So you guys have probably been checking your email with webmail, please don't, webmail is not designed to be your primary email client, its only meant for accessing your email away from your computer. Please refer to the following guidelines for your email client issues.
Supported Email Clients
Windows:
Microsoft Outlook 2003 (Comes with Microsoft Office 2003)
Microsoft Outlook Express 6 (Comes with Windows) (Please note: filters don't work in this client with mit email)
Mac:
Apple Mail (Comes with Mac OS X)
Athena:
Pine (type pine at the athena prompt)
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Bad ideas
- Although Evolution on Athena and Eudora are still supported by IS&T, I would NOT recommend these clients. Eudora has many many problems with the recommended imap format and Evolution, in our personal usage, has been found to be very unstable.
- There is an option to install Oracle Connector for Outlook and use it to check your mit email and synchronize your Outlook Calendar with evil Techtime (http://calendar.mit.edu.) Oracle Connector is very fickle as is Techtime, so unless you desperately need this functionality, I would strongly oppose any use of Oracle Connector for Outlook.
- Webmail filters, especially the allow and denylist are also very fickle and have been known to delete all of your email. Along with not using Webmail as your primary email client, do not use the filter settings!!
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Email Clients Setup Instruction
Pine:Already setup for you in athena, just type pine at the athena prompt and go!!!!
Outlook Instructions
Outlook Express Instructions
Apple Mail 1.3.x Instructions
Apple Mail 2.0 Instructions
Thunderbird:
Although Thunderbird is not supported by IS&T, many users have found it useful in managing email. You should know though that it will not save your sent mail on MIT's email server. If you'd like to try it out, some unofficial installation instructions are available.
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How to Avoid Spam
So you've been getting a lot of spam recently and you want to know what to do about it. Follow the instructions for a Spamscreen folder at the IST spam website. If your account was created after October 4, 2004 you already have a Spamscreen folder, unless you deleted it, in which case, go and create a new one.
Now that you have a Spamscreen folder, edit your personal settings for what email is diverted to it by going to spamscreen. It has been our observation that the allow and deny list on this preferences page do not work. It would also be a good idea to setup an automatic purging of your Spamscreen folder otherwise it will get very large and eat up your email quota.
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Mailing List
There are two types of MIT email lists, moira and mailman. Moira lists are good for small internal mailing lists, such as ones for your resumee or friends. Whereas mailman lists are ideal for clubs and larger groups. Moira lists have no protection against spam, whereas Mailman lists have a variety of ways to moderate the email flow.
For more information, please access the MIT mailing list website.
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