[Magdalen] POP problems remain

Brian Reid reid at mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Thu Dec 18 01:49:32 UTC 2014


> meaning that I should read all my mail on Gmail?

No.

Email systems have three components. The first is the "client", which is 
the software that you actually use.
In your case that client appears to be WLM.

The second component is the "mail access server". It's where your client 
gets the email from. The means by which a client gets mail from the 
server is called an "access protocol". If your client uses POP as its 
access protocol, then every time you check mail, it *moves* all of the 
messages from the server to your computer, deleting them from the server.

If your client uses IMAP as its access protocol, then every time you 
check mail, it *copies* the unread messages from the server to your 
computer, leaving them on the server but marking them as read.

In your scenario Gmail is the mail access server.

The third component is the mail delivery agent. You should never need to 
get involved with those. They move mail around from one company to 
another, e.g. from Gmail to Comcast. Just be aware that they exist and 
be thankful that someone else takes care of them.


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