Okay. I’m from the South, so that means anything even slightly ’’redneck’’ in appearance makes me cringe. ’’Yahoo!’’ for example, sends shivers up and down my spine: Images of flannel-clad hunters with enormous dogs and cans of Budweiser dance before my eyes.

But, if you’re looking for a great free e-mail service, put the garish images out of your mind and check out what Yahoo! has put together.

They offer several megabytes of free storage space for your e-mail - if you need more than the allotted six megs, you can pay for an upgrade. However, I check my e-mail every day and delete the things that I have read and replied to, so I personally see no point in getting more space.

The layout is logical and very easy to use. It loads quickly, with few graphics and annoying garbage to clog up your screen or interfere with your e-mail reading or composing. Yahoo! mail provides custom folder creation, e-mail filters, address blocking, and a bulk messages folder. Messages sent to numerous recipients are generally spam - you know, ads for pornographic Web sites or other such nonsense. Thus, Yahoo! automatically delivers all of that junk to your bulk message folder - out of sight, out of mind, right? Of course! With this feature turned on, most of the ’’real’’ e-mail goes to your in-box while the rest is conveniently diverted.

You can also use the address book to save e-mail addresses: You can have them individually recorded, but you can also add them to mailing lists. This makes it very easy for you to get in touch with ’’Mom’s Entire PTA Club’’ with just one message. Too easy!

I have only had problems with Yahoo! service once. That was several years ago when ’’Coolio’’ and his band of hooligans downed Yahoo! as well as several online auction sites. Other than that, Yahoo! mail has always been there for me. I can check it from any Internet connection worldwide without any surcharges or fees - Yahoo! does not charge anything for their basic e-mail service regardless of what you do with it!

However, Yahoo! mail is web-based. This means that many other online services and sites will not accept it as a valid e-mail address. In these cases, you have to use your ’’real’’ e-mail address - such as the one that you receive when you sign up with your local or national Internet Service Provider. However, many groups and servers are slowly beginning to understand that many of us (such as college students, children of computer users, and other such groups) are not the ones that own the ’’real’’ address attached to the account we log on to the Internet with, and are re-writing their rules accordingly. So, eventually this may not be an issue. In the meantime, don’t be surprised if your application or input into a site is rejected because of the address.

Overall, Yahoo! mail is the best web-based client that I have ever used. Its features, reliability, convenience, and price all come together to create an outstanding service, one that I have personally used for something like five years now.

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