A c t i o n f o r L i b r a r i e s — M a r c h 2 0 0 1

The Internet Connection

By Michael Sauers

Checking Your E-mail from the Road
As a trainer for BCR, this job requires a significant amount of travel. While on the road, I have to check my e-mail several times a day (at a minimum). Even though my BCR account allows me to log in remotely via telnet to read my work-related mail, this doesn't help when it comes to my personal e-mail account, which does not allow remote log in, or when I'm at a computer on which telnet has been disabled.

Numerous Web sites are available that allow individuals to check their e-mail from another computer. Most services, however, have one or more drawbacks: the need to sign up for an account and get yet another e-mail address you do not want (and all of the spam that goes with it) and the inability to delete messages selectively. Most e-mail services only allow subscribers to delete all of their messages (usually not desirable) or none of them, forcing you to download and delete them when you return to the office.

One service, PandaMail, overcomes both problems.

PandaMail can be accessed by any computer with a connection and a Web browser at www.pandamail.net/. On the main screen is a simple three-line form. To access your e- mail you need only fill in your username (usually the part of your e-mail address preceding the @), your account password and your POP3 server name. (This last one is what confuses most users. It is not always the part of your e-mail address following the @. Double check with your service provider or on-site techie to get the proper information.) All that is left is to click login.

Once you're in, you are presented with the messages currently waiting for you in your account, 15 at a time. At this point, your messages are still on the server. Click on the subject line to view the message in the lower half of the screen. Once you have displayed a message, you have several choices, including replying to and forwarding the message. (Not all mail servers allow you to do this. If replying or forwarding fails, it is usually due to your mail service, not PandaMail.)

To create a new message, use the new message link in the upper left corner of the PandaMail window. (If replies and forwards do not work, neither will the new message feature.)

If you decide that you do not want to keep a particular message, you have two options. To delete the individual message, click on the envelope icon with the red X to the right side of the screen. To delete multiple messages, check the boxes to the left of the appropriate messages and then click the delete marked button. Once you delete a message, it is permanently removed from the server.

Messages not deleted are retrieved again the next time you check your mail and when you download them to your computer back in your office or at home.

If you encounter problems retrieving a particular message, click the refresh link at the top of the PandaMail window. This will reretrieve your messages.

Once you're done, just click the logout link in the upper left corner of the window.

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