| The 'Post Office Protocol' is an application layer standard that client email programs use to send and receive email
to a remote server. POP3 is the third version of this popular protocol and virtually all email providers today support it. The POP3 standard allows the user
to download new emails from the server and then disconnect. This allows users to conveniently work with their email offline. Most POP3 email clients today
have the option to leave the original email on the server if desired. This is useful when more than one person will access the same email account from more
than one computer. POP3 email uses the SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) to send email messages. This is a common standard for all modern email clients.
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There are other email standards used to send email. IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is the second most popular
email protocol. There are some nice features to using IMAP such as email flagging and support for folders and organizing. The IMAP protocol is becoming
increasingly popular. While not as wildely used as POP3, the IMAP protocol is almost as widely used. The POP4 email standard is coming soon and will
eliminate the gap between the current POP3 and IMAP standards. POP4 will allow for email flagging, organizing into folders and multi-part messaging. The
POP4 email standard will have the additional benefit of having a smaller footprint than IMAP. You can't go wrong with POP3 email, version 3 or version 4.
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