IMAP vs. POP

There are two major protocols used by Internet Service Providers (ISP's) and hosting companies, IMAP and POP3.

POP3 is what most people use when they setup their home e-mail accounts. With POP3, each time you log on to the server with your e-mail software, any new messages are transferred from the server to your computer, and then removed from the server. This works fine for many people until they decide one day to buy a laptop. Once the e-mail message is downloaded to, say, the desktop computer, it is normally not possible to access it a second time on the laptop (note: some providers have a setting that allows a copy to be left on the server).

IMAP was devised to deal with this problem. An IMAP server stores all of your e-mail messages until you delete them. Thus, you will see the same list of messages on your laptop as on your desktop as on your computer at work. The only thing that does not transfer is your address book. It is possible to have your e-mail software save a copy of your 'message store' for review when you are off-line. When you log on again, your copy will sync with the server copy.

Generally, I recommend IMAP for most users, however, some ISP's don't provide IMAP. IMAP is especially useful when several users share a joint e-mail account, such as when serving on a committee, for example.

Outlook and Outlook Express

Before you start, please have your e-mail address and password ready.

Step 1. Open Outlook Express, and choose Accounts from the Tools menu item. Click on the Add button and choose Mail.

Step 2. In the next dialog, simply type your name. Click Next.

Step 3. Enter you e-mail address. Click Next.

Step 4. Select your incoming server type (IMAP recommended - here's why). For the domain of both incoming and outgoing e-mail server, enter 'mail.example.com', replacing example.com with your actual domain name. Click Next.

Step 5. IMPORTANT: Enter your full e-mail address in the Account Name box. Enter your password. Leave the 'Use SPA' checkbox un-checked. Click Next.

Step 6. Click Finish. You're good to go!

Mac OSX Mail

Before you start, please have your e-mail address and password ready.

Step 1. Open Mac Mail, and choose Preferences from the Mail menu item. Click on the Accounts tab. Click the 'plus sign' near the bottom right corner to add a new account. Enter your name and e-mail address. Click continue.

Step 2. In the next dialog, choose account type (IMAP recommended). For an explanation of the difference between the two types, click here. For the domain of your e-mail server, enter 'mail.example.com', replacing example.com with your actual domain name. IMPORTANT: The username is your full e-mail address. Enter your password and click Continue.

Step 3. For the domain of your outgoing e-mail server, enter 'mail.example.com', again replacing example.com with your actual domain name. Click Continue.

Step 4. Leave the SSL box unchecked and the Authentication set to none. Click Continue. Click Create on the final page. You're all set!

Thunderbird

Note: these instructions are for the Mac version of Thunderbird. Windows should be roughly equivalent.

Before you start, please have your e-mail address and password ready.

Step 1. Open Thunderbird, and choose Account Settings from the Tools menu. Click 'Add Account...' button in the bottom left corner. Choose 'E-mail account', then Continue.

Step 2. Enter your name and e-mail address. Click Continue.

Step 3. Check the IMAP option (recommended). For the domain of the e-mail server, enter 'mail.example.net', replacing example.net with your actual domain name. Click Continue.

Step 4. Enter your incoming username. IMPORTANT: enter your full e-mail address.

Step 5. Enter an Account Name. This can be any arbitrary name. Click Continue/Finish. You should be back to the Accounts setup page.

Step 6. You may or may not need to setup an SMTP server. If you already see one listed and marked 'Default', you're probably all set. This is the server used for your outbound e-mail. First try sending a message from one account to another that you control. See if the From line reads as expected (it should). If it does, your good to go. If not, no worries, highlight 'Outgoing Server' from the list on the left and click the Add button on the upper right.

Step 7. Add an arbitrary Description. The server name should be 'mail.example.net', again replacing the 'example.net' with your domain. Leave the 'name and password' checkbox un-checked. Click 'No' for 'Use secure connection'. Click OK. Test. You should be all set!

Dealing with spam using SpamAssassin

Spam, a.k.a. UCE, or Unsolicited Commercial E-mail.

Each person's definition of what a constitutes an annoyance is different. Luckily, with SpamAssassin, there's an easy way to deal with spam, whatever your happens to be.

This how-to guide assumes you setup your e-mail account as an IMAP account (POP is not supported at this time) and SpamAssassin is turned on for your domain. If you can't see the referenced folders after the first step, contact your site administrator.

Step 1. Open your e-mail program. Have a look under the name of the target IMAP account. Under the Inbox, you should see three folders named 'Learn Ham', 'Learn Spam' and just plain 'Spam'. If you don't see them, try the following:

• In Outlook Express, right click on the account name ('jkm@shorelineweb.net' in the image above) and choose 'Reset List'.
• In Thunderbird, right click on the account name ('jkm@shorelineweb.net' in the image above) and choose 'Subscribe...'. Click on the small arrow to the left of the INBOX to expand it. You should see at least the above-referenced three folders. Highlight one and click the Subscribe button. You may need to click refresh if you don't see the above-referenced three folders.
• In Mac Mail, right click on the account name ('jkm@shorelineweb.net' in the image above) and click 'Synchronize "address@example.com"', where 'address@example.com' is the target e-mail address.

Step 2. If you can't see the three folders, contact your admin now. If you can, congrats, you've done the hard part. The three folders are used thusly:

• Learn Ham: 'good' e-mails go here when you've finished with them. Put them in here rather than just deleting them.
• Learn Spam: 'bad' e-mails go here when you're finished with them. Put them in here rather than just deleting them.
• Spam: this is the destination for e-mails the server thinks are spam based on what you've taught it from placing your Ham and Spam in the folders above.

The goal is to get 200 or more e-mails of each type in the 'Learn...' folders. Also, you need to try to have about the same number of e-mails in each folder. Once you have around 200 each, any messages that the computer determines are spam will go directly to the 'Spam' box, bypassing your e-mail Inbox. You need to check this box every once in a while to make sure things are working as expected.

It's important not to put e-mails in the 'Learn...' boxes that you want to keep. Each day, the server will check for e-mail there, update its database and send you an automated message. It will give you a count of how many of each type of 'Learn...' mail have been added to its database. The e-mails that were put in the 'Learn...' boxes will then be deleted.

After you get around 200 e-mails in each, you should notice a substantial reduction in the amount of spam you receive in your Inbox. Contact your admin if something seems amiss.