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"Check mail every ??? minutes"

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GHammer:
Major (GMail, Yahoo, Live) mail servers while offering POP also will disable your account if you check too often. I used to check every 5 minutes using a tool seperate from my email client. Then, one day, I was locked out of my GMail account. Getting access again is its own story, but needless to say, I now am on a 15 minute schedule using POP Peeper.

DocSavage:
I seldom use clients anymore. I keep a machine up & open to Yahoo! Mail that updates within seconds. AIM messenger, MS messenger, Yahoo! messenger & Skype are open too. Yeah, I am hooked, but few of my messages ever make it to my hard drive...well, the messengers keep a log, but...you know...

suleika:
nice to know I'm not alone in the 2-5 mins category :D
I have email client minimised to tray but no sound notification - otherwise I'd get nothing done ...
-tomos (May 24, 2009, 07:24 AM)
--- End quote ---

That's a good idea.  I do it manually at the moment, so I don't get distracted, but I like your idea.

Tekzel:
There isn't an IMAP option so I just selected "less than 1 minute".

I hate web based email clients.  I use my own domain hosted at godaddy and use IMAP with it.  I have Outlook 2003, Thunderbird on my Netbook, and my Windows Mobile phone set up to check the same account.  Works great, and on my desktop emails come in pretty much instantaneously.  Given a choice, I will never use POP3 again.

CodeTRUCKER:
IMAP  I have finally added IMAP.  Unfortunately, I can not set the poll to allow changing vote.  My apologies to anyone  that needed it.


I ran across this a couple of days ago and thought it should be included with the thread.  I found it here.

Please note this quote is about Outlook from an Outlook-specific web site, but it applies to a wider scope.

How frequently should Outlook check for new mail on the server?

For optimal service in both Outlook and on the mail server, no less than 8 -10 min, longer if you use a dialup account. Every min or two is too frequent!

Why? Three reasons:

   1. Outlook doesn't mark mail as downloaded until after it finishes downloading all mail. If Outlook starts a new collection before it's finished with the first one you'll either end up with duplicates or Outlook will lock up and you'll need to reboot the computer.
   2. Be kind to your ISP. Checking for new mail uses resources on the server. If every account holder would check for new mail every minute, the ISP would need new servers to handle the load, or fewer subscribers.
   3. Don't hog the connection - leave it free so other subscribers can use it. If everyone tries to check mail at once, some users will experience timeouts. This is because there are a limited number of connections to the mail server. By using a higher setting, the chances of everyone checking at once is lowered and everyone has a better experience.

If you feel your email is so important that you or your business would die with checks less often than 8 minutes, then email isn't the right medium for you. Use instant messaging or the telephone for urgent matters that can't wait 10 minutes.

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