In case you use a mailbox with your own personal domain instead of a 3rd-party one, you’ll be able to use an email software application such as Apple Mail, Thunderbird or Outlook to check and administer your mailboxes. The advantage of using such applications is that you can also take advantage of other features, such as address books and calendars. There are two email retrieval protocols that you can choose from when you set up the application of your choosing to access your email account – POP3 and IMAP. With the first protocol, all messages that are received will be downloaded onto your device – mobile or desktop, unless you decide to store a copy on the mail server. With the second protocol, the messages will be displayed at your end, but they will remain on the server all the time, so you can set up the email account on numerous devices and see the email messages from any location. You will also be able to access old emails if there’s an issue with your Internet connectivity, which is an enormous advantage over a web-based email service.