[blackstar]

Hello,
right now I am paying $8 monthly for a pop email, I would like to change the provider, as this one is not efficient at all against spam.
I also have a gmail account where I get alot of spam.
My third email is from my university, it is the only one that stays relatively spam free.

Can anyone recommend a pop email provider, that has an effective solutiont to spam? or if you have any other solutions to spam let me know.

[Dave N]

Based on MacNN recommendations, I went with a fastmail.fm account a couple of years ago. I think I've received one spam in that whole time, but I only use this address for emailing with friends/colleagues and not for any online purchases, etc. Two people have used this address to give me amazon.com gift certificates (so amazon has this address in their database), but I haven't seen any spam as a result and have never received any other solicitations from amazon.

[besson3c]

Why not get your own domain name and find a host that offers IMAP? IMAP is so much nicer than POP.

[blackstar]

what is the difference with imap and pop

[seanc]

In my opinion, you're more likely to get tons of spam at a Gmail address if you have your name in the address.

My Gmail address has a made up word and a number in it, the only 'spam' I get is stuff that I've signed up for but don't want.
My friend with his full name in his address gets tons of spam, it started without him even using the address anywhere. I think it's because the spam bots put names together and perhaps dictionary words, but they can't work out non-dictionary words.

[ort888]

I get very little spam with my gmail account and I've been using it for years. I would say that about one spam a month makes it through the filter.

[Sherman Homan]

Originally Posted by blackstar 

what is the difference with imap and pop

The biggest difference is with POP you actually download the email from the hosting server to the computer you are using. So if you check your desktop before you leave the house and then later check on your laptop your email won't match. (Yes, there are work arounds.)
With IMAP the email stays on the server until you delete it. A copy shows up on your computer so you can read it off-line, and if you use a laptop and a desktop your email experience is the same.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Sherman Homan 

The biggest difference is with POP you actually download the email from the hosting server to the computer you are using. So if you check your desktop before you leave the house and then later check on your laptop your email won't match. (Yes, there are work arounds.)
With IMAP the email stays on the server until you delete it. A copy shows up on your computer so you can read it off-line, and if you use a laptop and a desktop your email experience is the same.

Excellent explanation! The only thing worth adding, possibly, is that if you wish to access your email over a web-based client, IMAP is highly preferred, if not required.

Basically: POP - email lives on your computer, IMAP - email lives on server

[blackstar]

right now I am satisfied with pop, I always download it with my laptop, and archive it on it too. I decided for now to use GMail and try SpamSieve and see if its any good...the reviews on it were excellent..

[Nivag]

I've use SpamSieve and it's pretty good, maybe one or two spam emails a week get through - works like a treat!

[besson3c]

The other thing one needs to keep in mind is their backup strategy. Most people don't backup their Desktops everyday, which means that if their computer fails (which is more likely on consumer grade hardware), their email is permanently lost.

[seanc]

Pop accounts (multiple at that) can be checked by Gmail, hence having
a) all of your email the same everywhere,
b) all of your email in the same place,
c) all of your email (i assume) backed up by Google.

[Rumor]

I have a gmail account and have never received spam. Try setting up a second gmail account for personal use, and continue using the current one to sign up to whatever crap you have been.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by seanc 

Pop accounts (multiple at that) can be checked by Gmail, hence having
a) all of your email the same everywhere,
b) all of your email in the same place,
c) all of your email (i assume) backed up by Google.

No, no free email services backs up your email. Why would they? It's a free service, they have no responsibility to you, and all of the extra storage would double their costs in storage.

There are other ways to redirect email to a single account to, such as email aliases.

Not to criticize anybody that has an email account with a free email provider such as Google, but there are several downsides to doing this that many people don't seem to even think about:

1) Nothing is free. What is in it for Google? Data mining your email...

2) None of these email providers provide mail import or export capability, so it is very hard to switch to or from these services, leaving aside the difficulty of retraining people to use a different address

3) You have to use their web based client, although Google offers POP access as well and Microsoft or Yahoo may offer the same (can't remember off the top of my head)

4) Their SMTP servers frequently get added to blacklists. Where I work, Yahoo seems to be the worst in this respect

5) Unless you are POPing your mail and backing it up yourself, your mail is not being backed up. If you need to restore a message you deleted a couple of days ago, you can't. Other email providers may provide restoration services (I do).

6) No integration with desktop clients such as the OS X Address Book, iCal, etc.


Many of these free email services like to entice by offering massive quotas, but they count on the fact that most users only use a fraction of their quota. Where I work, we manage about 160,000 accounts and have allocated our users 100 meg/each. We get quota increase requests, but not that often.

I know that personal IMAP accounts are not necessarily affordable options for everybody, but this thread is about "good" email service. Frankly, no free email service is good.