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E-Mail Configuration Basics

RELATED INFORMATION

E-Mail Options

Instructions for Alias'

Instructions for POP Mailboxes

All PCG Hosting accounts come with both e-mail aliases (also called forwarding) and e-mail POP accounts. Both provide e-mail services for you but work a bit differently.

What is the difference between an alias and a POP email account?
Here's an analogy, to help you understand this better:
A POP email account would be like your mailbox at your house. You would use an email program to retrieve the email for the account, just like you would use your mailbox to retrieve your mail.

An alias, on the other hand, would be like a mail forwarding address. An alias forwards your email to a POP account as a mail forwarding address forwards your mail from another mail address to your mailbox. Once it is in your mailbox, or POP e-mail program, you check it there.

A POP account is the final destination of e-mail, whereas an alias forwards your mail to that final destination. The reason you would want to use an alias is because it looks more professional and "cutting-edge" for people to write to youralias@yourdomain.com rather than yourusername@yourisp.com.

Of the two methods, aliases are the most used and easiest to setup. They do not require anything special to be done for software configuration and all e-mail sent to a given address merely ends up in your normal ISP's mailbox.

Alias, the definition
In general, an alias is an alternate name for someone or something. In literature, a "pen name" is an alias for the author's real name. The noun is derived from the Latin adverb alias, meaning "otherwise" and by extension "otherwise known as" and the latter meaning is still used in English, as in: Clark Kent, alias Superman. In information technology, the noun has several usages.

When referring to email, an alias would be superman@yourdomain.com that forwards messages to a POP email address (i.e., clark.kent@yourisp.com). If someone sends you a message to superman@yourdomain.com, you would have to log into your clark.kent@yourisp.com POP emailbox to retrieve messages sent to the superman address.

How many aliases come with my account?
Aliases, since they do not take up any additional space on our mail server, are unlimited in number for all accounts.

How do I set up aliases?
Click here for instructions.

POP3 Email, the definition
POP (Post Office Protocol) is a standard protocol for receiving email. POP3 is the most recent version of the protocol. POP3 is a client/server protocol in which email is received and held for you by PCG Hosting. Periodically, you and/or your email program connect to the mail server at PCG Hosting to see if you have any mail waiting and download a copy of the messages. (Depending on your settings in your email program, you can leave a copy of the messages on the server to download on another computer or remove them completely from the mail server when you check your mail. The latter is what you want to use if you check your email in only one location, since disk space is limited for POP accounts. You don't want mail bouncing back to the sender if your emailbox runs out of room and can not take any more messages).

You can check POP3 mail in Netscape Communicator, MS Outlook, or Eudora to name a few applications.

How many POP3 emailboxes come with my account?
The number of POP3 emailboxes that come with your account vary based upon the hosting plan you are on. See the chart located here to find out how many come with your hosting plan.

How do I set up and check POP email?
The step by step instructions for setting up and checking POP email is available here.