Here I am with another totally newbie question.  For many  years I  have an email address through my ISP provider.  I read this mail through OUtlook express.  As a backup for the TIMES that the :server is out" (I dont know what that means, i just know that it means that my mail for two or three days is eaten  up by the big email EATER in the sky), I have a hotmail address, which I can access through an "internet card."  This connects me to the internet through a different ISP server.
 Now, my problem is, because I do online teaching, I spend a lot of time reading the mail.  And hotmail means that I have to stay online to go through my mail, read and reread it. The fonts aren't so nice and I use graphics in my emails which sometimes come through as attachments in hotmail which of course doesn't convey the original meaning of the graphic placement. Obviously hotmail doesn't have the ease and capability of Outlook Express, and you can't send from hotmail to OE; even if I wanted to , there is the probem that my server has now more and more  having "server PROBLEMS,' like once or twice a week. So that OE address has become unreliable.
 BOTTOM line and question: I want to get a new email address, one that is free, that I can access from an email card, and that i could use through something like say Eudora (does this allow me to read and write and play with my mail offline?).  Can someone tell me what email services are good and AVAILABLE for free; and, should I be thinking about downloading Eudora or some other service, or should I try and use Outlook (not OE) or what for this new address?  Remember,  I can't buy anything, and I have only 200 or so MB free space on my entire computer. ugh!
Thank youhttp://www.gmail.com.

On invite only. Send me an E-mail and I will see to it that you obtain an invite.YPops! is a program that downloads your email from hotmail yahoo etc etc to your OE inbox.