The #DigitalCheckNRW is an important project for the state government in NRW [North Rhine Westphalia] The aim is to enable digital participation for all citizens. You can test your own media skills via the check and fill gaps by means of further training programs.
Step by step guide for your own (free) email address
1. e-mail conquers our communication
In 1972, Ray Tomlinson sent the world's first electronic letter. And thus several years before the World Wide Web, at the time of ARPANET. In the 1980s, they began to spread globally. Today, we send more than 300 billion e-mails worldwide and our e-mail address book is full.
The advantages of an e-mail over a letter are obvious: it is faster and less expensive than sending it by mail. Electronic archiving (e.g. in a cloud) is also less expensive than physical archiving. Its electronic form means that it can be automated. And in addition to the ease of handling an email, we can also respond to emails quickly and easily.
2. create email, this is how easy it is done
Step 1: Choose a provider There is an almost endless number of email providers. (You can find a small comparison of some providers below.) Everything is possible. Therefore, it is first important to be clear about which criteria are important to you when choosing an e-mail provider. Should the provider be free of charge? Should extra services cost money? How much value do you place on data protection and security when it comes to e-mails? How large should the e-mail inbox be? What other functions, such as a calendar, do you need? Look at several providers and compare the options.
Step 2: Choose your email address Now it's time to choose your email address. Simply call the url of your chosen email provider. Most of the time you will find a button or link for registering a new e-mail address very prominently on the home page of the provider. Click on the link / button and fill out the form. (The information you have to provide depends very much on the provider. This can also be a point that speaks for or against a particular provider. ) You are quite free to choose your e-mail address. Only the fact that it is already taken can stand in the way of your desire. When choosing your e-mail provider, please keep in mind that the domain name will be part of your e-mail address, e.g. vorname.nachname@proton.de or nachname78@posteo.de.
Step 3: Choose a password Now you have tochoose a password. Most of the providers give guidelines concerning the (minimum) length of the password and the characters. A server-level password is recommended, i.e. consisting of at least 16 characters. You should use upper and lower case letters as well as numbers and special characters. Then such a password is theoretically crackable only after more than 130,000,000 years.
Step 4: Confirm terms and conditions Before you can write your first e-mail, you must confirm the respective terms and conditions during registration. Our tip: be sure to read them! After that, you can usually start writing your first email and it will land in your inbox.
3. email provider comparison
POSTEO
If you value security and like it free of advertising, you're in good hands with posteo.de. For just €1 per month, you get an email inbox without any personal data being collected. And on top of that, it's green, because the Berlin-based company runs all its servers on green electricity.
mailbox.org
A very similar concept can be found at mailbox.org. Here, too, you can get an e-mail address for € 1,- per month. Of course, it's also secure, anonymous and ad-free.
Proton
Proton is an email service based in Switzerland that places special emphasis on security thanks to encryption. The provider itself speaks of "rigorous encryption" and means above all end-to-end and zero-access encryption. Also on mobile devices.
Tutanota
The provider describes itself as the "world's most secure email service". 1GB is free with Tutanota, encrypted emails & calendar included.
StartMail
From Startpage - a privacy-compliant web alternative to Google Search - comes StartMail. For € 2,10 (annual billing) you get 10GB of storage - without advertising, without tracking, but with encryption.
TOP 5 most popular email providers:
outlook.com Yes, you read that right. What most people know as the MS Office program from the office is also available as an "online variant". For those who already work with Microsoft products, outlook.com could be a good choice as an e-mail box. Email + calendar combined and the whole thing for free.
GMail Google can do more than "just" search and so it is hardly surprising that there is also a mail service from Google. The advantage: GMail is internationally known and a @gmail.com address is therefore not unusual.
T-Online Freemail With its "Freemail", the telecommunications giant Telekom offers a free e-mail service with "high security standards and 1 GB of memory".
Web.de One of the largest national providers is WEB.DE. A free e-mail address can be set up here in just a few minutes.
GMX The same applies to GMX, which belongs to United Internet just like WEB.DE.
Disposable email
And if you've always been annoyed by "free" offers on the Web that you "pay for" with your e-mail address (i.e., newsletters that can't be canceled), we recommend tempr.email. With this service, you can create a so-called "disposable e-mail address" in a matter of seconds. But be careful: the mailboxes are open to everyone, please do not use them for sensitive information.
(without claim to completeness & correctness, as of Sep 2022)
4. sources used in alphabetical order
