From OLSEncyclopedia
E-mail is a common term, short for electronic mail. If you have an internet connection, you probably have an email address. If not, there are sites like Hotmail, Yahoo, and GMail where you can get a web-based email account completely free, and you can check that account from any computer with an internet connection.
Lots of people use email to send those annoying chain letters, jokes, virus hoaxes, and of course the ever-popular spam. It should be worth noting that I have never received a virus notice by email that wasn't a hoax. But before you fire an email off to everyone your gullible friend/relative sent that email to, check the various online virus databases to make sure it isn't real. You can exercise your Google-fu to find several such databases.
