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Avoiding web hazards

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1. Sign up for one of the Internet-based accounts such as Yahoo, Lycos or Hotmail. The advantage of an internet account is that you can use them from any public terminal. Without it, you would need to set up your email account on the computer you are using and this is impractical when you are travelling.
2. They still offer a free service but you might have to fight your way through pages of offers to find it. You might find it worth opting for one of their paid-for services. 
3. Make sure you exclude as much junk and spam mail as possible when creating the account. If you do not do this
   1. Your account will fill up and refuse to accept mail you want.
   2. You will waste hours ploughing through the junk which is tiresome, especially when you have limited time.
   3. The spam makes it hard to find the mail you do want to read
4. If you have an email address you can persuade your Internet account to download this mail as well. 
5. Internet-based email accounts can be accessed from any Internet cafe or other public terminal. You need to check these accounts reasonably regularly (once a month is a suggested minimum), otherwise they might close the account if it is a freebie.
6. Don't forget to get rid of old messages to leave space for new email. You can often send old mail to a file or forward it to yourself at another address to keep a copy.
7. BUT, few public terminals allow you to add attachments, as you can do from your own computer - so ask if you can do it before trying.

1. This needs a bit of planning. Find out how long your address will remain active after your departure. A kindly system manager might keep the address active for weeks or months, so you can pick up messages provided you have access to the Internet.
2. Set up another address as soon as possible. You can then notify those you want to keep in contact with what the new email address will be.  There is a reply-to-all facility if you want everybody to know.
3. If you have a signature on your email don't forget to change it.

1. This allows you to keep all your emails in one place. You can have your accounts set up so all you need to do is find a phone plug - and that is where the fun starts.
2. For some inexplicable reason, no international body has done anything about the proliferation of phone plug designs. Almost every country has its own peculiar design. So you need to buy an adaptor or a local cable that you can connect to your modem.
3. So now you have a physical connection, but you still need to dial up. Most big hotels have direct dialling from the rooms or business centres. Smaller hotels might require you to plug into their office and this can get complicated as well as expensive.
4. Now you need to add the international access code (normally 00) and the country code (1 for US, 33 for France, 44 for UK and 49 for Germany) to the dialup details.
5. Then you can log on in the normal way, but remember, you will be paying international call charges. (Tip: Your laptop might want to download all your mail since it was last connected. They call this 'synchronising' but you might use other words as it collects mail you have already dealt with on your desk-based computer. Before you leave the office, connect the laptop to avoid this.)
6. There are some excellent phone services which let you dial a local number from wherever you go but you will need to set this up before you go.

1. Mobile phones are becoming increasingly capable with keypads and storage.
2. However, these are early days and it will be a few years before the system is integrated. 

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