Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Gmail by Google? Anyone use this and what is your opinion on this service?
Old 12-27-2009, 08:12 AM   #1
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,323
Gmail by Google? Anyone use this and what is your opinion on this service?

Since I want an encrypted email service (remember that I have so many secret documents in my underground work with various countries ), a friend suggested I use Gmail by Google as my service. He said they have more room than what I've been using, also.
Does anyone use Gmail here? And what is your opinion on Gmail's quality of service?
I "think" I remember someone a couple years ago that I knew that used Gmail having problems with it going down or something, but don't make me swear to it. Anyone have anything to say about Gmail that's good or bad or even indifferent?

***If anyone has an ENCRYPTED service they use like hushmail, please give me your opinion of it. I'm seriously looking around now.
__________________
Please consider adopting a rescue animal. So very many need a furr-ever home and someone to love them! And if we all spay/neuter our pets there won't be an overpopulation to put to death.
Orchidflower is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 12-27-2009, 09:07 AM   #2
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Ed_The_Gypsy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: the City of Subdued Excitement
Posts: 5,588
Wife uses Gmail and likes it.

I have also heard that it has gone down from time to time, but this has never affected her. Timing, I suppose.

I wouldn't count on anything being secure from serious hackers (specifically, Uncle Sam).
__________________
I have outlived most of the people I don't like and I am working on the rest.
Ed_The_Gypsy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 09:17 AM   #3
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
TromboneAl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
GMail is the only way to fly. Highly recommended. It has been extremely reliable for me.
__________________
Al
TromboneAl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 09:25 AM   #4
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 886
My wife uses it, but I personally don't like the way it "organizes" your emails. Probably just takes time to get used to it. I suspect it's reliable as any though.
__________________

Trek is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 09:27 AM   #5
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Helen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Portland
Posts: 2,038
I love it. They give you a ton of storage space. I've had it for years and have deleted very few messages. I'm not even close to exceeding their space allotment.

I've never had gmail be unavailable.
Helen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 09:42 AM   #6
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
vicente solano's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 1,116
My son installed for me on my phone to receive very spceial mails, like from this forum. No problems, but then I only read mails...
__________________
I get by with a little help from my friends....ta ta ta ta ta...
vicente solano is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 10:52 AM   #7
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
TromboneAl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
Quote:
My wife uses it, but I personally don't like the way it "organizes" your emails.
A lot of people don't use it's system well. For example, when my sister visits, I see that all her mail is in her in box, and she deletes things she doesn't think she'll need.

First rule of email: Never delete a message.

Second rule: Archive. Every day or so, I just archive all the messages I'm done with. They are no harder to get to, they just aren't sitting in the in box. It's easy to do this, since you can just tell it to archive everything you've read, or fine tune what gets archived.

This way, you usually have an uncluttered in box containing only those emails and email threads that are currently relevant.

The search function is very effective.
__________________
Al
TromboneAl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 11:12 AM   #8
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,323
Why never delete a message? I don't understand, TromboneAl.
__________________
Please consider adopting a rescue animal. So very many need a furr-ever home and someone to love them! And if we all spay/neuter our pets there won't be an overpopulation to put to death.
Orchidflower is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 11:24 AM   #9
Administrator
Janet H's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Pacific NW
Posts: 6,164
I love gmail and with a little time you can come to appreciate the different way of sorting info. Say goodbye to folders forever

Others pluses for gmail include the best spam filter around, great internal search tool, remote access and easy configuration.
__________________
E-R.org Custom Google Search | Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup.
Janet H is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 11:55 AM   #10
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,323
Gosh, I'm getting sold on Gmail. Wish I were sophisticated enough to use folders. Talk about your basic beginner.
__________________
Please consider adopting a rescue animal. So very many need a furr-ever home and someone to love them! And if we all spay/neuter our pets there won't be an overpopulation to put to death.
Orchidflower is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 12:00 PM   #11
Administrator
Janet H's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Pacific NW
Posts: 6,164
Gmail does have folders - but they have something much simpler called labels.

You can leave all your messages in your inbox and tag them with labels. You can then search and sort by labels. When I originally set up a gmail account I developed an elaborate set of labels but as time has gone on, they have fallen into disuse except for two remaining and much needed labels; 'Do" and 'Done". The search tool is so nice that it's just not necessary to file anything.

One final good feature: FREE
__________________
E-R.org Custom Google Search | Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup.
Janet H is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 01:20 PM   #12
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,323
FREE is always the price I love to pay the most!
__________________
Please consider adopting a rescue animal. So very many need a furr-ever home and someone to love them! And if we all spay/neuter our pets there won't be an overpopulation to put to death.
Orchidflower is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 05:04 PM   #13
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Sarah in SC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Charleston, SC
Posts: 13,566
I like Gmail and find it has some great features compared to the two other email services I use. Easy to organize and easy to set up on my mobile phone, too.
And free!
__________________
“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching.”
Gerard Arthur Way

Sarah in SC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 05:05 PM   #14
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Rustic23's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Lake Livingston, Tx
Posts: 4,203
Orchid,
Gmail gives me 8 gig of storage. I have over 1,200 email archived. I think T Al's point is there is not need to ever delete an email, because of the amount of storage they give you. I don't archive everything, but I have started archiving most personal email.
__________________
If it is after 5:00 when I post I reserve the right to disavow anything I posted.
Rustic23 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 05:20 PM   #15
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 7,746
Big gmail user here since the very beginning in 2004. And Gdocs and gCalendar and google voice and google chat among other things google. It is like a whole Office suite accessible "on the cloud" (anywhere there is an internet connection).

I think gmail was down for a few hours two times this year. It made headlines and also a "biggest tech failures of 2009" list I saw recently. Otherwise it is very reliable. It is more reliable than my Outlook based email at work, what with the occasional network hiccup/burp and Exchange server errors/reboots. And the search functions and accessibility are WAY faster than my Outlook based email at work. It takes a little bit of work to get used to "searching" for the email you are looking for instead of moving everything to folders and browsing. But I like it better than competing internet based email services and outlook.

Once you get set up, go to Settings or something and make sure https or secure/encrypted is selected. It will show in your browser too (the little lock icon).
__________________
Retired in 2013 at age 33. Keeping busy reading, blogging, relaxing, gaming, and enjoying the outdoors with my wife and 3 kids (8, 13, and 15).
FUEGO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 07:58 PM   #16
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,323
I'm still in shock over having 1,200 emails sitting in storage.....wow.
Will do what you oldtimers with gmail say. I'm here to learn.
__________________
Please consider adopting a rescue animal. So very many need a furr-ever home and someone to love them! And if we all spay/neuter our pets there won't be an overpopulation to put to death.
Orchidflower is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-27-2009, 09:50 PM   #17
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Katsmeow's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 5,307
I went to gmail full time several months ago. I've used very complex email programs before with lots of filters, etc. However, I got tired of synchronizing with different computers so went gmail. I have several email accounts that all get collected by gmail and I can send from any of the email accounts. I use lots of labels. You can also know see a couple of hundred (I think) most recent emails offline which is nice.
Katsmeow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-28-2009, 05:39 AM   #18
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,323
Bottom line seems to be a thumbs up for gmail from y'all.
__________________
Please consider adopting a rescue animal. So very many need a furr-ever home and someone to love them! And if we all spay/neuter our pets there won't be an overpopulation to put to death.
Orchidflower is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-28-2009, 06:45 AM   #19
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Coach's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Colorado, USA
Posts: 1,127
Orchidflower, another vote here for gmail.

But I would not want you to be under any illusion about encryption. Your connection to gmail is encrypted, and google probably does a pretty good job of protecting your email stored on their servers. But email from gmail accounts, like 99% of all email, is transmitted from point to point unencrypted. And of course, once it gets into the hands of the recipient, you have no control over its security at all.

Services like hushmail operate on a completely different protocol.

Unless your are doing something very proactive, like using a service like hushmail or additional software like PGP, you should consider email no more confidential than a postcard.

Coach
__________________
"Comprehensive health insurance is an idea whose time has come in America." President Richard M. Nixon, February 6, 1974
Coach is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-28-2009, 07:01 AM   #20
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
misanman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,246
An gmail user told me they were suspicious that Google scanned their email for purposes of targeting advertising. They claimed they sent some email that had to do with baby furniture and all of a sudden they were getting ads for baby furniture. Anyone know if there's any truth to this? I wouldn't want to start an "urban legend".

It could have been a coincidence or maybe linked to web browsing that they didn't remember doing.
__________________
"Don't you draw the queen of diamonds, boy, she'll beat you if she's able.
You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet" -- The Eagles, Desperado
misanman is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Google launches Google Finance Olav23 FIRE and Money 11 02-08-2008 01:42 PM
Gmail and the scrollbar bongo2 Other topics 5 10-08-2007 10:19 AM
Check out the "google" at the top of the google page cute fuzzy bunny Other topics 0 03-17-2006 08:40 PM
gmail/ verizon Martha Other topics 1 01-29-2005 02:21 PM
Want a gmail account? cute fuzzy bunny Other topics 14 09-28-2004 06:40 AM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:29 PM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.