World Magazine 2024
What is POP mail?
There are a few ways to deal with email, but the two most popular are IMAP and POP (or POP 3) There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Most large groups on LANS and WANS recommend that you use IMAP to access your e-mail because of some of the disadvantages of using POP mail. One of these disadvantages is that POP mail saves your mail to your local hard drive. If you use POP mail, dialing into your email account to view your e-mail could result in your having to manage your e-mail from two different places. Furthermore, if you retrieve your mail on your personal computer without keeping a copy of it on your POP server, you’ll need to back up your e-mail files regularly just to keep track of them.
POP (Post Office Protocol) mail refers to e-mail software on your personal computer that sends and receives mail very quickly from a shared computer’s (mail server) electronic post office. Personal computers seldom have the network resources required to serve as an independent post office, which is why most people use shared systems or POP mail for e-mail.
POP mail software on your personal computer (the POP client) quickly logs into a shared computer (mail server) which is an e-mail post office (a POP server), and transfers received mail from your account on that system to your personal computer. When you send a message from your workstation, the POP client transfers it to a dedicated mail server for transmission on the Internet. POP mail programs include Outlook Express for Windows and Mac, Netscape Messenger, Eudora for Mac, and PC-Eudora for Windows.
POP mail requires that you have an account on a shared computer system (mail server). Incoming mail goes to this account first (your preferred e-mail address). However, instead of making you log in from your workstation to the shared computer (using your workstation as a dumb terminal), POP mail programs automatically connect to the POP server only long enough to transfer messages. You use the power of your workstation in your favorite user-friendly environment (Macintosh or Windows) to compose, read, and manage mail. This keeps POP mail fast, even during rush hours on shared computers. POP mail programs are also usually rich in features such as document attachment, automatic document encoding/decoding, user lookup, internal address books, font selection, signature files, and multiple mail management options.
If you have a high-speed modem with PPP installed, or an Ethernet connection from your office or residence, you can install Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger, Eudora, or PC-Eudora for Windows on your personal computer and retrieve your mail .
What is POP 3 e-mail?
POP (Post Office Protocol) is an Internet mail-handling standard that allows differing computers to retrieve mail from a mailbox on any mail server that supports the POP protocol. POP3 is version 3 of the POP standard. E-mail accounts provided by your Internet Service Provider or by your employer are typically POP 3 compliant. If you do not know whether your e-mail is POP 3 compliant, contact the customer support team of your current e-mail provider.
What is IMAP4 e-mail?
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is an Internet mail-handling standard and method of accessing electronic mail or bulletin board messages that are kept on a (possibly shared) mail server. IMAP4 is version 4 of the IMAP standard. E-mail accounts provided by your Internet Service Provider or by your employer are increasingly IMAP4 compliant. If you do not know whether your e-mail is IMAP4 compliant, contact the customer support team of your current e-mail provider.
