In order to screen messages from a webmail account, ChoiceMail must download them to your computer. This deletes the messages from your webmail account, which helps keep you under your memory limit so you can receive new mail!

As it does with any email account, once ChoiceMail has downloaded your messages, it will separate the “Good” (Approved) messages from Rejected and Unknown messages and deliver the approved messages to the email program of your choice (i.e. Outlook or Outlook Express). You will use this email program instead of your web browser to read and reply to your email, as well as to compose and send new messages. Unless you are already using another email program, we recommend Outlook Express because it’s free, it’s already on your computer as part of Windows, and it works quite well.

Setting up your new email program is easy because ChoiceMail will do most of the work for you. The set-up wizard will ask you simple questions – you just need to provide the answers and ChoiceMail will do the rest. Don’t worry if you get stuck. We provide step-by-step instructions so you won’t get lost.

Frequently asked questions:

Q. Can I still go directly to my provider’s website to read and answer email?

A. Yes, you can always use a browser to go directly to your email account on the web, just as you do now. However, the email you see there will not be screened by ChoiceMail and will not be spam-free.

Q. I like to check my webmail account from home and from my office. Can I still do this?

A. Yes. Just as in the previous question, if you have ChoiceMail at home, you can still go to your webmail site from your computer at the office (or anywhere else) to read and write mail using your web browser. However, the mail you see there will not be spam free. Also, any email you do not delete will be downloaded into ChoiceMail the next time you run it. ChoiceMail will treat this as “new” mail – that is, it will block the spam, send approved messages to your inbox and send identity verification messages to unknown senders.

Q. I have a webmail account but it’s not with one of the four providers listed at the top of this page. Can I use ChoiceMail to screen that account?

A. If you use a web browser to view email an email account at an ISP other than at the four listed above, it is almost certainly a POP3 account for which your ISP has offered a web-based login and view. If you’re not sure, contact your ISP.

On your primary computer, you will use a POP3 email client like Outlook Express to read and write email instead of using your web browser (or a proprietary web-based email client which some ISPs, such as Juno, provide). You will still be able to log on to this account via the web from other computers, but the email you see will not be screened by ChoiceMail and will not automatically be removed from the ISPs mail server.