Two Email Accounts?

Apart from those people who have a work email as well as a personal email, most people only have one email account. It makes life so much simpler!

But a recent problem with a customer's computer highlighted the importance of having a second, personal email account.

The customer's Hotmail account had been hacked, and a load of spam was being sent out in his name. Hotmail blocked the account, having noticed the unusual volume of messages the account was sending.

To unblock the account involved receiving instructions at another email account - but my customer did not have one. And there was no way round that requirement.

I had to bring the PC back to my work bench, and use my email address to get the instructions for changing his email account password.

That experience set me thinking - are there any benefits in having more than one personal email account? Certainly, in the instance above, it was virtually a necessity.

I've heard of people who have an email account reserved for all those occasions when you are asked for your email address and you just know you are going to get stuff you don't want from the sender - adverts, special offers, and the like.

That seems like a good plan, except you do have to check the reserve account regularly, as lack of use after some months will mean your account will disappear. It pays, therefore, to visit the account and clean out the accumulated clutter, once a week or thereabouts.

There are plenty of free accounts around (as well as Hotmail), and your Internet Service Provider will usually provide additional email addresses. So it's worth considering.

I once heard of a famous footballer who had separate mobile phones for each of his girlfriends. Now there's a thought - a separate email account for each of .... I'll not go there!