what programs are needed for email
 

i have a centos 6 server, and i want to setup my own email@mydomain.

I want to be able to send and receive via a email program (thunderbird).

where would i start to look for help? do i need to setup a mail server? not sure what programs I need.

At first, you need your own domain. Many providers block mail servers on broadband connections, so a DynDNS domain and a home-server may possibly not an option, in that case you need a hosted server. Then you need a mailserver. How to configure a mail-server on CentOS can easily be found with a websearch, for example with the keywords Centos 6 mail server, which comes up for example with this: http://www.1a-centosserver.com/cento...ail_server.php
I have not used that guide, so I don't know how good it is.

thank you
 

thank you, that gives me a starting point. i do have my own domain and dedicated server with mediatemple. i take a look at the guide