Effective June 14, 2010, the CS e-mail server will be upgraded.  These instructions reflect configurations for this new server.  For instructions for the existing server (before June 14. 2010), please e-mail admin@cs.uml.edu.

The CS e-mail server allows for the use of IMAP or POP clients to send and receive e-mail from other computer systems running programs such as Thunderbird, Mozilla, Apple Mail or Microsoft Outlook/Entourage. You can also read mail while logged into the LINUX system by using the 'pine' program. 

The CS department recommends the use of Thunderbird with IMAP when you require a graphical e-mail tool for the Windows operating system.

The IMAP and POP connections made to the CS e-mail server must be set up to run in 'secure (SSL)' mode to access mail.

IMAPIMAP connectivity provides the ability to read your e-mail from more than one system as the mail stays in special system folders on the e-mail server. IMAP connectivity is fast and efficient as it only downloads the message 'headers', not the actual mail content - the content is downloaded when you read a specific message. The CS department recommends the use of IMAP.

POPPOP connectivity is slower than IMAP as it will download ALL of your server stored e-mail (content and headers) to your local system each time you 'get' new messages. When configuring your client to use POP you can choose to leave your mail on the server after you download it, allowing you to use 'pine' or 'elm' while logged onto UNIX, but this will make it inefficient and slow when reading your mail from different systems. If you choose not to leave your mail on the server during configuration of the POP client, it will be impossible to read 'old' messages unless you have access to the computer you downloaded them to. Another disadvantage of POP is that since the mail is physically downloaded and stored on your local system, others can most likely read it. Unless you ALWAYS read your mail from the same system and don't mind slow e-mail downloads, POP is not recommended.