When compared to IMAP for handling email requests, POPO3 remains the more popular choice. Although many people are quite familiar about POP3, when running dedicated servers, it is important to know more about it as well as how it typically works.

Going to the Post Office

First off, the "POP" stands for Post Office Protocol. Its access port is 110 on dedicated servers. Usually when setting up a dedicated hosting account, the choice is clicking on a box so there is little needed to be done setting POP3 up. It is configured automatically when the POP3 account is opened because it is a standard function. It allows users no worries concerning disk space since it will only stay on dedicated severs until it downloads to a computer, relieving users of any concern about storage issues.

Username and Password Required

Each POP3 email account will require a username and password in order to gain access to the account residing on dedicated servers. Many dedicated hosting providers require the full email address to be used for a log-in. Some may just require the characters used before the @ sign. Always check with the dedicated hosting provider for selecting the correct configuration. Also, it is highly recommended to choose a username and password that can easily be remembered but not as easily guessed. You want the email access to be protected but if there is a need to refer to a file stored somewhere on a hard drive to retrieve a password each time access is needed may be prohibitive if not just outright inconvenient.

How Does POP3 Work?

POP3 functions through simply maintaining text files for every email account residing on the dedicated servers. Every time new messages arrive for a particular account, the message text is added to the existing file. Once the email is downloaded, it is erased and the process can begin again. The best advantage making use of POP3 is its simplicity of use. It is intuitively user-friendly. Most people can become comfortably familiar with its use never having any problem when it comes to configuring an email client for POP3 use.

Popular Feature

Yet, the most popular feature users report about POP3 is it provides the ability to both read and to respond to messages in an offline mode. After an email message is downloaded to a computer hard drive, it can easily be moved from one folder to another. Users can read and reply to all messages without having to access any dedicated servers.

What About Disadvantages?

As great as it sounds using POP3, there are a few disadvantages. There is no method for retrieving lost or deleted emails. Mistakes made must be lived with so permanently deleting a POP3 message means it is lost forever. You cannot log into the dedicated hosting provider to retrieve a copy. None exists. However, certain dedicating hosting providers do allow for specific email messages to remain on the server.

Check with the provider to make sure this feature is available when using dedicated servers to host POP3 accounts.