If you use a mailbox with your own domain name and not a 3rd-party one, you will be able to use an email application such as Apple Mail, Outlook or Thunderbird to access and manage your emails. The advantage of using such applications is that they also offer other features, such as address books and calendars. There are two different email retrieval protocols that you can choose from when you set up the app of your choosing to access your mailbox – POP3 and IMAP. With the first protocol, all messages that are received will be downloaded onto your device – desktop or mobile, unless you decide to save a copy on the mail server. With the second protocol, the messages will be displayed at your end, but they will stay on the server at all times, so you can set up the account on numerous devices and access the messages from any location. You’ll also be able to check old email messages in case there’s a predicament with your Internet service, which is a huge advantage over web-based services.