Clever Free Ways to Connect via Phone and Web

Looking to improve how you communicate? Check out these six great options in free e-mail and phone services.

You'll find ways to delay the sending of an e-mail, easily set your favorite e-mail service as the default for Windows to use, improve your free PC phone calls, and find the real phone number behind annoying blocked calls.

BEST BET Google's popular e-mail application releases its best new features in Gmail Labs, so make sure to keep tabs on the Labs option in your Gmail settings for access to cool features such as Offline Gmail and Gmail tasks. Compatible only with Internet Explorer 7.0 or newer, Firefox 2.0 or newer, Google Chrome, and Safari 3.0 or later.

The Affixa download bridges the gap between your desktop and services such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail, setting your Web-based e-mail application as the Windows default for quick and easy handling of mailto: links and file attachments.

So you finished the big report at 3 a.m. but you don't want your boss to know how late you stayed up? Keep up the appearance of professional cool by using DeferredSender (registration required), a service that delivers e-mail messages exactly when you want them sent.

If your inbox is packed with attachments, try Postbox, a downloadable desktop e-mail application that's chock-full of awesome tools for organizing messages and attachments alike.

While you're on business trips, you can see and talk with loved ones easily using the recently updated VoIP download Skype 4.0, which boasts seriously improved video and sound quality.

The simple but effective TrapCall service (registration required) unmasks the phone number behind virtually any call whose number doesn't display on your phone.

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