Trying to help a friend.
My friend has a PC and has an AOL account. He also receives his E-mails on his wife's PC. He has now purchased a new PC and has been receiving E-mails on this new PC. The result is that his E-mails are spread over 3 computers.
How can I consolidate these E-mails on one computer?
Also, how can I move AOL E-mail messages to Outlook Express?
Thanks,
FRED
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Outlook Express uses POP-type to 'fetch' mail from the various accounts and consolidate onto the one (Outlook Express) account. You go to the 'properties' menu, select 'accounts' and set up each of the email accounts there; then when you click on 'send/receive' Outlook Express goes around to each of the three email accounts gets the mail and displays who it is from, the subject line and the date for each piece of mail. You will need to check with each mail system you use for the POP addresses in each case. Usually, but not always, the POP server at the mail system will be identified as 'pop.whoever.com'; for instance I go to 'pop.cablelone.net' to get my personal mail. Outlook Express also asks you to define the 'default address' to be used for outgoing mail. In my case, that is 'smtp.cableone.net'. In the process of sending/receiving email, in addition to going around to all three places to get my mail, Outlook Express also dumps all outgoing mail (that you have written) at the 'default' post office.Those mail systems which allow you to use POP to pick up all your mail will usually explain the procedure to use (and the name of the mail server [as I said, quite frequently it is 'pop.whoever.whoever']) some- where in their documentation. Not all mail systems allow picking up the mail 'remotely' through Outlook Express. This is especially true of the 'web based' free mail services. They make their money by making you at least look at the advertisements they put on your screen. It is more likely you will be allowed to use POP (meaning, Outlook Express or a similar 'mail collector' program if you are using a mail service that you pay for. F'r instance, I _pay for_ Cable One, which is why I get to use POP. I also pay for TerraWorld (our local ISP) so I can use his POP also, although his is 'mail.terraworld.net' for mail in both directions, in and out. Typically though, when 'remote' pick up and drop off of email is allowed, it comes in to you from 'pop' and goes out from you through 'smtp.whoever' or 'sendmail.whoever'. Whatver the mail service you use tells you, that is how you fill in the blanks in the Outlook Express software. You'll need to have the user name (_at that_ site_) and the password (_at_that_site_) as well; it is not the same as the user name/password of your computer.
Certain other conditions apply as well when you are configuring the Outlook Express, which are dependent on what the site where you are retrieving your mail remotely say they are. Things to do with the port to pick your mail up through, etc; often times they are just defaults, but sometimes not; also sometimes other technical details, which once set, never have to be changed. Outlook Express (and similar remote mail pick up programs) can sometime be sort of picky, but Outlook Express at least has a few other most common things built in that you can choose from. For example, Compuserve, to name one, does not use POP but something called 'I-MAP' where the incoming mail gets put into 'folders'. Outlook Express knows about that. Regards America On Line, I am not sure if they even allow remote pick up of mail or not.
And regards 'being picky', now and again I have had situations where Outlook Express was _attempting_ to get my mail, but there was some item of spam which was _so large_ (like a million bytes) that Outlook Express kept timing out while trying to retrieve the huge, ugly spam. That happened once with Cable One; I knew there were a dozen or so items of mail there, but Outlook Express would get about half way through retrieving the first item, and keep stalling. I called up Cable One tech support, mad as hell, blaming them for the delay; the tech looked in my mailbox, came back on the line, and in sort of a crude way said to me, "You ever been constipated? Some giant 'thing' which would not come out without _much_ effort? That's what some spammer left for you today. Just log on direct to your mail over here, take it out and bash it, then the rest will all move as it should." So I logged on to mail.cableone.net directly, smashed and destroyed the ugly thing, then Outlook Express worked the way it was supposed to.
Now, Cable One no longer sends what _they perceive_ to be spam through remote recievers like Outlook Express. They take all the viruses each day and the spam, and leave it on _their_ mail system where you can examine it as desired but not have to personally touch it or possibly get your own computer contaminated. Instead, they send you a short piece of email saying come over and clear out the trash and viruses, and they supply a link to click on. I have never yet seen them make a wrong choice on any of it. PAT]