What is the difference between POP and IMAP? Which should I be using?
A. POP is a system designed for use on dial-up connections and off-line use, where the server delivers your email to the computer you are currently at when you connect and then has nothing further to do with it, i.e. it acts rather like the Post Office (hence Post Office Protocol, POP). Like a postman, the server delivers your mail and then goes away. This has two fundamental disadvantages: 1) the server no longer has the email stored (and therefore backed up) on it, and 2) the emails are delivered to the machine you connected from, so they may be spead across multiple PCs. This is the main reason for most of our “My email has vanished!” queries. ISPs love to use POP, as then they don’t have to look after your e-email any more and it saves them money. IMAP is a more modern system designed for today’s high speed local area networks and broadband connections. All mail is kept on the server, and when you connect a copy of your email is made and delivered to you (the “cached” copy). There
