NEXCESS.NET - Shared Web Hosting & Reseller Web Hosting Solutions

Thunderbird Mail Tutorial and Installation How To

This tutorial describes how to use Mozilla's Thunderbird Email Client with NEXCESS.NET's POP3/SMTP or IMAP e-mail accounts.

Before you get started, you need to understand the difference between POP3 and IMAP. First we'll start with IMAP.

Using the IMAP protocol, all your mail stays on the server in multiple folders, some of which you have created. This enables you to connect to any computer and see all your mail and mail folders. In general, IMAP is great if you have a dedicated connection to the Internet or you like to check your mail from various locations.

With a POP3 email account you only have one folder, the Inbox folder. When you open your mailbox, new mail is moved from the host server and saved on your computer. If you want to be able to see your old mail messages, you have to go back to the computer where you last opened your mail.

With this type of account you do not have to stay logged on to the Internet. You can log on when you want to receive and send new messages. Once your new messages have been downloaded to your computer you can log off to read them. This option is good when you connect to the internet with a dialup connection and are charged for your connection or you have an older computer.

Follow these steps to complete the tutorial:

1. When you first start the Thunderbird Mail e-mail program you will be prompted to create an e-mail account. Just click 'Next >'.

   

2. The next screen will prompt you for your name and e-mail address. The name you type in the 'Your Name' box will appear when you mail someone next to your e-mail address in the 'From' field.

   For this example we'll use a fictitious user 'John Smith' and his domain 'johnsmith.com'.

   

3. The next screen allows you to setup your server information. Choose 'POP' or 'IMAP' as your incoming server type and enter 'mail.yourdomain.com' for both incoming and outgoing mail servers.

   

4. As your username just use your FULL E-MAIL ADDRESS, NOT just the part of your e-mail to the left of the '@'.

   

5. You can name this account whatever you'd like. For this example, we'll just use 'My Email'.

   

6. That's it! Just click 'Finish' and you are ready to send and receive e-mail. The Thunderbird Mail tutorial is now complete.

   NOTE: We use a system that requires you to first check your e-mail before sending. This allows the server to authenticate your account and allow you to send mail (a 15 minute window is open to send when you check mail). If you setup the e-mail client to simply check e-mail every few minutes you should never notice this restriction.

   

7. We also offer secure POP3 and IMAP e-mail retrieval over SSL. It's very easy to use and will safely send your e-mail password over the net to our mail server and encrypt all transfers from our mail server to your computer. We highly recommend using secure e-mail and all you have to do to use it is check the 'Use secure connection (SSL)' checkbox in the Server Settings portion of the e-mail preferences window. You can get to this dialog box by going to 'Tools' and then 'Account Settings'.

   

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