OT; Computer router thingy

[neverwas]

FWIW I have had no problems using POP but leaving mail on the server with VM (and before that BY) . But I may just have been lucky. (And I do it on the basis of using POP to clear the mail i.d.c. because the webmail interface is slow.)

Idiot boy question on the more general problem: is it essential to share the same email addresses across the 2 machines? VM (ex-BY) offer 5 mail boxes with 3 aliases on each. So would it be acceptable to have separate mailboxes so we each PC downloads only the mail for that mailbox?

Second idiot boy question: did the new machine come with security software which might need to be configured to allow email access?

[Rod]

Whilst I agree with you about IMAP, I actually use POP in the way TMH is trying to on VM. My partner does so at the same time. We each have multiple VM mailboxes. We never have a problem.

In the past I have had the same experience as TMH and have always found it to be because something wrong in my typing (of the password), my settings, my connection, my firewall or similar. I can't remember what the difference(s) is/are, but I think that at least one parameter has to be changed from Thunderbird's default.

In Thunderbird, my settings are:

Server settings

Server name: pop.ntlworld.com Port: 110 User name:

[Tim Downie]

I get this with Outlook Express and my Yahoo mail sometimes. No idea why (and it usually occurs with just one of my yahoo addresses). It usually seems to sort itself out after a few days which makes me think that the problem is at Yahoo's end.

Wish I knew a cure other than changing my email address. :-(

Tim

[John Rumm]

If you must do this then set one machine to poll every 5 mins say, but not delete messages one downloaded, and the other to poll every 15 mins and to delete messages once downloaded. That way you should get copies of all emails on both machines.

indeed - although slower in many cases

[Clive George]

If you're unlucky with timing, you won't - if an email arrives on the server after the 5 minute poll but before the 15 minute one, it'll only appear on one.

Now if you could configure both clients to poll every 5 minutes, but only delete messages seen > 5 minutes ago, then you have a chance of it working - but it won't if either stop checking for any reason, so really it's just doomed to failure :-(

cheers, clive

[John Rumm]

Thunderbird has the option to only delete messages that are a certain age. So you can leave one machine deleting but delayed.

[Andy Hall]

Well..... the short version is that if you use POP and multiple machines, sooner or later you are going to lose some mail or it will end up in the wrong place.

[Andy Hall]

Sooner or later this inevitably leads to tears

It rather depends on the email client an to some extent the server. Outlook Express is asymptotic to useless with Outlook being marginally better. Thunderbird is pretty good. The best that I have used for IMAP is Apple Mail, but then that only runs on operating systems.

The trick is to make sure that there are server copies of folders and that there is a local cache. Then it all works very well

[Andy Hall]

You re dealing with two fundamentally broken entities. The cure is to change both for a proper client and a proper server. Running your own server is a far superior way to manage email and quite easy to do

[The Medway Handyman]

Idiot boy reply. I have 1 mailbox with 3 alias's, SWMBO has the second mailbox with one alais..

[neverwas]

So grasshopper asks the honoured master if you are now set up so:

o old PC into the mail server with the name of only "your" mailbox and gets that mail; and

o SWMBO's PC logs into the mail server with the name of the second mailbox and gets nothing?

If so, why not try swapping over the settings so you can see if your PC will (still) get mail from the second mailbox and the new PC from the first? I suggest that in part because it should narrow down the range of possible errors (and so help the gurus advise you better).

In passing, did VM technical support ask you if you had looked at the online guidance on how to set up an email account

before keeping you on their premium rate support line? If you have not looked at it I think it might be worth your doing so. I came across a case once where tech support had overlooked to check that the account name (and not the email address) had been entered for logon.