Email question

[c-moon]

I was wondering if anyone ever experienced this problem ...

I use Outlook Express to check my email with comcast. When I check email, sometime it begins downloading the email and it will say 1 of 8, or whatever. Then after a few messages, it will give me an error and stop downloading.

OK, so here's the rub. it must be set to only delete the messages off the server after my OE has downloaded ALL my messages. Because a minute later it will try to download my email again and get hung up at the same darn email. I do not know what is wrong with that particular email that it won't download, but it hangs up the OE program every time. SO if I left it on for a while, I would get the same 4 or 5 emails a dozen times.

The only way I can correct it is if I sign onto comcast's website and check my email there. If I delete the offending email, then OE will complete its process and delete all the other messages off the comast server and all is right with the world.

Bottom line is that it's a pain the the rear to have to sign on to comcast in order to delete one errant email message. Anyone have a suggestion or am I the only one that this has ever happened to?

[OldDude]

It's happened to me, but I have no suggestion. I do the same as you and use my ISP's "webmail" to clear the message. I use Outlook and a different ISP, so I think it is something in the POP3 protocol, not particular software. In my case, it usually turns out to be a large file, almost (but not equal to or over) the max size attachment allowed, like 7-8 MB when supposed 10 MB is allowed.

[c-moon]

Thanks OldDude. I appreciate your response. At least I know I am not alone.

For me, the offending email did not have any attachment at all this time. Once or twice it has had an attachment, though, so I haven't noticed a particular pattern.

I've never heard anyone else mention this problem.

[Todd B.]

It is a common problem. It's not a problem with the POP3 protocol, per se. It's just that most e-mail programs don't issue the delete command for the messages it's received until the end of the entire session, just to be safe. Because your session is getting interrupted, the server never receives any delete commands, so it just puts all the messages back after the session times out.

Webmail is usually the easiest way to delete the offending message on the server. There are some programs out there that will sign on to the POP server and allow you to selectively retrieve headers and purge individual messages. Unfortunately, my favorite one, Mail Siphon II, is no longer available for Windows, just Macintosh. But I'm sure there are others with similar functionality, and you may be able to find Mail Siphon for Windows to download in some archives somewhere on the web.