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Dear Reader:

Wait, stop. Before you delete this message, read on. If you're like us, you probably have a hundred or more unread e-mails in your in-box. Not only do your coworkers, clients, friends, and family pelt you with messages, they expect you to reply.

Can you read hundreds of messages a day and still get any work done? No way. You need help sorting high-priority mail ('Let's talk about that raise') from the junk ('Make $$$ Working From Home!'). Is your in-box full of mystifying file attachments? We have clues for deciphering them. Want to switch to a better mail program? We can help you take your old address book and messages with you. And that's only the beginning.

To keep you from going postal, we've sorted out the hottest tips for today's leading mail applications. We explain how to master America Online's proprietary mail system, as well as Internet mail programs such as Microsoft's Outlook Express and Internet Mail, Netscape's Messenger and Mail, and Qualcomm's Eudora Pro. We also provide basic pointers to demystify any e-mail package, including LAN-based systems (see "General Delivery").

Since no mail program has it all, we've listed the best e-mail add-ons ("Mail Tools That Rule") and video mail utilities ("You've Got Face Mail!"). Our guides to Internet mailing lists ("Get on the List") and Usenet newsgroups ("It's News to You") tap the brainpower of the digerati.

If you like what you see in this article, send us some mail. But please, don't respond to every contributor on the list. We wouldn't want you to get flamed.