Step 1: Ask Your Email Provider

A lot goes into the "send on check" decision. If your email provider requires you to log in and check your mail, no more than an hour before every download (for example), they should have informed you of this restriction.

Step 2: Getting in Sync

You may want to disable send on check in order to be sure you're up to date on time critical issues before sending email. For example, if you compose new messages before checking your mail, you might ask a question that someone has already answered in a message that's sitting at your ISP waiting for you. After you send and check, you'll have your answer, but it's too late to stop the message you've sent.

Step 3: Check Early and Often

How often you need to check your email depends on the amount of email you normally send and receive, and the time-critical nature of your email traffic. Some people use it to keep in touch with friends; maybe twice a week is enough for this purpose. Some people use it in business; three times a day may not be enough.

Step 4: Let People Know

If you are the type of email user who doesn't check email every day, you may want to tell people. Sometimes they'll still forget. It's easy to get so busy that you assume others are checking email often.

Step 5: Fix Username and Password

If you have trouble logging into your ISP (dialup networking) or logging into your mailbox (unknown user or repeated password requests), call your Internet Service Provider on the phone and get all the usernames and passwords straight. Remember that the login information for the email account may be different from the dialup Internet account.

Step 6: Don't Get Overloaded

Your ISP or email provider puts space limitations on incoming server mailboxes. They have to because their equipment has a maximum data capacity. If you receive notification that your mailbox is full, clear out some messages in Eudora that you don't need anymore and download your server messages. And if you send a mail message that bounces because of an overloaded mailbox, contact the recipient by another method to fix the problem.