Ever since Hotmail appeared on the internet back in 1995, millions have been keeping in touch via email accounts accessed solely through a web browser.

Naturally, the big advantage of using a webmail service is that as long as the computer you are using has a web browser and a connection to the internet, you can access your inbox from pretty much anywhere in the world.

It's hardly surprising, then, that the webmail idea proved a huge hit with young people backpacking around the world, but many less adventurous souls also love webmail services because using one means you don't have to change email address when you change your ISP.

Nevertheless, webmail is not without its problems. Many of the services have been overrun with spam, meaning that you constantly have to clean junk out of your inbox.

Lately the big names in webmail have started to offer better spam protection, but the results have been mixed, with some services still snowed under with junk mail. As webmail is still extremely popular, though, we decided to take some of the leading services for a spin.

Another.com
The main attraction of Another.com is that you can create a much more personal email address than you can with other services.

This is because Another.com has registered a massive number of weird and wacky domain names, which its subscribers can use as the second half of their email address.

For example, you can choose from such varied and downright bizarre options as blabbermouth.co.uk, eminem-fan.co.uk, englandmanager.com and who-ate-all-the-pies.com.

When you register, you are automatically assigned an address in the format of username@another.com, but once you've signed in, you can create up to 20 different novelty addresses that all point to the same mailbox. You can then assign one of these new addresses as your default email address if you wish.

Although the service was originally free, Another.com now charges a subscription fee and, unfortunately, it's not exactly cheap. In fact, at £24 per year, Another.com is one of the most expensive webmail services about, especially considering the dearth of features on offer.

For the registration fee you only get 10Mb of storage, which is the same as that available from the likes of Lycos and Yahoo for nothing.

Another.com doesn't offer POP3 access either, so you can't use it in conjunction with a desktop email client. In fact, we'd only recommend using Another.com if you feel you absolutely must have one of the novelty email addresses on offer.
www.another.com

Hotmail
Of all the free webmail services on the internet, Hotmail is unquestionably the most well known. It's also the longest running, having been set up back in 1995 before later being sold to Microsoft. As a result, it's often the first choice for those looking for a free email address.

However, webmail services aren't like fine wines; just because they're older doesn't mean they're any better. In fact, Hotmail's popularity has led to many problems.

Because so many people have already signed up to the service and bagged the decent addresses, it's virtually impossible to snag yourself a Hotmail address that bears any resemblance to your name without having to put a string of numbers after it.

The service is also overrun with spam, promising everything from a peek at Britney Spears's charms to everlasting life. Worst of all, perhaps, Microsoft has cut back on the amount of storage space that is offered for free accounts.

In fact, Microsoft has really neutered the free service in an effort to convince people to part with their cash for the premium option. For example, you only get 2Mb of free storage space as standard and you can only send attachments of up to 1Mb in size.

Nevertheless, there have been some improvements lately. The company has just introduced a new interface that adds a function bar across the top of the Hotmail window. It's a big improvement on the previous layout and makes it a lot faster to navigate through the various tools and folders.

Overall, though, Hotmail is now one of the poorer webmail offerings on the internet. Do yourself a favour and opt for Lycos or Yahoo instead.
www.hotmail.com

Lycos
Out of all the free services, Lycos offers by far the largest mailbox. At 10Mb, the storage quota dwarfs that available on Hotmail. The fact that you get it all for free with Lycos is not to be sniffed at.

Lycos has also gone to great lengths to make the service as easy as possible to use. The user interface is decked out in a light blue and white colour scheme, which is very easy on the eye, and all the menus and folders are logically laid out.

The best bit, however, is that Lycos doesn't constantly fire pop-up adverts at your browser like many of the other free services. In fact, the adverts are mostly limited to a banner advert at the top of the screen.

During our test period, we also found the service to be very quick and responsive, with little delay when you load various screens or navigate between mail folders.

Lycos has decent spam filtering as standard and there's a plug-in for Outlook that allows you to manage your account from either Outlook or Outlook Express.

It all adds up to an excellent free webmail service that's hard to beat. Lycos really is setting the standard for free web-based email at the moment.
mail.lycos.co.uk

Mail.com
If you're after an email address that's a bit more personal than the ones you get from services like Hotmail, Yahoo and Lycos, then Mail.com might be worth a look.

When you go to register, you're offered a number of different domain name endings you can use for your address. You could have london.com, cheerful.com or journalist.com, to name just a few.

While the service used to be free, the website has now started charging. The cheapest sign up fee is $10 (a little more than £5), which is a lot cheaper than Another.com, but bear in mind that Mail.com doesn't offer anywhere near as many novelty email addresses.

The other problem is that Mail.com can be very slow at times. Things have been improving recently, but it's not as fast as competitors such as Yahoo.

That's bad news for a paid-for service where we'd expect absolutely premium performance. As a result, we wouldn't recommend Mail.com for heavy email users.

We're also none too keen on the user interface. The design is a dull and lifeless affair with a boring colour scheme and ugly menus.

Mail.com might be one of the cheaper subscription-based services around but it's also extremely basic. We'd suggest you spend your money elsewhere.
www.mail.com

Yahoo
Along with Hotmail, Yahoo's mail service is one of the oldest free webmail offerings on the internet.

The wealth of experience Yahoo has built up over the years shows through in the overall design of the interface, which has all the various tabs and menus located exactly where you'd expect them to be. Even better is the fact that you can customise the colour scheme.

Yahoo has it's own spam filters which did a good job of blocking unsolicited email during our tests, but there's also a filtering option that you can use for additional protection. Thankfully, you don't have to upgrade to the premium service to make use of this.

In fact, Yahoo offers many features for free that other webmail services now only include in their paid-for, premium packages.

For some of the more advanced features, such as the ability to access your email via POP3, you do have to sign up to the Yahoo Delivers option. This is also free, but it does send advertisements to you on a weekly basis.

Nevertheless, thanks to the generous 6Mb of storage space offered as standard, Yahoo remains one of our favourite free webmail services.
www.yahoo.com

WEBMAIL SERVICES FROM ISPs

If you've got an email account with an ISP, it doesn't necessarily mean that you can't read your mail from a webmail service.

In fact, many ISPs let you log on to your mailbox from their website to send and receive emails. NTL, for example, allows its subscribers to log on to their mailboxes from its home page at NTLWorld.com.

Similarly, AOL subscribers can use their screen name and password to log onto the service from the company's home page at www.aol.co.uk and pick up their emails.

Even if your ISP doesn't offer webmail, you may still be able to pick up your email via your web browser using a service called Mail2web.

As long as you know the POP3 address for your ISP's mail server, you can use this along with your username and password to log into your account via Mail2web.

All you have to do is log on at www.mail2web.com and then click on the Advanced Log-in link. You then enter your ISP's mail server address in the first box, your username in the second one and your password in the third.

When you click on the Check Mail button you'll be presented with any emails you have received since the last time you logged onto your mail account.