If you use a mailbox with your own personal domain and not a third-party one, you will be able to use an email software app such as Apple Mail, Outlook or Thunderbird to check and administer your email accounts. The benefit of using such applications is that they also offer other features, such as address books and calendars. There are two different email retrieval protocols that you can select from when you configure the application of your preference to access your email account – POP3 and IMAP. With the first one, all email messages that are received will be downloaded onto your device – mobile or desktop, unless you choose to save a copy on the email server. With the second protocol, the email messages will be displayed locally at your end, but they will stay on the server all the time, so you can set up the account on numerous devices and check the messages from any location. You will also be able to see old email messages if there’s a predicament with your Internet service, which is an enormous advantage over a web-based email service.