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Setting up a business email account is one of the important things to do as a small business owner. Whether you're working for a company or running your business, you need a reliable email service provider that offers enhanced security and privacy features.
However, finding the best business email service providers can be challenging if you have less technical experience. Today, email service providers offer a platform designed to provide more security for email communication and protect sensitive data from cyber threats, illegal access, and interception.
Unlike standard email services, secure email services include advanced security features like encryption, strong authentication methods, and anti-malware protection. It offers businesses and professionals a quick and convenient way to enhance their email security.
Before an email reaches your Inbox, VFEmail scans it for viruses and spam, including attachments. In this guide, we will have a look at VFEmail’s various features, pricing, set-up, and a detailed review to help you make an informed decision.
VFEmail offers good features, but it may not be the right platform for all business owners. That’s why we will also examine an affordable alternative that can be more beneficial for small and medium businesses.
Features of VFEmail
VFEmail offers many features that can be used to streamline your email experience.
1. SMTP/POP/IMAP Compatibility for Synching Email Accounts
VFEmail offers SSL-encrypted POP, IMAP, and SMTP interfaces that comply with industry standards and an easy-to-use web interface.
2. 'Horde' Webmail Interface
The 'Horde' webmail interface is flexible, with inline HTML, MS Word, as well as MS Excel document viewers. It will also detect your mobile device and show you a 'mobile' version of webmail when you log in.
3. Anti-Spam
VFEmail checks every email, including attachments, for spam and viruses before sending it to your inbox. If a virus is discovered, it is blocked at the gateway and is not even allowed to reach the servers. VFEmail detects spam using greylisting, public and private blocklists, and the award-winning SpamAssassin. Spam is then discarded and will only appear in your Spam folder if it is potentially legitimate.
4. Additional Features
There is additionally a sharable calendar, address book, notes, and task list. VFEmail also offers individual email forwarding, aliases, vacation messages, domain forwarding, FTP storage, and email search, and they collaborate with clients to constantly improve the flexibility of our email offerings.
VFEmail Set-up
To begin setting up your new email account, follow the steps given below.
- Visit the official website of VFEmail and register for a new account.
- Enter your first name, last name, and the username. VFEmail allows you to choose your preferred domain, such as the following:some text
- @VFEmail.net
- @chewiemail.com
- @clovermail.net
- @expressmail.dk
- @isonews2.com
- @mail-on.us
3. After selecting the domain, you must enter a strong password and click on the Create an Account button.
The application used to manage your account is QmailAdmin. It can normally be accessed via this URL. When you visit the QmailAdmin main page, you will be shown the following screen:
To log in, enter your username in the Master Account field, Domain Name, and Password in the appropriate fields, and then click Login.
From here, you can change your password with the Change Password link or set up a forward from your account with the Show redirect link.
When you select Change Password from the main menu, you will see a page like this:
To change your password, simply enter your new password in the two New Password fields and click Change Password. You do not need to worry about the Real Name field because it is only visible to you and the administrator.
1. Forwarding Your Email
To forward emails from one account to another, go to the main menu and select Show redirect.
To enable email forwarding, simply enter an email address in the Add/Replace redirect email field and press the Add button. If you return to the Redirect for User page, you will see something like this:
To remove the forward, click the Delete redirect link. To change the forwarding address, enter the new address in the Add/Replace redirect email field and click the Add button again.
There are three ways to access your email: Horde webmail, POP, and IMAP. All three methods can be used simultaneously, and you can switch between them as needed.
2. How to Use Horde Webmail Interface
Horde is the name of the chosen webmail application and has a help section. Here are steps to follow in order to log in your email account:
Logging into Horde is simple. Visit this link, then check the 'Horde' option in the login box.
In the Name field, enter your full email address. Then, enter your password in the Password field and click Login.
3. POP3
POP was intended to facilitate "offline" mail processing. In this paradigm, mail is sent to a shared server. A personal computer user periodically launches a mail "client" application, which establishes a connection with the server and downloads all of the pending mail to the user's computer. After that, all mail processing is done locally on the client machine.
VFEmail mail server supports POP, an older standard for downloading mail. It should be noted that if mail is downloaded and removed from the server, it will not be available when accessed again via IMAP or Webmail.
When configuring your computer's email client to check your email on the server, you must use the following settings:
- Username: <full_email_address@including_domain>
- Password: <as given>
4. IMAP
IMAP can also process data offline, but its main strength is in online and disconnected operations. Mail is delivered to a shared server again in online mode, but the email client does not copy it all at once before deleting it from the server. It's more of an interactive client-server model in which the client can request headers or bodies of specific messages or search for messages that meet certain criteria.
Messages in the mail repository can be labeled with various status flags (e.g., "deleted" or "answered"), and they remain in the repository until explicitly removed by the user, which may not happen until a later session.
IMAP is a more flexible mail protocol that allows users to keep their email on the server. This means that if a user uses IMAP to check their email from their mail client, they can then use the Webmail tool to access the same email when they are not at their computer.
When you configure your email client on your computer to check your email on the server, you must use the following settings:
- Username: <full_email_address@including_domain>
- Password: <as given>
Pricing of VFEmail
VFEmail offers four subscription plans, including Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.
1. Copper Subscription Plan: Free
The free "Copper" subscription plan offers users 10 Mb of email space. Users can have access to features like a calendar, a notepad, a task manager, a contact address book, and a folder for uploading and storing files.
Copper also includes SMTP/POP/IMAP support and unlimited disposable addresses. However, free users will have to endure some advertisements in the webmail interface. Additionally, free users can only send 10 emails per day.
2. Bronze Subscription Plan: $24.95
Bronze Plan provides essential features such as Copper plus PGP encryption, an Ad-free experience, IP masking, 3 permanent aliases, and server-side filtering. It costs a one-time payment of $24.95 and provides 1 GB of storage space.
3. Silver Subscription Plan: $15 Per Year
A Silver account includes 3 GB of storage, a message quota of 400 emails per day, 8 changeable aliases, a challenge-response system that verifies the sender's identity, a non-US mailbox hosted in the Netherlands, and two custom domains of your choice. Silver costs $15 a year.
4. Gold Subscription Plan: $30 Per Year
A Gold account costs $30 per year. It includes 12 changeable aliases, 5 custom domains, 5 user accounts, a Metadata Mitigator feature that rewrites your sender address to protect your privacy from log harvesting, FTP Storage, a blacklist feature, and IMAP synchronization for two complete IMAP mailboxes. The Gold account includes 5 GB of storage, unlimited bandwidth, and a daily limit of 600 email messages.
5. Platinum Subscription Plan: $50 Per Year
The most expensive plan is the Platinum Plan, which costs $50 per year and includes the same features as the Gold Plan but adds 15 changeable aliases, 15 custom domains, 15 individual accounts, a daily message quota of 750 messages, and 20 GB of storage.
Comparing Different Subscription Plans
As you can see, VFEmail is quite expensive if you want to set up custom email addresses for yourself or your team. As a small business owner or a professional, this can be very expensive.
For instance, Neo offers plans starting at $1.86 per mailbox per month, which is quite inexpensive compared to other email hosting services. Neo's lower entry price makes it more ideal platform for startups and small businesses looking to establish credibility without making a lot of upfront commitments.
Controversy Revolving Around VFEmail’s Security
VFEmail claims to have a secure email system that scans each email for viruses and spam before it reaches the inbox. The platform is compliant with POP, IMAP, and SMTP interfaces with SSL encryption and uses greylisting, public and private blacklists, and SpamAssassin to detect spam. With all the security features implemented to secure the platform, it still became a victim of a cyber attack.
The hackers did not even ask for a ransom; they just destroyed the entire data. The attack took place on 11th February 2019 and was detected after the company’s website and webmail client went down without notice. During this time, the attacker formatted all the disks on every server, and every file server, along with its backup, was lost.
The company presumed it to be more than a multi-password via an SSH exploit attack. It tried to get back the data but was unsuccessful.
The company called it a catastrophic destruction caused by an unknown hacker who trashed all the primary and backup data. The firm’s founder was afraid that 18 years' worth of customer email data would be gone forever.
Also, this isn’t the first time VFEmail has been attacked. In 2015, the company suffered a DDoS attack after declining to pay a ransom from an online extortion group. In 2017, the DDoS attack also forced the company to find a new hosting provider.
Introducing Neo: A Better Alternative to VFEmail
Neo is a business email provider that offers a professional custom email address. The robust platform includes a personalized email address and powerful features that help small businesses build their brand. Neo's simple interface, based on extensive customer feedback and research, makes it easy to use, while its reliability ensures that your business scales smoothly.
Neo provides the best emailing experience for small businesses. Here are some features that Neo offers that will help you improve email security and communication.
- Advanced Security Measures: Neo protects your accounts from potential threats by utilizing advanced security measures such as advanced anti-spam, advanced antivirus, and two-factor authentication. It is hosted on AWS.
- Unbeatable Uptime and Guaranteed Email Delivery: Neo promises zero data loss and 100% email delivery. Your data is safe with Neo, and your emails will be delivered without any hiccups.
- Mobile Apps and Webmail: You can access your emails while you're on the go, no matter where you are.
- Calendar: Neo's calendar is intended to help you schedule your time more effectively. Share your calendar with teammates, organize it by day, week, or month, and stay on top of deadlines.
- Multiple-Account Support: Neo allows you to handle multiple accounts in one place, eliminating the need to toggle between inboxes.
- Turbo Search: Neo's advanced search functionality makes your search results 10 times faster.
- Rules: Use configurable rules to organize your inbox. Conversations can be organized into folders to keep related messages together for easy access, and unwanted emails are meticulously filtered based on your personal preferences.
Conclusion
VFEmail can be relatively easy to use, and if it hadn't recently suffered a catastrophic hack, users would likely recommend it to anyone looking for email hosting services. However, anyone who decides to use VFEmail should be aware that their email data may be at risk of unwanted intrusion or data loss as a result of a hack.
If you want a robust alternative, consider Neo. Neo is more than just a platform; it's a partner for your success. From creating engaging emails to developing a one-page website to showcase new developments, Neo provides a solid platform for all of your business needs, allowing you to benefit from strong customer relationships. Explore Neo today to change your email communication and make an intelligent decision for your business security.
Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)
1. Is using VFEmail more secure than creating my email server?
Well, it depends on your knowledge. But they've done all of the hard work for you. In addition to virus scanning, if you own a business, you should not allow any untrusted devices to access your network via the Internet. By using VFEmail as both your front end and your relay, you can set your firewall to only permit VFEmail to communicate with your email server, thereby increasing your Internet security.
2. Can I use my domain name?
Of course, you can. You can use your Silver or a higher plan to create Personal Domains! You are responsible for purchasing a domain name, DNS management, and account maintenance inside your domain. Postmaster password resets will be charged $2 each.
3. Is there any other secure email service provider apart from VFEmail?
Yes, Neo is a perfect fit, which is designed to help streamline communication and collaborate with clients, customers, and partners. Neo is built on a strong email service that is extremely secure and ensures your messages reach their intended recipients every time. On top of that base, Neo provides capabilities that enable you to market to, communicate with, and arrange time with your customers and prospects.