What is difference between email and web mail?

"what is different e-mial and web mail?"

With regular e-mail, the message sits on a server waiting for you to open your e-mail program (Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird). When you open the program (or use the 'check for e-mail' function, the waiting messages are downloaded to your computer. There are setups that leave messages on the server, but this is not typical. The disadvantage of downloading your e-mail is that you can no longer access the messages anywhere else (your work, friend's house....). The advantage to downloading messages is you can archive them.

Web mail offers a huge advantage. The messages are not downloaded to your computer, they are kept on a server. This allows them to be accessed from anywhere. All you need is a web browser and a connection to the net. The down side is archiving. Many web mail providers don't allow for tons of storage (Gmail changed that trend for some people - now others are following suit).

Your internet provider (not Hotmail, etc.) is probably set up to let you access e-mail via web mail as well. Not only can I use Outlook to access my messages (and thereby download them to my PC), but I can access any messages that weren't viewed yet by visiting a specific web address (I must know my username and passWord).

I have been using web mail to access my regular e-mail account for a long time now, because it allows me to view messages from different locations. I stopped using e-mail programs because I want my messages left on the server instead of getting downloaded. Not using e-mail programs also solves many security-related issues.