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How to set up a private, professional email account 

Don't use the "free" email from your broadband supplier. If you depend on your broadband provider's email service -- such as @comcast.net, @sbcglobal.net, @verizon.net, @att.net, etc. -- you will probably lose your email address if you move to a new area or change broadband supplier. Unless you are using POP-based email (where all your email is downloaded to a program running on your own computer, such as Outlook) you will probably lose your address book and all your old emails. Another issue is that ISP-based email addresses don't last forever. For example, a terrible mess ensued when the Houston cable franchise was sold.

In a few minutes, you can get a free advertising-supported Internet email account (accessible via any Internet-connected computer -- whether at work, at home, or at a library) from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, or Apple. With some suppliers, you can pay a nominal amount for ad-free email.

A free Microsoft Outlook.com or Yahoo Mail account may be upgraded to a paid ad-free account for an annual fee.

We don't recommend using one of these unreliable types of email account for personal email – for one thing, you may not receive all HPAA emails:

  • An email account that you don't check regularly. Some of the HPAA emails are urgent.

  • An email setup that sends challenge emails in response to incoming emails. You won't receive any emails from the HPAA's private forums on the Yahoo Groups system. Details: "A Spam-Fighter More Noxious Than Spam" (BusinessWeek)

  • Certain email providers: @bigfoot.com   @rediffmail.com

  • Email forwarding services. Many forwarding services are discarding emails – not just from HPAA, but truly important emails from other senders.     

  • Generic addresses: Non-personal "role" addresses on your own domain are rejected by many senders -- including Yahoo Groups: admin@  info@  sales@  support@  webmaster@

Choosing a professional email username

If available, get a username that incorporates your name -- like john_smith@yahoo.com or john.smith@gmail.com .

Cute email addresses or ones related to your spouse, business, pet, hobby, politics, former employer, age, birth year, or retired status can be a problem later -- and tend to get wearisome over time. You need a name that will work for many years and that works for both personal and professional use.

If your name is already taken, experiment with your middle name, your initial, or add a word -- something like "john_robert_smith."

Some people use their zip code as a differentiator, but that's hard for people to remember, a privacy issue -- and a problem if you move. Using your birth-year as a suffix telegraphs your age.

If you wish, you can have your personal email address forwarded to your email address at your employer. But company email systems often have crude anti-spam mechanisms that reject email newsletters you signed up for -- and you still have the privacy and data-loss issues.  

Personal domain name for email

If you buy a domain name from a domain registrar, such as Google Domains, you can have a personal email address -- for example, john@johnrobertsmith.com. (When considering domain registrars, be sure to compare annual renewal rates -- not just the introductory first-year rates!)

Questions or comments to: info@hpalumni.org   (Updated Mar 2, 2020.)

For more mutual help on this topic and many others, join the independent HP Alumni Association. If you were formerly a regular, direct employee of HP or HPE -- or are in the process of leaving -- join HPAlumni via email. No charge, thanks to HPAA members.

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