by Bob Wright
I decided to investigate Pop3 mail servers for our
intranet, installing many different products. VPOP3 virtual pop3 mail server was
immediately appealing to me due to the ease of installation. I downloaded the software and
had the mail server running within 10 minutes, fully capable of handling mail to five
different mail boxes.
The main problem I needed to overcome was the nature of the mail header
received upstream for the domain NOSPIN.COM. This header has a prefix that the mail server
needed to ignore, a feature built into VPOP3. Then adding the users was a quick mouse
click, type an account name with password. The mailbox/accounts were setup. The learning
curve for this program was minimal, only taking a few minutes to have it running.
VPOP3 is strictly a Windows95/98/NT application, starting seamlessly
upon boot and hiding in the tray with a cute red icon to display incoming or outgoing
mail. I found the ability of VPOP3 to handle not only a full domain’s mail, but also
a single user account intriguing. You can setup a single user account, such as
NoSpin@nospin.com to be divided into multiple email accounts for others on an Intranet.
One user account with multiple mail boxes makes ISP charges minimal. It also has the
ability to handle thousands of mailboxes for a large domain, with ease of sorting, account
management and too many options for each account to name.
Then, I discovered the web interface built into the server. Any
email account may be accessed from anywhere on the web via the IP address of the computer
it resides, as long as the user name and password are known. We tried this feature and I
was more than impressed as it was able to easily access the host computer through the ISP
and down a 56k modem connection seemingly without any data transfer bog down time. I can
imagine someone traveling with any Internet access, then only logging into the web page
for the mail server and reading, replying and culling out their mail. A superb feature.
VPOP3 has so many features of large mail servers I could be writing
a manual just explaining them all. Here are some other features I also liked:
- Built in mailing list capability. Build your own mailing lists, allowing subscribers to
join and quit as easily as our large Listserv mailing lists.
- Mapping (aliasing) from several email addresses to a single 'virtual' mailbox, or from a
single email address to multiple 'virtual' mailboxes.
- Routes mail to the same email domain locally, without needing to access your Internet
Provider - thus allowing use it as an Intranet email server.
- Finger Server for remote querying of user information & status.
- Download Rules allow you to specify mail to be rejected or downloaded depending on size
or header contents. You can even tell VPOP3 to ask the intended recipient if he/she really
wants to get this message. This is useful for Killing SPAM.
- You can set up user 'assistants' who can be internal or external email addresses. Mail
for specified users will be forwarded on to those users as well as (or instead of) the
normal user.
- Supports Multiple POP3 Servers, so you can consolidate your multiple ISP accounts, and
use one program, and one email client to read all the messages.
- Supports incoming mail using SMTP
- Supports Multiple outgoing SMTP Servers, and you can limit the domains which each server
can be used for if you wish.
- AutoResponders to respond to incoming messages automatically, either using standard text
or an external program to generate the response.
- VPOP3 can sense that a DUN session is active, so it can use it to automatically collect
mail unobtrusively whilst you're 'surfing' the net.
- Security - only defined administrators can modify the VPOP3 settings.
- Flexible scheduler to allow automatic connections at predefined intervals or times on
specified days.
- VPOP3 can negotiate a session via a SOCKS V4 compliant firewall or proxy, so you don't
need to meddle with your Internet Security policy just to have proper Email.
All these features are incredible for a small program, taking less
than 4mgs of space on the hard drive when installed.
Initially, I thought the price of VPOP3 mail server to be on the high
side. This idea, I am not sure where I got that impression, was dashed when I
reviewed the pricing structure for similar products, here is the list of servers I priced
it against:
I discovered that my issue with the price of a pop mail
server software package was in the deceptively small size of the program, "How can
you charge that much money for software that takes up less than 4mgs of space."
Obviously, I was wrong in this issue. I found other mail server
packages with as many features as VPOP3, but none that were as simple to configure, setup
and then administer. I also discovered that VPOP3 to be not only competitively
priced, but even more economical than the majority of it's competitors.
The bottom line here is Paul Smith Computer Services have done an
excellent job in keeping the code tight, the features easy to access and the the package a
marvel to administer. I highly recommend this product to anyone requiring a mail
server for home or a small to medium sized office. A real thumbs up on this
one.
VPOP3 v1.3.0b
Paul Smith Computer Services
http://www.pscs.co.uk
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