Here we are at the close of 2009, and we still use people sending and receiving email via POP3. If you haven’t heard of IMAP, it is a way of emailing you should look into.
With email, if you use POP3 protocol, then you are downloading all your email to your mail client software (such as Outlook, Thunderbird, or Apple’s Mail). If you set your software to take it off the server, then your mail is downloaded to that PC. If you ever want to see are particular message, you have to go back to that PC. This was very common back in the late 1990s. When you sent a message, that sent message was also saved on that one computer.
However, with great broadband speeds and such in Japan and around the world, we highly recommend you use start to think about using your email software and IMAP settings. IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol. With IMAP you’re sent mai land received email all stays on the server. Apple’s MobileMe service is built on IMAP as well as some other protocols.
So, for example, if you have a netbook running Thunderbird or Outlook that you sent a message using IMAP from your kitchen last night, you can go upstairs and find that exact same message on your desktop in your home office upstairs.
Once you start using IMAP, you’re less dependent on any particular computer as your messages are “in the cloud”. You can find whatever messages your have sent, received, or even filed away. These are very useful features. The only weakness is that you can’t synchronize your schedule or address book through IMAP. For that, we highly recommend AINEO Secure. You can keep all your email in the cloud and sync with an iPhone, BlackBerry, or WinMo (Windows Mobile) device.