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Which is better for you?
Face it, most of the time, you can get by knowing very little about how anything really works. You put the gas in your car and it goes. You put the potatoes down the insinkerator and they go. You flush the toilet and it just… goes. Who cares where or how, right?

As far as email is concerned, you actually might benefit from knowing the difference between these two bad boys of the email underbelly. Because choosing the right one for your lifestyle needs, just may save you some stress, time and/or embarrassment.

Here’s how it breaks down.

Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)

IMAP uses a client-server model that maintains a link between your inbox and the mail server. IMAP gives you added security, by storing the email remotely. This way if anything happens to your personal computer, your email is safe. You can always backup your IMAP email, but because it is stored remotely you can access it from anywhere, via any computer.

• Advantages:
  Your messages and any changes to them stay on your server, saving local disk space.
  You always have access to an updated mailbox.
  You can get your mail from multiple locations.
  Performance on a modem is faster, since you initially download message headers only.
  You can synchronize specific mail folders for offline use.
• Disadvantages:
  Not all ISPs support IMAP.

Post Office Protocol (POP3)

Post Office Protocol (POP), works like a moving company. It brings all the mail from the server to your computer, just like moving the furniture from your old apartment. Once it’s been moved, that’s it. It’s only ever in one place at a time. You can force POP to make a copy before it moves, but the default is to move the original permanently. Once the transfer is made, the connection between the Server and your Computer is severed and you can go on about your day. Offline editing to your hearts content.

• Advantages:
  Your messages are downloaded to your local computer all at once, thereby making offline reading easier.
  You can specify whether to keep copies of the messages on the server.
  Most ISPs currently support POP3.
• Disadvantages:
  
  You must synchronize your local inbox with your server’s mailbox. This can result in downloading new messages over and over each time you connect.
  If you use more than one computer, messages might reside on one
  or the other, but not both.
  POP3 doesn’t work as well as IMAP over a slow link connection.
  You can’t access all mail folders from multiple locations.

For my money, IMAP is your best bet. With today’s unlimited cable and DSL connections, the time of connection or load on the server is no longer of primary concern the way it was in the time of modem connections and pay by the minute contracts. This digital age is all about flexibility and access to information. IMAP allows for both and it’s ability to give you access to your email from wherever and whenever means the tether to your personal computer is cut.Five years ago, support for IMAP was lagging, but just today, the online service GMAIL from GOOGLE announced it was adding IMAP support to it’s popular web based email. And as we are quickly coming to realize in this digital age, so goes Google, so goes the Internet.

_The Sheik