Efficient use of Gmail (Google’s free email service at http://www.gmail.com ) requires a paradigm shift in how you think about your email inbox. Other email services and clients treat email as you might a piece of paper in your office. It is either in your inbox, a filing cabinet or a trash can. Gmail does not, however, emulate a a filing cabinet with folders, where your mail can only be in one folder at a time. Instead, it offers a label and search system, where mail moves from your inbox to a single archive, and is retrieved via search or by one of the multiple labels that can be assigned to it. Stephen Shankland explains why he became a Gmail convert (
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9994405-2.html ).

If you are tired of changing your email address whenever your ISP changes, buying your own domain name is a simple way to assure that you can keep the same email address year after year. A domain costs about $8 to $18 per year, depending on where you buy it. Once you own your domain (such as “your-name-here.com”), you can then pick an email address such as “me@your-name-here.com” and have your domain registrar forward all incoming email to either your ISP email address, or a free webmail provider such as Gmail or Yahoo.

With a single Gmail email address, you can create an unlimited number of alias accounts to help sort and track incoming mail. Your email aliases can be created either by adding dots to your address or by tacking on a “+” phrase. For example, if your email address is myname@gmail.com, you can also use my.name@gmail.com or m.y.name@gmail.com, and so on. The plus used after your name can be used to track mail from specific sources. For example myname+somesite.com@gmail.com could be used when requesting information from “somesite.com.” For more, read these articles from Consuming Experience or MakeUseOf.

Computer scientists at Carnegie-Mellon University have found using games to educate users about phishing scams is more effective than expecting us to read security manuals. As part of their research, they developed Anti-Phishing Phil, an interactive game that explains how to spot phishing cues in emails, and when to use search engines to find legitimate sites.

“What are you doing?” Twitter is a micro-blogging social networking site that asks that one question, and gives you 140 characters to broadcast an answer to all your friends, family and co-workers. Intrigued by the possibilities? Here are a few guides to get you started: MasterNewMedia’s Twitter – A Beginner’s Guide , Caroline Middlebrook’s Big Juicy Twitter Guide, and Rafe Needlemen’s Newbie’s Guide to Twitter.

In addition to being an excellent choice for web-based email, Google’s Gmail can also be used as a spam-filtering front end to your existing email client. For two slightly different approaches on how to do this, read Dylan at Mboffin or John Zeratsky.

The best defense against spoof (fake or phishing) emails is to be educated and informed about how to spot them. eBay has a good tutorial on how to protect yourself, as does Stop-Phishing.com from the University of Indiana. Number one tip: when visiting a site in response to an email that asks for some web action, do not click on the link in the email. Instead, navigate to the company site independently, either by looking it up in a search engine, or getting the URL off a billing statement.

In addition to the sheer annoyance of receiving forwarded emails with hundreds of email addresses visible in the body of the message, warning you about something or another (and urging you to email all your friends), there is a high probability that the message itself is simply not true. Next time you get one, instead of forwarding it on, look it up at Snopes.com to determine its validity. The most widely spread urban legends are summarized here.

In an effort to combat the spread of computer viruses, Google’s Gmail does not allow you to send or receive executable files even if they are in a zipped format. Although many blogs have reported ways around this, most of these violate Google’s terms of service, and your Gmail account could be terminated. The simplest way to is to upload your files to a free online hosting service, and then email the URL to your recipient. Some choices include: Mega Upload , You Send It , Send This File.

Does an empty email inbox sound like an unattainable goal? Here’s advice from two savvy bloggers who claim it is possible. Narendra Rocherolle’s “Clearing Your Inbox with Minimal Pain” and Leo Notenboom’s “Taming Email.” For more on stress-free productivity, pick up a copy of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done.”