In computing, the Post Office Protocol (POP) is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by local e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. POP and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) are the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern e-mail clients and servers support both. The POP protocol has been developed through several versions, with versi...
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In computing, the Post Office Protocol (POP) is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by local e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. POP and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) are the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern e-mail clients and servers support both. The POP protocol has been developed through several versions, with version 3 (POP3) being the current standard.
The Post Office Protocol has undergone several revisions. It is customary to append the version number to the protocol's acronym. POP3 has made earlier versions of the protocol, informally called POP1 and POP2, obsolete. In contemporary usage, the term POP is almost always associated with the latest version.
The design of POP and its procedures supports end-users with temporary Internet connections, such as dial-up access, allowing these users to retrieve e-mail when connected and then to view and...
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