Can smtp port settings be changed in Courier 3.5 email client?

[FONT= "Comic Sans MS"]I just downloaded and installed Courier 3.5 in hopes of being able to have a client that does NOT ignore or refuse to download some of my email messages the way Outlook Express or Eudora does.... (I can have x number of messages in my mailbox on my own domain and these clients too frequently download only x minus 1 or 2 more out of all of my unread messages).... I know this because I often check what's in my domain's mailbox before I download the messages....

Sadly, while setting Courier up, I found it impossible to change ANY smtp setting from port 25 to port 587 (used by my domain's email accounts) or to port 995 (used by another email account that I pay an annual fee for).... Since I paid cash money for smtp access to those accounts, being limited/locked in to a port that my isp blocks is frustrating for me....

I have tried using Thunderbird, but for some reason I've yet to figure out, it sometimes LOSES messages that I've already downloaded.... I mean one moment the message will be there waiting for me to read it and the next it could totally disappear from the message list.... This seems to happen if I go to another folder to read another message and then return to the first folder.... So, I was hoping Courier would also be a viable replacement for T'bird -- but it won't do for me if I can't change smtp PORTS (not servers) in Courier....

Since I'm not skilled in hacking, I'd appreciate any help any one can give me to overcome this Courier 3.5 email client flaw...

Thanx, from the Best Within Me....[/FONT]

 

SMTP is out-going
POP3 is in-coming
(unless running on an Exchange server)
If you're having trouble with incoming, you need to be changing the POP3, not the SMTP.

If your ISP has blocked access to ANY ports, there is nothing you can change on your local system(s) to corcumvent the blockage.

If Outlook Express and Eudora are performing the same, I seriously doubt the problem is with the Client(s), but rather the ISP and I seriously doubt any other client will perform differently. Changing ports should have ZERO impact on catching missed emails from the server.

I personally have never heard of any major ISP providing email on any ports other than the standard in coming and out going ports. It sounds to me like you're doing business with somebody who may have set up an email server under the radar of their own ISP and is using non-standard ports becasue the standard ports are blocked due to abuses. Major ISPs do not like to allow non-commercial accounts to run commercial services so they block access to certain of the standard POP (Incoming on Port 110), SMTP (Outgoing on Port 25), HTTP (Port 80) ports from private accounts.

As for the clients, I am only familiar with Outlook.
Outlook does allow the client to specify different ports, but as I have never dealt with a non-standard ISP, I can attest to the effectiveness ofthese settings, but presumably they work.

 

Bilb0,

My concern with changing SMTP port settings is due to my preference for using my email client of choice to SEND messages not only FROM "my-account@my-isp.com" but also FROM "my-mailbox@my-own-domain.com" and occasionally FROM "my-email@yahoo.com." Having a client with smtp settings locked on port 25 and an isp that blocks port 25 allows me to use the email client ONLY for sending messages from "my-account@my-isp.com" and totally forces me to go online to send messages from the other email accounts I have.... In short it forces me to treat accounts with built-in smtp features as if they were strictly web-mail.... I did NOT pay for web-mail accounts, I paid for email accounts that have full smtp access, meaning that with an email client that has it's smtp ports properly set for the ports that those "webmail" accounts use, I can use said client to send email directly from those off-isp email addresses....

I lack hacking skills, NOT email experience! I have for years mentally replaced the word "standard" with the word "send" whenever thinking of, reading, or looking at the acronym, "smtp!" That and thinking of how messages "pop" into my inbox when I'm retrieving them have long helped me keep it straight in my head as to what "smtp" and "POP3" refer to....

As to my incoming issues with some email clients, while OE and Eudora fail to retrieve ALL of my messages from off-isp sites they do not tend to fail to retrieve the same messages... For example, out of messages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,& 7 OE might forget to retrieve numbers 4 & 5, while Eudora might refuse to get #s 2 & 7.... Thunderbird, on the other hand, always retrieves ALL messages, and I've learned to backup all the retrieved messages after each download so that I have a decent chance of recovering any messages that suddenly disappear in T'bird.... But even without backing messages up, I experience T'bird as being a bit clunky for me -- hence my search for a replacement....

With guidance from my domain's host as well as from Yahoo mail, I've changed STMP port settings for "my-mailbox@my-own-domain.com" and "my-email@yahoo.com" in OE, Eudora, and T'bird.... And in T'bird, I've even been able to change the POP3 port settings to match those provided by "my-mailbox@my-own-domain.com" and "my-email@yahoo.com." And those smtp changes have enabled me to use the email client to send directly from my non-isp email accounts instead of having to go online and use those same accounts as strictly web-mail....

My domain's host server has told me that changing the smtp settings is an effective way of bypassing isp blocks on port 25 because most ISPs simply don't monitor all possible outgoing ports! This observation from my domain's host has been frequently confirmed for me in the 3 or 4 years since I first read it in an email from them....

Any info on how to change smtp settings (not server settings) in Courier 3.5 would still be greatly appreciated as I do not have the hacking skills to do it on my own....

thnx again from the Best Within Me....