Managing Your Server Mailbox Automatically
Your email program, whether it is Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, Qualcomm Eudora, or an application on your smartphone, has an option to leave mail on the server. Most of these will default to leaving the mail on the server, and removing it when it is ten days old.
While this is a decent compromise in general, it may not be the best for your situation. Especially if you receive a large amount of email, or large individual emails. In these cases, the mailbox on your server will get very large, very quickly. Consequently, every time that your mail client checks for new mail, your mail server must process the entire mailbox. With a mailbox of 75MB, and I have seen them much larger than that, it means that the server must go through the entire 75MB just to check if there is a new message.
Not only does this put a load on the server, but it will make your mail client appear to be slow.
You should evaluate your individual situation, and make adjustments to this setting accordingly. If, for example, you only read your mail from your work computer, it would be better to set your mail client to remove mail from the server once it is read. That way, your mailbox is emptied every time you pick up mail, and the server does not need to go through a large amount of mail that has already been delivered.
With the wide use of smart phones today, it is common to check your mail from your phone, also. Commonly you are only interested in mail that you have not seen, when checking from your phone. What I recommend in this situation, is that the application on your phone be set to leave the mail on the server, and have your computer remove mail. That way, you will see new mail from your phone. Then, when you get home, or to the office, and check mail there, you will get a copy of those messages there, too, and the mailbox will then be cleared. Then, your computer will have a copy of all email messages in case of need, and your mail client on both the computer and your phone will be much quicker.
Dave.