of e-mails.MIME - Multi-purpose Internet Mail ExtensionsThe MIME protocol lets SMTP transmit multimedia files including voice, audio, and binary data across TCP/IP networks.IMAP - Internet Message Access ProtocolIMAP is used for storing and retrieving e-mails.POP - Post Office ProtocolPOP is used for downloading e-mails from an e-mail server to a personal computer.FTP - File Transfer ProtocolFTP takes care of transmission of files between computers.NTP - Network Time ProtocolNTP is used to synchronize the time (the clock) between computers.DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration ProtocolDHCP is used for allocation of dynamic IP addresses to computers in a network.SNMP - Simple Network Management ProtocolSNMP is used for administration of computer networks.LDAP - Lightweight Directory Access ProtocolLDAP is used for collecting information about users and e-mail addresses from the internet.ICMP - Internet Control Message ProtocolICMP takes care of error-handling in the network.ARP - Address Resolution ProtocolARP is used by IP to find the hardware address of a computer network card based on the IP address.RARP - Reverse Address Resolution ProtocolRARP is used by IP to find the IP address based on the hardware address of a computer network card.BOOTP - Boot ProtocolBOOTP is used for booting (starting) computers from the network.PPTP - Point to Point Tunneling ProtocolPPTP is used for setting up a connection (tunnel) between private networks.When you write an email, you don't use TCP/IP.When you write an email, you use an email program like Lotus Notes, Microsoft Outlook or Netscape Communicator.Your Email Program DoesYour email program uses different TCP/IP protocols:It sends your emails using SMTPIt can download your emails from an email server using POPIt can connect to an email server using IMAPSMTP - Simple Mail Transfer ProtocolThe SMTP protocol is used for the transmission of e-mails. SMTP takes care of sending your email to another computer.Normally your email is sent to an email server (SMTP server), and then to another server or servers, and finally to its destination.SMTP can only transmit pure text. It cannot transmit binary data like pictures, sounds or movies.SMTP uses the MIME protocol to send binary data across TCP/IP networks. The MIME protocol converts binary data to pure text.POP - Post Office ProtocolThe POP protocol is used by email programs (like Microsoft Outlook) to retrieve emails from an email server.If your email program uses POP, all your emails are downloaded to your email program (also called email client), each time it connects to your email server.IMAP - Internet Message Access ProtocolThe IMAP protocol is used by email programs (like Microsoft Outlook) just like the POP protocol.The main difference between the IMAP protocol and the POP protocol is that the IMAP protocol will not automatically download all your emails each time your email program connects to your email server.The IMAP protocol allows you to look through your email messages at the email server before you download them. With IMAP you can choose to download your messages or just delete them. This way IMAP is perfect if you need to connect to your email server from different locations, but only want to download your messages when you are back in your