Simple mail "server" program needed - advice needed please

Hi

I need a simple (ie cheap or free) program that will act as a mail server on my
desktop machine. I only need it to pick up mail and then hold it until an email
client requests it.

The purpose is simply so my wife can collect, read and reply to her email on her
laptop. Currently the desktop email software picks up all the mail from our domain,
and there is no way of leaving her mail to be picked up separately - it's either all
or nothing.

I use WorkGroupMail at work, on the server, and the client machines simply log into
the server and pick up the users' mail as and when the each user logs in. It's a good
program - I've also got it running on a friend's company server for his small office,
but as the minimum user base is for 5 users at £70 odd it is a bit overkill (and
expensive) for this simple home use of 1 desktop and 1 laptop (occasionally I might
want to use my laptop but that would be unusual)

Any advice much appreciated.

 

--
"Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is interesting. What they
conceal is vital. "

I set up a rule in Outlook Express that all emails to a certain address be
left on the server. My wife then picks those up on her Laptop and downloads
them off the server.

Easy to set up and free.

Dave

 

If your desktop machine runs Linux, then there is a relatively simple
and free solution. Use fetchmail to collect the mail from your ISP's
mail server and deliver it to the mail server on the local machine.
Linux systems generally come with all the bits you need and it is just a
matter of configuring them (carefully so that your machine does not
become a relay for spam).

If your desktop machine runs Windows, it can still be done free, but is
not quite so simple. The simplest approach is probably to install Cygwin
which provides a Linux-like environment on Windows, then install
fetchmail, exim and uw-imap which are all available as Cygwin packages.
The basic configuration is that fetchmail collects the mail and passes
it to exim which listens for incoming mail and puts it in users'
mailboxes. uw-imap listens for connections from mail clients, and
delivers the mail from the mailboxes to the clients.

 

NTMAIL used to be a good way of doing this, but it now seems to have morphed
into surgemail. Good news is its still free for 5 users:-

http://netwinsite.com/surgemail/pricing.htm

You probably also need PULMAIL if you have a POP account:-

http://www.swsoft.co.uk/index.asp?page=freesoftware

hope this helps,

Dave.

 

I knew I forgot one, you might also want to try "Mercury" from
http://www.pmail.com/index.htm

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys I'll look into them.

 

Pmail seems down at the moment, is this just temporary or have they given up? Does
anyone know anything on this?

 

Good program, I use it a lot.
Business Mail Gateway is also meant to be good and it used to be free
for home use.

 

Working fine here.

 

I use Mercury. It's very good - and it's free.

David

 

Hamster

 

No problems here.....

 

Thanks,. Working here now - must have been a temporary glitch.