Very Slow Receive with 2 x POP3 Accounts

[Richard Tubb]

Hi,

I'm using Microsoft Outlook 2002 SP3 to collect e-mails from a local POP3
server (not ISP).

I use a single POP3 account on the server to collect e-mails but use 2 x
SMTP accounts on the SMTP server (again local) to send e-mails. When I go to
send an e-mail I choose which account (by clicking the Accounts drop-down
button next to the Send button when composing an e-mail) I want to send it
from, i.e. home or work based e-mail address.

My Automatic Send/Receive is set to collect from only the one POP3 account
as all incoming e-mail (whether addressed to my work or home account) goes
into the same mailbox. It is set to check every 5 minutes.

However incoming e-mails are INCREDIBLY slow. They regularly time-out
altogether and to receive, say, 10 x 20kb e-mails can take a good 5-10
minutes!

I don't believe the e-mail server is at fault as if I use other PC's
(non-Outlook clients) to collect e-mails then they are sent and received
very quickly indeed.

I've tried reducing the e-mail accounts to a single account in Outlook (as
I've read elsewhere that Outlook can have problems with more than one POP3
account) but receiving e-mails is still painfully slow. Besides, I'd like to
retain the ability to choose whether my e-mails are sent from my home
address or work address.

Can anybody suggest anything that might help?

Only other titbit of info I can add is that I use ActiveSync to sync my
PocketPC with Outlook.

Regards,

Richard Tubb.
www.netlinktrading.co.uk

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Outlook limits how many threads it had open to a server at a time, so it's
probably pulling from one account, then the other, not both at the same
time. Try setting two send and receive groups, one for each on different
times. if the accounts get a lot of mail, set one for 10 min and one for 12.
If they get less mail, 8 and 10 min will work. (It's not recommended that
you check more often than every 8 min out of respect for others using the
same mail provider - you don't want to hog the bandwidth/connections. ) If
you have the check times too close and outlook is still downloading when the
next check time comes, it can cause outlook to time out - a lot of messages
or a large messages on dialup will take longer.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Do you have a virusscanner that integrates with Outlook? Disable the
integration and try it again.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Properly back-up and restore your Outlook data
-Creating a Permanent New Mail Desktop Alert in Outlook 2003