Why does my mail keep asking me for my password?
Linux Fully Managed Accounts
All incoming email is stored initially in one file on the server for a given POP email address. In our server's case, the mail is stored in a file named the same as your username which is the first part of your email address in the /var/spool/mail directory.
When you choose to check your mail through your email client, your mail file is copied to /var/spool/mail/.username.pop or .username.lock instead of emptying the file directly from /var/spool/mail. When the file is copied to the temporary location the mail file's name changes to put a "." in front of it which makes it a hidden file and a .pop after it. So, a temporary hidden file for helpdesk would be .helpdesk.pop. Only after the mail file is copied to the temporary file does your email client then read and empty (if your email client has specified to remove the mail off of the server). By copying the mail file, this allows the server to still get email for an address while someone is
downloading their email. If the email has been removed from the server, the original file is then edited to remove the downloaded mail.
When sending large mail files or attachments that are over 2MB, a POP lock can be generated. This means that the server is attempting to provide a large amount of data to you. The protocol of POP is not top priority on the Internet, so it may have problems being given to you because of such a large size. If your internet provider has a large amount of bandwidth and peers with one of our bandwidth provider, then downloads may not have this problem, however it does tend to happen from time to time.
Windows Fully Managed Accounts
This happens when the user does not properly log out his/her IMAIL session while performing the function respective to his or her error, it like most other client programs leaves a lock file. These functions include changing their password, modifying their mail lists, adding aliases, etc.
To correct go into your Special/mail/users/ folder. For each lock there will be two files. One with a .~xt extension which contains the process that has the lock and one with .ext which contains a cipher for the account if it applies (changing the password). Delete them both.
In order to log out properly, you cannot hit back on their browser, hit escape, or close their browser, they have to submit the "logoff" button on the left hand side of the page.
If you have a problem such as this, AIT Customer Service can assist in correcting this problem. Please submit a Trouble Ticket through the Online Customer Care Center at https://order.aitcom.net/