How to Sign Up for Yahoo

Access your email account. Click the "Mail" link next to the picture of an envelope in the top right corner of the main Yahoo.com page.

Send new emails: Click the "Compose" button on the left side of the screen to start a new email.

View emails you've received. Click the "Inbox" button on the left side of the screen to browse a list of the emails you have been sent. Note that, by default, your Yahoo email account displays your inbox as soon as you log in.

Reply to emails. Click on an email you've been sent in your inbox. Pick a reply option with the buttons at the top left of the email. You can reply normally (curving arrow pointing left), reply to all (multiple curving arrows; used when you are one of multiple recipients), or forward the message (straight arrow pointing right).

View your contacts. In your email inbox, click the icon that looks like an address book in the top left. This will bring you to a list of your online contacts. To add a new contact to the list (which will be blank if you've just created an account), click "New Contact" in the top left. You can also choose to import contacts from a social media profile by clicking one of the buttons in the center of the screen and following the prompts.

• Having someone in your list of contacts gives you several benefits. For instance, you don't have to remember this person's email address — you can just start typing his or her name in the "To:" field of your email and it will display automatically. This is especially useful when you need to send a single email to many recipients.

Find personalized content on your "My Yahoo" page. One of the handy features of creating a Yahoo account is that it allows you to access your own personalized homepage via its My Yahoo feature. On the Yahoo.com page, click the "My Yahoo" link in the top right. You'll be taken to a page containing a variety of information custom-tailored to you, including top national and local headlines, local weather, movie showtimes, and more.

Change the items displayed on your My Yahoo page. Do so by using the "Add Content", "Choose Themes", and "Edit Layout" options in the top right of the window.

• You can also access your My Yahoo page when you're not logged in, but the content displayed on it will be more general and less specifically tailored to you. For instance, the My Yahoo page won't have content you specifically selected and won't have the layout you chose if you don't log in.

Update your Yahoo profile. Another feature of having a Yahoo account is the Yahoo profile. Similar to the type of profile you might have on a social media site like Facebook, your Yahoo profile allows you to identify yourself to others as you use your Yahoo account. It also gives you an easy way to choose which information about yourself you want publicly available (as well as which information you don't). To access your profile, click the "Hi, (your name)" link in the top right of the window. You'll be taken to a profile activation screen — if you'd like to begin creating your profile, click "Next: your public profile..." Otherwise, click "No, thanks."

Edit photos, name, and location.When you click the link to create your profile, you'll be taken to your profile page, which will be fairly blank by default. Here, you can add a profile picture by clicking on the silhouette icon at the top of the screen, change the background by clicking "Change Cover Image", change your profile title by clicking on your name, and change your location by clicking "Add a location".