Many webmail services absolutely do not allow downloading of email via POP and others only allow it if you upgrade to a paid account.

FreePOPs, on the other hand, will allow you to get your mail that way. And the cost is zero.

Before I instruct you how to do it, I’m going to mention a few things:

First, This software does not allow you to send mail, only receive. However you can use your ISPs SMTP server to still send mail. More on that later.

Second, once mail is downloaded, it deletes it off the server.

Third, FreePOPs does not have to be used if you use Gmail or Hotmail as both offer free POP access. And yes, Hotmail POP access is now free (this happened very recently).

What is FreePOPs?

It’s a standalone application that stays in your taskbar when running. It’s very light and does not slow down your computer whatsoever. It acts as the gateway of sorts to allow your email client of choice to download mail from your webmail account.

How many different types of webmail is supported?

A ton of them.

Does it work in Windows / OS X / Linux?

Yes.

How does it work?

Here’s an example using a Yahoo Mail account and the Windows Live Mail email client:

Step 1. Download, install and run FreePOPs.

In Windows this will place a small icon in your taskbar next to the clock to let you know it’s running.

Step 2. Add/Configure the email account in Windows Live Mail

Click "Add Account" in WLmail.

Enter in the information on the first screen like this (using your Yahoo Mail account obviously), and make sure to tick "Manually configure server settings for e-mail account" at the bottom:

On the next screen, set your incoming mail server as localhost, your port as 2000 and your Login ID as your Yahoo ID.

For the outgoing server, use your ISP’s SMTP server. If you don’t know what this is, go to your ISP’s home page and look up the information on how to configure a mail account as if you were using one of their email addresses. The SMTP (outgoing) server should be listed in plain sight there.

Looks like this:

Click Next then Finish when done.

When you send/receive for the first time, you may be prompted to use your full Yahoo email address. If you are, enter it as shown below using your Yahoo ID.

If all goes well you will start downloading your mail immediately!

Is FreePOPs updated routinely when mail services change?

Yes. The webmail modules used in FreePOPs are actively developed so when changes occur, you can simply download the latest module to get free POP access to your email.

Do I have to use Windows Live Mail for this to work?

No. You can use any mail client. All of them support POP by default. You can use Outlook Express, Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Evolution or whatever mail client you like.