WebMail VS Desktop Email. There is nothing wrong with webmail such as GMail, HotMail, etc... they are susceptible to attacks or loss of private information, but so is your personal computer. The biggest problem is the limited space. GMail gives you the most, but you will eventually use up your allocated space and have to pay for an upgrade or delete some mail.  I prefer Desktop mail, just because is looks better, is available when the Internet is not working (for composing and looking at old emails) and it is yours on your computer, and only you are responsible for it. This could be a negative if you do not know how do do backups, etc..., but for me it is a big plus.

A good free desktop email package is Thunderbird. I strongly recommend the portable version from www.portableapps.com  This gives you the option to install all files in a single directory or usb stick.  This makes backing up easy. Simply copy the folder or stick to a usb stick or external hard drive.

MS Outlook seems to be the best. I am not a big MS Software fan but the only email client that I have found that has good backup abilities is Outlook. All information including your addresses are stored in one file your “outlook.pst” file. Microsoft has a backup program that you can install to Outlook that will automatically backup this file wherever you tell it to.  Be warned you will need Outlook on you new computer to read this backup and it is not cheap.