I am going on vacation for a week and wont have access to my hotmail
account.  I need to be able to download all my hotmail messages to my
local disk drive so I dont lose any of them.  Can someone tell me of a
email client that does this.  It also needs to be able to check for
mail in a periodic interval like a few times a day and download
locally all the new messages.  I would like to it keep all the
original messages in the hotmail account and download only copies.  It
should connect to the server automaticaly without me needing to tell
it what the password to my account once it has been set up.  I also
need to be able to send an away message from my hotmail account
through the email client when a message is sent to hotmail.  One more
thing can you tell me the pop account information for hotmail like the
incoming mail server and outgoing going mail server addresses.  Thanks

Hi Gregoryew,

Outlook Express 6 will do what you require and will even dial your
internet connection if you don't have a constant connect (cable
modem/dsl).

You can download Internet Explorer 6 from the Microsoft site. 
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp?
You will need to download and install Outlook Express from that file.
Once IE and OE are installed, open Outlook Express. Go to  Tools >
Accounts > Add > Mail and follow the instructions in the Internet
Connection Wizard. Be sure to check the "Remember my password" box
when you enter your account name and password.

The hotmail server is an http not smtp server so you use the following
server address http://services.msn.com/svcs/hotmail/httpmail.asp

Once Hotmail is set up as a mail account in OE, go to Tools > Options
> General Tab in the section labelled Send/Receive messages check the
box next to Check for new messages every ____ minutes. Set the number
of minutes in the box (type 300 to check every 5 hours, 240 to check
every 4 hours, etc.). Underneath this line, there is a box that says
If my computer is not connected at this time: If you are using a
dialup connection, change the selection in the drop down menu to
"connect even when working offline". If you are using a dialup
connection, you will also probably want to go to the Connections tab
(still in Options) and check the Hang up after sending and receiving
box.

Credify Email Autoresponder will handle your away messaging. This
shareware program can be downloaded for a free trial from
http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?9500000036726
It requires Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP, 32Mb RAM, 10Mb Harddrive.

Here is the description of the program from that page:
"Expert marketeers know that autoresponders can dramatically increase
your exposure to prospective customers by replying to every email sent
to you. Now, the Credify Autoresponder will automate your businesses
email communication.

"Set up rules to not only reply with email messages, but add contacts
to your database, create a double-opt-in email and newsletter system,
send product brochures and other attachments with your full-HTML email
message.

"Credify's Autoresponder even adds data to files and HTML pages.
Forward emails to other recipients, calculate weekly email statistics,
delete unsolicited emails before anyone sees them, and even send forms
that allow for orders to be placed--right from the email.

"Use the Autoresponder to check for help requests. For instance, when
a request comes into your support@company.com, and the subject or
message has words like: 'applying xyz product', you can automatically
send a helpful email--your autoresponder acts like a knowledgebase!

"Download and try the Autoresponder today. It's a limited version that
lets you try out all the features, but limits only the number of
records you can add. Register the same software and unlock its full
potential. Works with an unlimited number of email accounts and
messages!"

If you require similar software for a Macintosh or other OS, please
post a request for clarification.

I hope these two programs will resolve your mail problems for your
vacation--and that you enjoy yourself!

Regards,
readersguide

---

Request for Answer Clarification by gregoryew-ga on 09 Jul 2002 17:49 PDT

The problem is that my email account gets so flooded with spam email
every day that by the time I get back I would have run out of space
since hotmail only allows a certain amount of space.  When I run out
of space hotmail decides to stop receiving mail.  Is there anyway to
keep all messages on my local hard drive and delete them from hotmail.
 Outlook Express help says to copy them to another folder but I cant
figure out any rules that would allow me to automatically do this. 
Thanks for the help.  I realize this is a slight change from the
original question but I would like an answer if at all possible.

---

Clarification of Answer by readersguide-ga on 10 Jul 2002 17:24 PDT

If you set up Hotmail's junk mail filter, you can have junk/bulk/spam
mail filtered into this folder and then you can also have them
automatically deleted. You do this from your hotmail account's Options
page.

Hotmail's Login Page
http://www.hotmail.com

Log in to hotmail, click the Options Tab > Mail Handling > Junk Mail
Filter. Choose your desired level of filtering. I would recommend High
for your week-long situation. After you do that, click OK.

Still in that Options Section > Junk Mail Deletion. Selecting this
option will delete all mail sent to your Bulk Mail folder.

You may wish to add email addresses to the Safe List and Mailing List
section on the Options page as well to avoid losing messages which may
be important to you, such as those from family, friends, and business
associates.

I hope that this will resolve your problems. Again, enjoy your
vacation!

Regards,
readersguide

You can switch to a  different service, such as  yahoo, which
automatically sends SPAM
to a bulk folder and automatically deletes that from time to time.