I posted this on an Outlook Express group but it must be an XP thing.
My wife and I are set up as two users on xp. Our OE's are set up for our
individual accounts only. I have stopped receiving my e-mails, yet somehow
i get some of hers. My isp says things are fine their end, in fact I can see
my mail on their web site. Rather than troubleshoot OE I installed
Thunderbird, set up my account details, and to my amazement received more of
her mail and none of my own ?
Do you have different email accounts with the ISP, or is it one
account and two aliases? An alias is an email address that looks
different, but goes to the same account. Like "Mr William Gates" vs.
"Bill Gates" vs. "Hey, Bill!", you can use these to contextualize
who's askin', or even route mail to different folks on your side.
Most ISPs charge for extra email addresses but offer a certain number
of free aliases per account. I hide my real email address and use
different aliases for web site mailto, news groups like this, clients,
etc. so that I can set up filters to route these to particular
mailboxes. As my ISP lets me manage my own aliases via their web
site, I can simply throw away an alias if it gets too spammy, and
start a new one; less drama than changing my real email account.
It's possible, though brittle, to use email aliases as separate
addresses, by setting rules or filters as follows...
1) If any recipient is some other alias, leave on server
2) If any recipient is my alias, fetch, ?leave on server
3) Delete from server after X days
....or...
1) Get all mail, leave on server
2) If any recipient is NOT my alias, delete
3) Delete from server after X days
....or...
1) Get all mail, leave on server
2) Transfer mail to appropriate mailbox as per alias
The first is great if your bandwidth or connection time is limited.
The second's great if that isn't a problem, and the third's great if
all users are OK with sharing the same PC and seeing each other's mail
if they have a mind to.
The problems are:
- mail not sent To: anyone, but CC: (thus "any recipient")
- mail that is sent via BCC: (can't detect adressee, can't filter)
- mail sent To: multiple aliases (hence "leave on server")
- mail sent To: one alias but CC: another
- mail sent To: or CC: one alias but BCC: to another
On "leave mail on server"; usually, you get mail and delete it off the
server, but most email apps can bve set to get mail and leave it on
the server instead. The email app "knows" it has that message, so it
doesn't download it again every time - but if you get mail from
another PC (this is the idea) then you'd get that message again.
OTOH, if you get mail from a different email app on the same PC (the
side-effect you describe) you'd also get the same message again.
This is how to share the same incoming mail across multiple PCs, e.g.
a desktop and a laptop, so that all PCs have a copy of all incoming
messages. They won't have a copy of all outgoing messages unless
these are created on the server, not locally.
AFAIK, another way to get the same mail from multiple PCs is to use
IMAP instead on POP3. This leaves the mail on the server; you only
"view" it. That's fine for in-house use where bandwith isn't an
issue; e.g. your LAN gets mail via POP3, holds it on your own mail
server, and provides it accross the LAN via IMAP. In fact, if you use
your own in-house mail server on the LAN (say, Mercury, free from the
Pegasus guys) you can re-address and forward mail to particular users
via your own private mail system. Just be careful you don't leave
your SMTP open to relay the world's spam!
An obvious risk of leaving mail on the server is that eventually it
piles up and will flood the servrer. That's what the "delete after 7
days" safety catch is for - but for that to work, that PC has to get
mail in order to apply the test.
Let's take an example; a user has a desktop that is used most of the
time, plus a laptop used once in a while on short overseas trips. The
desktop system always checks mail at least once a week; the laptop may
not be used for months. The desktop is set to get mail, leave mail on
server, delete after 14 days. The laptop is set to get mail, leave on
server, but is not set to ever delete mail off the server.
The user goes overseas and doesn't come back. The desktop never gets
mail, so there's no point at which it tells the server to delete
messages because they are over 14 days old. The laptop isn't set to
ever delete off server, so it doesn't either. The ISP starts bouncing
mail on a "mailbox is full" basis after a few weeks.
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