How to get started with free Google Apps

How would you like to get 10 free personalized Gmail emails free using your own domain? Google Apps offers powerful messaging and collaboration apps such as Gmail, Google Docs, Googla Calendar, Google Sites and many more 3rd party apps for your personal and business needs. It's an alternative to popular established productivity software like Microsoft Office or Outlook, Lotus Notes and similar apps.

Unless you work in the IT field or you're a hardcore geek, not many people realize that Google also offers a free version of Google Apps. This version offers some of the cool features of Google Apps for Business like Gmail, Google Docs, Googla Calendar, Google Sites and many more. The one thing I love most about Google Apps is that I can create up to 10 free Gmail-based emails using my domain name, for example admin@afifstore.com, help@afifplc.com and so on. All you need to have is your very own registered domain name and to sign up at Google Apps free page. To begin just click the big Get started button.

First step enter you registered domain name.

You can choose between Express and Custom setup. For beginners I would recommend the Express setup since it's much faster and less complicated.

Now you will have to prove that your actually own the entered domain. There's several ways to do this but most of them requires you to have a domain name plus a web hosting service. If you don't have any web hosting plans or a server of your own, you'll have to verify your domain by adding a TXT record to your domain's configuration.

After copying the DNS TXT record provided previously, login to your DNS Management control panel like the one provided by Exabytes above. Add a new SPF (txt) record and paste the TXT record generated by Google apps in the address field.

After that Google Apps should automatically verify your domain name.

Next you'll need to setup your Google Apps.

This is the boring part but the good news is you can just click next until you're done.

Finally click on the Organization & users tab to create your Google Apps username and personalized email address. Now you're done. The cool thing is you can login to your Google App email address at your regular Gmail login page and set them up for access using email clients like Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird or your smartphones. Plus you also get the standard 7GB + infinity email space just like any other Gmail users.

Google Apps, especially the free one is a great if you like to have a free but powerful messaging and collaboration tools for your family or small business. You get 10 free email address and some worthy alternative to expensive collaboration software like Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Office all for the price of one domain name. Reliability-wise, you can't get a more reliable email provider besides Google with a proven 99% uptime rate.I bought my .com domain for just 15 ringgit earlier this year during a promotion from Exabytes and the average market rate for domain renewal in Malaysia is around RM68.00 a year.

I would really recommend Google Apps for everyone especially if you need to have a personalized .com email. Standard market price for email hosting is quite expensive so for 68 ringgit a year it's a bargain.Sign up for Google Apps now here. Also check out Exabytes should you need to register a new domain today.

How to send & receive POP3 emails from Gmail

How would you like to access all your personal or company POP3 email right inside your Gmail account? Well you can. Gmail has been providing this feature for some time now and you can consolidate all your different POP3 accounts inside Gmail. Plus it's very easy to set up too. All you need to do is follow the following 27 steps carefully.

Okay, just kidding. It's actually just 7 easy steps. All you need is to enter is your POP3 username and password. First step login to Gmail and click on Mail settings on the top right corner.

Go to Accounts and Import > Check mail using POP3 > Add POP3 mail account you own. Enter your POP3 email address.

Usually Gmail will automatically detect your POP3 setting and fill in your POP server and port setting. In case it doesn't, ask your network administrator for the POP3 server and port setting. They are usually mail.yourdomain.com with the port number 110. Key in your POP3 email password. By now you can already receive external POP3 emails using Gmail.

This next step allows you to send email using your external POP3 account using Gmail.

Enter a name to identify yourself.

You have the option to let Gmail handle all your outgoing email or you can enter your own SMTP server setting yourself. Obviously the first option is much easier and more reliable because Gmail rarely (if ever) experience any down time. If you insist of sending emails through your own SMTP server, ask your network administrator for the right server name and SMTP port (usually 587 or 25).

Next Gmail is going to verify that you really own that POP3 email address. Click Send Verification.

Check your POP3 email for the verification code and link. Just clicking the link will finish the verification process.

That's it! You can now send and receive email form any of your POP3 accounts using Gmail. It's very handy when you have multiple POP3 accounts or you would like to consolidate all your email accounts inside Gmail. Other than your personal POP3 account, you can also access Hotmail using this method. Yahoo however doesn't allow this because they suck and nobody uses them anymore these days. In fact you have to upgrade to Yahoo Mail Premium to be able to use their POP3 service.

Good luck Jim.
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