messages will be snaking their way into their inbox any time soon, at least not on TensorFlow’s watch. Thank you Gmail!

HOVER ACTIONS

To check out this cool feature, place your mouse cursor over an email and you will see a row of options (such as delete, archive, mark as read, and snooze) pop up on the right side of the email’s subject.

SNOOZE EMAILS

With the new Gmail, you can snooze emails. This means you can make an email vanish for as long as you want. After the vanishing time runs out, the email bubbles up as a new email.

SMART REPLY

If you use Gmail mobile, then you are most likely already familiar with the Smart Reply feature. When you click Reply, Gmail will suggest three suggested responses will pop up. You can add either of these responses to the body of your email with a single click, and save yourself the stress of punching in extra words.

CLICKABLE ATTACHMENTS

This is perhaps, one feature that Gmail users are going to go bonkers over. This feature allows you to click and open attachments without having to open the entire email. Any attachment appears as an inline prompt within Gmail, so you can just fetch the attachment quickly. We’ll be honest; this feature is a real time-saver.

PLUS MENTIONS

The Plus mention is also another time-saving feature that Gmail now offers its users. So what does this do? Plus Mentions allow you to add a recipient to the CC field without clicking away from the body of your message. While composing your message and you mention a contact, simply type the + sign and click on the contact’s name or email address from the list. Ta-da! It’s that simple!

HIGH PRIORITY NOTIFICATIONS

Tired of getting a notification every time you get a new email? Including the irrelevant ones? Well, you can heave a sigh with this new Gmail feature. The High Priority Notifications feature allows Gmail mobile users to customize their email prompts according to their preference. So, you could set your Gmail to only notify you about emails flagged as important.

NUDGING

Sounds crazy, right?  But now, Gmail can nudge you every time you or a recipient forgets to take action on any email. We have to admit that this is one fantastic feature because emails are pretty easy to forget.

CONFIDENTIAL MODE

If you thought all these new features were cool, wait till you learn about the Confidential Mode feature. This feature allows you to send messages confidentially; this means a third party won’t be able to access this message except for the recipient of your message.  You can set a message to self-destruct after a specified time or even revoke it. Another option is to include a password, which the recipient will have to input without accessing your message. Yes, we did tell you this is one cool feature.

Create a Good Password

If your password is guessable or too simple, it may be time to change it. Date of birth, spouse or pet name is super easy to guess, so they make horrible passwords. Instead, opt for unique passwords (and don’t forget to insert numbers, upper and lower cases), trust us, the weirder your password, the less likely someone somewhere can guess it and gain access into your Email account. Also, if you own more than one Email account, don’t use the same password for all your accounts, it’s a bad idea!

Avoid Public Connections

Public hotspots and computers are hard to ignore and can be very tempting to connect to, but they are a great way for hackers to gain access into your Email. Avoiding public connections and shared computers will keep your system and account safe from hacking.

Secure Your Sent Emails

You just sent a hilarious photo of your dog directly to your cousin via email. What you probably don’t know is that emails don’t travel directly; they go through third-party servers before getting to their destination. This leaves your emails vulnerable and susceptible to hacking by a third-party. To ensure that your outgoing emails are protected, you can enable TLS encryption, place your emails in a zip file or attach a password to your attachment. This cuts off any form of third-party access to your sent emails.

Don’t Click Links in Emails Or Open Unknown Attachments

You’ve presumably heard this tip before, but here it goes again. Links and unsolicited attachments can be dangerous if attended to. You may have received a message asking you to click on a link to enable you to purchase an item or win a price, don’t do it! Anytime you see a link or an unknown attachment in your email, DO NOT click on or open it. This is common bait most of these hackers throw out to trap unsuspecting web users.

Subscribe To an Email Security Service

Cyber-criminals are getting better and more sophisticated, so spending some extra bucks on securing your email is worth. This is why an Email security service is an excellent option if you want to keep your email protected.  Using Email security companies protects your email from both known and unknown threats, these companies use filters and other tools to block and protect emails from spams, malware, and potential risks.

Email is relatively safe, secure, professional, and full of features you won’t find on your typical instant messenger. Since it’s incredibly useful, it’s no surprise that the number of email service providers have steadily grown over the years. And while that’s a good thing, it makes the job of selecting one that meets all your needs a little bit more difficult. To ease off that stress, we’ve gone through and found the best Email service providers for your reading pleasure.

Gmail

Developed by tech giant, Google, Gmail needs no introduction. Virtually everyone has a Gmail account and for a good reason too. Gmail is presented as a decluttered and minimalist webmail solution with an intuitive UI that appeals to both tech enthusiasts and the not so tech-oriented persons. The minimalist interface, however, takes nothing away from Gmail’s stellar line up of features.

With an industry-leading spam block protocol, seamless integration with other webmail providers, and no less than 15GB of storage, Gmail makes a case of being the most versatile email service available today. It’s essentially a jack of all trades.

It’s label-based inbox system instead of the traditional folder-based system may seem a bit confusing at first, but it is definitely something anyone can get used to. Ads also interrupt the otherwise fluid UI experience, but for just $5, users can upgrade to the G-Suite to have the ads removed, along with 50 GB of data and 24/7 complimentary customer support.

Outlook

Outlook is a more enterprise styled email service provider from Microsoft. It ditches the minimalist approach obtainable on Gmail for a more sophisticated and robust emailing solution. Outlook’s inbox system is programmed to sort and prioritize important emails automatically. You get 15GB of email storage with its standard version, plus the freedom to fully customize your mail to look and feel exactly how you want it.

Outlook’s biggest strength, however, is the level and extent of parallel integration with other proprietary apps. From Skype to Evernote, Giphy, Uber, Yelp and even PayPal, Oulook integrates virtually all the productivity apps you would ever need. Upgrade to office 365 to include the Microsoft Office Suite in addition to 1TB OneDrive allocation and 50GB of mail storage.

Yahoo Mail

Yahoo’s more recent attempt to galvanize its failing email solution was certainly a hit by all standing yardsticks. The new redesigned mail takes note of the simplicity and fluidity obtainable in Gmail and adds a layer of ingenious functionalities hard to find elsewhere

Yahoo mail allows its users to connect seamlessly with their Facebook accounts, send custom text messages and for an added effect, features a disposable mail service to guarantee user privacy. It also ups the ante in the storage department with a 1TB onboard mail storage by default. Sure the experience is not entirely as fluid and intuitive as Gmail, but Yahoo mail’s current lineup of unique features puts it up for consideration.

Last but not least, Zoho

Zoho is the email provider you’d want to subscribe to if you’re a business professional with a specific set of needs. It’s reliable and genuinely all-encompassing. By default, you get an email service designed for the workplace environment with support for up to 25 (or more) users. This is in addition to an impressive cache of workplace collaboration and management tools, including custom software for presentations, spreadsheet management, and document processing. If you subscribe to the paid plan, you get 30GB of storage and a custom domain. All this combined make it an absolute bargain and very useful email provider.

Hotmail

Hotmail is one of the many free web-based email service providers provided by Microsoft. This software seamlessly blends with the entire Microsoft Office and can also work well with Gmail (you can migrate contacts from your Gmail to your Hotmail account). From the late ’90s to late 2000s, Hotmail was the in-thing but was quickly usurped by Outlook in 2013. This software comes with Skype, Ajax, OneDrive, and 15GB cloud storage. Hotmail also features an integrated calendar and comes with customizable features such as reminders, calendars, and even incoming emails.  A significant downside to this software is its inability to scan advertising information.

Microsoft Outlook

Users of Hotmail or Microsoft Word will find using Microsoft Outlook very easy. This software allows users to manage emails and personal information and comes with the Microsoft Office package.  It comes with unique features such as;

• Calendar, to help keep appointments
• Tasks to notify you of important tasks
• Notes
• Contacts, to save email address and contact details.

A good reason why Microsoft Outlook is popular in the cooperate world is that it can be used as an exchange server for multiple users. Outlook works seamlessly with Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft exchange server and only requires inputting your email address in Outlook to get Microsoft exchange running. Microsoft Outlook is compatible with third-party applications and mobile devices, which makes it a winner for everybody. Microsoft Outlook allows voting and comes with impressive security features such as blocking potential malware like web bugs and junk mail filtering.

Is Microsoft Outlook and Hotmail the same?

There are many reasons why many people still think that Hotmail and Outlook are quite similar. Two of these are;

• Outlook.com can be interchanged with Hotmail.com
• Users of Hotmail can use Outlook easily

However, these similarities don’t measure up to the stark differences between both email service providers.

Is There a Difference between Hotmail and Outlook?

Yes, there are several differences between Hotmail and Outlook. Some of which are:

• Outlook is original to Microsoft, while another entity developed Hotmail and Microsoft eventually acquired it.
• Outlook is the newer, upgraded and more-user friendly version of Hotmail.
• Outlook is a desktop email client, while Hotmail is a webmail client.
• Outlook is the domain name of Microsoft, while Hotmail is just a domain owned by Microsoft.
• Outlook is an application and can function independently or a Microsoft Exchange server, while Hotmail is just a domain name.

But how did it all come to be? In this article, we pay tribute to the humble origin of what is arguably the internet’s most valuable tool.

Before the internet, as you know it

It’s a little-known fact, but email in its fundamental state predated the internet. The first working concept of an electronic mailbox was devised by MIT scientists in the year 1965, and it was at the time, an ingenious piece of technological manipulation. Computer users sent messages to other users by leaving them in the recipient’s user file directory. When the next user logged onto the machine he/she could simply access the file from his/her directory. The system was intuitive and practical but with one limitation. Communicating users had to be on the same device to access the messages, since there was no infrastructure connecting separate computers

Leveraging the primordial internet

By 1969, ARPANET, short for Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, was created by the US Department of Defense. It was a communication protocol developed to facilitate seamless communication between the organization’s computers. ARPANET allowed messages to be sent and received on separate machines and its effectiveness at doing this made it an instant hit. The growing popularity of ARPANET’S email service also heightened the standing expectations and it soon went mainstream, people wanted to send messages to specific computers on a network as opposed to merely placing it in a file directory.

Introducing Ray Tomlinson

As a contractor working for ARPANET, Tomlinson integrated the @ symbol into the existing email protocol as a means of specifying the destination computer a message was intended for. This ingenious solution upended the stakes of email to an even greater height. By the late 1970s, over 75% of ARPANET’s intranet traffic was email related. Again, expectation grew, and people started to visualize the prospect of sending messages over something bigger than internal networks. This movement – the need for a more extensive network of computers that defied geographical barriers – effectively set an enticing antecedent for the development of the internet.

Pairing with the internet to great effect

When the Internet went mainstream in the 1980s, electronic mail was its pioneer product offering. It didn’t take long for a dedicated email software to roll out, and by the 1990s email service providers like AOL, Yahoo and Hotmail flooded the market hoping to get a bit of the internet-email pie. Millions of dollars were invested, and on the eve of the 21^st century following the internet boom, email became ubiquitous, going from luxury, geeky service to a corporate and professional essential.