If you have an email with your own domain and not a third-party one, you’ll be able to make use of an email software application such as Outlook, Apple Mail or Thunderbird to access and administer your email messages. The benefit of using such apps is that you can also take advantage of 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 choice to access your mailbox – POP3 and IMAP. With the first one, all email messages that are received will be downloaded on your device – mobile or desktop, unless you opt to leave a copy on the email server. With the second one, the messages will be displayed at your end, but they will remain on the server at all times, so you can set up the account on multiple devices and check the messages from any place. You’ll also be able to see old email messages in case there’s a problem with your Internet service, which is an enormous advantage over web-based email services.