For quite a while now the .Mac service has allowed you to create aliases for your email account. This means that you can create up to five alternative email addresses that all forward the mail they receive to your main .Mac email address inbox.

The greatest benefit of these aliases is their ability to protect your main address from spam. For example, you can use an alias to sign up to websites, forums and newsletters. If the alias becomes flooded with junk mail, it is easy to just delete it and create a new one.

Mail 2.0 (bundled with Mac OS X) provides a simple way to manage your email aliases. In Mail, click on the Mail menu and chooses preferences (Command-,). In the Accounts tab select your .Mac account and click on "Edit Email Aliases." This will open up the .Mac Webmail preferences (You may be prompted for your .Mac password). Scroll down to the bottom where you can add email aliases and change their colours.

After you save the settings here, messages sent to the aliases will be forwarded to your .Mac inbox. Moreover, when composing messages in Mail, you have the ability to send messages from these aliases by selecting the relevant alias from the drop down menu.