I always use Gawab. It's an excellent service, which allows you to send and receive your mail both via web access and through an e-mail client, such as Outlook Express.
To create an account, go here:
http://www.gawab.com/webfront/main.php
Click 'more countries and cities' and choose the domain name you'd like as part of your e-mail address. (Gawab is based in Egypt, so the selection is mainly based around the countries of that area. I usuallly select either '@gawab.com' or '@alex4all.com'.
Work your way through the instructions, to set up the account. (When you get to the bit about whether you'd rather not see certain types of advertising content, just tick the lot. Then your incoming and outgoing mails are ad-free).
When you've set up a web-based account, send yourself a mail, to check that it's working.
Then open Outlook Express and go to Tools > Accounts, to set up a new account, based on this information:
http://gawab.info/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_ a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=4&nav=0,21,22
Chris