where's my mail?

> From: A Computer User
> Sent: September 5, 2006
> To: Ask Leo!
> Subject: where's my mail?
>
> Leo,
> Hello Leo, I am a novice to computers. I purchased a new
> laptop. I gave my old desktop to a school. I use oe for my
> mail and it is downloaded to my sbcglobal account. Now that
> I have this new laptop, ALL my previous "In Box" emails are
> GONE!!!(not to mention the "sent" "deleted" items). When I
> login directly to sbc global, to see if the old mail is still
> there, the only mail there is my current stuff(last few
> days). (1)Is my old mail still available? (2) how do I get
> it onto my new laptop? HELP!!!!!!!!!!

Your old mail is probably on your old computer.

WHen you "download" email, you're moving it from the mail
server and placing it on your computer. So it was probably
all downloaded onto that old machine. Whether or not it
can be retrieved depends on what's happened to it since
you gave it away.

There are settings that can keep mail on the mail server,
but they're not the default and most mail providers don't
fully support it (there's often a limit as to how much
mail they're willing to keep for you).

The lesson here of course is that you need to move your stuff
off of your computer before you give it away :-).

Thanks for asking,

Leo