Web based email vs. ISP email

[red]

I recently switched to broadband via the phone company. We now have an actiontec modem. I'm considering dumping AOL and using yahoo as our primary e-mail account. When using yahoo I get a message saying third parties can read this, Is that true of ISP's, or are they more secure overall.

[Paul Komski]

Whether you use http (or webmail) or imap or pop then your mail sits in a mailbox on a server somewhere until you decide on how to deal with it. Any such accounts are only as good as the password that is protecting them. The same mail can often be accessed by more than one type of protocol so it is not uncommon for one to be able to access the same mail server using webmail or popmail.

Imap is mostly used by organisations, universities and the like and serves both pcs on a LAN and on the internet; imap is accessed by synchronising the folders on your computer with the equicalent folders on the server.

Webmail has the advantage that it can be accessed from anywhere but there is no corresponding application or mail client on your own pc. Popmail means that you can use a mail client such as Outlook Express or Eudora to access your mail, work on it offline and keep copies of incoming and outgoing mails on your own pc.

Many ISPs support both popmail and webmail. AOL does things completely its own way. Yahoo and Hotmail are basically webmail based but I think you can have popmail accounts with them (but for a fee); I'm not sure about the latter since I wouldn't go near either organisation unless absolutely forced to.

[Variable]

Another note, IMAP is used by many portable devices. By default it leaves the message on the server even though you download it. It used to be that POP3 didn't support this. In most cases now, it can be done.

[Paul Komski]

What is the difference between an IMAP versus a POP3 mail server? (http://homepage.eircom.net/~ictadvisor/18bimap.htm)

The synchronisation of the folders on an imap server and the ones on your own pc means that the messages stay on the server till you delete them from your own pc's inbox; if you delete them and then contact the mail server again it also deletes them in parallel.

The folders on a pop3 server don't communicate directly with your mail client in the same way. When you download the messages to your inbox the messages are normally deleted from the server straight away. One can customise a mail client so that they dont delete the messages but leave them on the server, where they will remain until specifically deleted in the future. Your own inbox once emptied keeps a record of all the mails it previously downloaded and so doesn't repeatedly try to download the same messages the next time one goes to collect one's mail - even if they have been "removed" from one's own inbox.

[classicsoftware]

The main difference between web-mail and an e- mail client is where the mail resides.

First: Almost ALL commercial e-mail is POP-3.

Second: Web mail means the mail ALWAYS resides on the ISP's server. You must be able to access the Internet to view/read the mail.

Third: When using an e-mail client, you have the option of storing the messages on your local PC. You can read them any time after they are downloaded whether you are on line or not.

These are NOT exclusive however. Comcast is my ISP and e-mail provider. I can read my e-mail with web-mail if I am away from the office. When I am at the office, I use Thunderbird as my e-mail client and all messages are downloaded from the server to my local PC. Should you decide to dump AOL and get broadband, I would use the e-mail offered by your ISP.

[Paul Komski]

The main difference between web-mail and an e- mail client is where the mail resides.
An oddity maybe, but with Hotmail, for example, the mail would initially (after being downloaded from the server) reside in the TIF folder (if accessed using a browser) or in the mail client's Hotmail-Inbox (if using such as Outlook Express). In both situations the mail is accessed using http - though this OE/hotmail behaviour is very similar to the way an IMAP account functions. In either situation one can, secondarily, save the mails anywher one likes and read them at one's leisure.

Web mail means the mail ALWAYS resides on the ISP's server. You must be able to access the Internet to view/read the mail. If the mail server is an ISP's server you will need to access the internet to get your mail whether it is accessed using webmail or popmail; the only time you dont need to go on the internet to get mail is if your have a mail client setup on a LAN that you are using.

[classicsoftware]

If the mail server is an ISP's server you will need to access the internet to get your mail whether it is accessed using webmail or popmail; the only time you dont need to go on the internet to get mail is if your have a mail client setup on a LAN that you are using.

Not quite true Paul. In the most common configuartion, with a LAN or stand alone PC, when you get the mail with a mail client, the mail is downloaded to the local or lan hard drive. It is true that almost all mail clients allow you to leave the mail the server as an option. Most of the time, when you choose to get mail, it's off the server.

As for Hotmail, I am not familar at all. One thing, I don;t consider anything in the TIF as permanently stored. It's not nearly the same as Outlook, T-Bird, Eudora or most mail clients.

[red]

You guys are over my head. I am a Mac user so some of your terms are foreign to me. We have always signed onto AOL and used their e-mail. Mac also has mail and I haven't quite figured out how to use it. Maybe you can help. This is the fields it asks for.
Incoming mail server:
Mailserver type: POP or IMAP (don't know what they mean)
User Acct I.D.:
Password:
Outgoing (SMTP) Mail Server:

[red]

P.S. I am also computer illiterate.

[classicsoftware]

No problem Red. We will still help you. MAC or PC it does not matter.

Let me explain it this way.

If you use web-mail, it's like having a Post Office Box at the Post Office. You have to go to the Post Office to get the mail.

If you use an e-mail client, the mail is delivered from the post office to your house, in this case the computer in your house.

You will need to contact your ISP to get the settings. The settings are just the address of the post office, so the computer knows where to send them. Sort of like using an address and ZIP code on a letter.

Lets say your ISP is bigisp.com.

Your incoming mail server will probably be POP3 and will be something like:
incoming.bigisp.com
mail.isp.com
or something similar.

Your outgong mail server will be something like:

outgoing.bigisp.com
smtp.bigisp.com
or something similar.

You will need to contact your ISP and get from them:

1) Type of Mail POP or IMAP
2) Name of incoming mail server
3) Name of outgoing mail server

We will help you select an e-mail client and configure it.

[Paul Komski]

ClassicSW "the only time you dont need to go on the internet to get mail is if your have a mail client setup on a LAN that you are using." was a typo - though the meaning could perhaps been interpreted from the context. It should have read "the only time you dont need to go on the internet to get mail is if your have a mail server setup on a LAN that you are using". In other words, you must always access the internet to get mail from your ISP - regardless of what protocol you use.

Red
The settings you need to use on your mac mail client will need to be the one's stipulated by whoever is providing the mail account. Commonly this is your isp - though there are both free and paid for providers of email accounts to which you can subscribe. When you had AOL you had a mail client (incorporated in the AOL browser on your PC) - or which you could access by logging into the AOL website from a browser anywhere in the world). AOL provide such an eMail setup as part of the package when you install AOL on the PC as well as providing the internet access itself.

You need to check with your isp and obtain the particulars from them of how to configure a pop3 account on your email client and probably register an email address into the bargain. You will need to know the email address, a login name (which may be the same as the email address or not), a mail access password and the names of the two "domains" for the two types of mail server. Typically these might be pop.yourisp.com (for pop3) and mail.yourisp.com (for smtp).

If you dont want to use your isp then there are options of using free webmail from hotmail or yahoo (and for which you would not normally use a mail client such as Outlook Express or Eudora) or getting a free popmail account from someone like http://www.hotpop.com/index.jsp and then configuring your mail account with the settings for the popmail account you sign up for.

[classicsoftware]

Paul once the mail is downloaded, you do not need to be on-line to read it. That is the point I am making. Once you transfer the mail from the mail server to the local hard drive, you can read it off line because it is on your PC not the ISP's mail server.

[red]

Thanks you guys! I think I'm beginning to understand. Might be hope for me yet!