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Common Types of Electronic Mail

• Send, receive, forward and reply to email messages

• Send and receive attachments

• Create and manage folders

• Create and manage contacts

• Check mail from other POP email accounts

• Customize signatures, identities and other preferences

• Edit Passwords

• Utilize auto-forwarding and vacation auto-responses

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  POP Mail
  POP (Post Office Protocol) mail is normally used in conjunction with 3rd party email management software like Outlook or Eudora on your own computer. To receive mail with a POP mail account an end users connects to a shared mail server and then downloads all the new mail to their computer. Thereafter, your the 3rd party email software located on your computer enables you to read, send and perform all the other management functions. Your computer (also known as the client side) is responsible for storing emails (also referred to as storing emails locally). POP mail is like a store-and-forward service, moving mail on demand normally from a mail server to a single local client computer. Once an email is delivered to the client software, the message is typically deleted from the POP server.

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  IMAP
  IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) combines features of Web-mail and POP mail allowing you to access email from your local server. IMAP is more useful for businesses that have their own servers. IMAP is a client/server protocol in which your server receives and stores messages while the client computer displays the header and sender of the email. This system allows you to decide whether or not you would like to download the message. Even when downloaded, messages remain on the server. You can also delete messages, manipulate folders and accounts and manage other features on the server. Email stored on an IMAP server can be manipulated from many mediums such as home desktops, office workstations and laptops. IMAP provides mobility and convenience, eliminating the need to transfer messages or files back and forth between different computers.

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  WEB, POP & IMAP Comparison Table

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Post Office Protocol (POP)

POP mail will stay on the server until you check it, at which point it's downloaded to your computer's hard drive and deleted from the server. POP is for people who will be managing their email from one computer only.
Settings are local, mail management is local.

Eudora, Outlook Express, Netscape Mail 

Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)

IMAP works directly opposite to the way POP does.  IMAP saves all messages on the server unless you choose to download one. This enables remote administration of your mail and the ability to retrieve an old message from a different computer; IMAP is much more flexible than POP but requires a little more understanding of the email system.
Settings are local, mail management is remote.

Eudora, Outlook Express, Netscape Mail

HTTP
(Web-based)

Some companies offer a way to retrieve email via the WWW. This provides the flexibility of IMAP, but with it comes the delay of having to load each message as a web page. Web-based email is definitely for on-the-go people who will be managing their email from several different computers. All Thelix accounts are available over the web at www.comchannel.com.
Settings are remote, mail management is remote.

COMchannel via Netscape, Internet Explorer, Neoplanet, Opera

Shell Account

Shell account access is primarily for die-hard simplest and old-time computer users who insist on doing it the hard, unadorned way. The one bonus to shell account access is that because Telnet comes pre-loaded on almost every computer with any operating system, it can be done from anywhere, any time and on any computer, regardless of what software it has.
Settings are remote, mail management is remote.

Telnet