Although you may be new to e-mail, you could find that the numbers of messages you send and receive will increase very quickly. You may come to rely on e-mail for more and more reasons, and it's worth taking some time out now and again to manage your messages.

Filing them into different mailboxes will help, and 'trashing' those which are no longer useful can conserve space in your files. Do this carefully - you don't want to bin that message about your assignment deadline!

As you make contact with more and more people via e-mail, you may find that your Address Book comes in handy to store their e-mail addresses. In many packages you can simply double-click on a name in the Address Book to set up a blank message to that person. This will save you looking through old messages to find their address.

You can attach pictures, sounds, word-processed documents and other files to your e-mail message - but check the file size first. Your e-mail package may warn you if the attachment is very large. You can also check file size in Windows Explorer by selecting the file and then checking its 'Properties' under the File menu.

If someone sends you a file of any kind as an e-mail attachment, it is good practice not to open it without checking if it has come from a source you trust. It may well be carrying a computer virus, which will be activated once the file is opened. Virus software will pick up some of these problems before they arise, but perhaps not always.

If you have received a message which has been sent to you and a number of other people, be careful to ensure that you only reply to the sender unless you really want to reply to the full list. If you use mailing lists, Mailbase or discussion groups, these may be set up to send your reply to all people on the list or in the group - so it's worth checking before you click 'Send'.

It's very important to remember that e-mail is a written document with your name on it. E-mail may be informal, and feel less 'official' than other means of written communication, but is subject to the same regulations about libel and defamation as other written material. This may not seem important to you as a student, but you will in fact be subject to university regulations on the proper use of e-mail. The university itself is subject to the regulations of the UK Higher Education networks. In the workplace it is equally important to be careful. Many companies now have policies on e-mail, and do not always take responsibility for the content of staff e-mail messages - which means it may be down to you if you say the wrong thing. You have been warned!

In more general terms, you might find that e-mail does not always allow you to come across as you would have intended. Text cannot reflect what we are saying in the tone of voice we would have used. Try to word your e-mail with the recipient in mind and try to think of how they will read it. You could also use some 'emoticons' to help get your meaning across. One example is the smiling face - view it sideways - to indicate a joke! :-)