Features
As you might expect, both MultiMail Pro and HandStamp Pro have a number of features in common, as well as some differences, as shown in Table B.

POP3 unique ID download is an Enhanced SMTP feature that allows you to preview the email headers and select which items you want to download during the current session. HandStamp Pro offers this feature, but MultiMail Pro does not currently support this for POP3, although this is standard for IMAP4.

A really handy feature HandStamp offers is the ability to create filters and automatically direct incoming email into folders you create, just like you would on your PC. MultiMail provides folders, but doesn't yet offer filtering.

A brief tour of HandStamp Pro and MultiMail Pro
By now you should have a good feel for the features and differences between the programs. But how are they to use? The best way to tell is to download the product demos from the individual software publishers. But even before that, you can take a short guided tour right here.

As shown in Figure A, HandStamp's opening screen is rather sparse, while MultiMail offers convenient buttons at the bottom, as shown in Figure B. HandStamp provides "command-letter" shortcuts in place of the buttons.

FIGURE A

While HandStamp's opening screen is virtually empty, it does offer a lot of function inside.

FIGURE B

MultiMail's opening screen provides handy buttons.

As Figure C shows, HandStamp's Mail menu contains the same functionality that MultiMail assigns to buttons on the opening screen. As Figure D shows, MultiMail's Mail menu allows you to delete or purge email.

FIGURE C

HandStamp's Mail menu contains all the main mail functions.

FIGURE D

MultiMail's Mail menu contains message deletion functions.

HandStamp's Options menu, shown in Figure E, offers separate configuration screens for each email option, like POP3 and SMTP. MultiMail's Options menu, shown in Figure F, nests the SMTP, POP/IMAP, and other configuration options under "Mail Server". The Preferences item is used to configure things like deletion confirmation and maximum message size.

FIGURE E

HandStamp's Options menu is chock-full of interesting features.

FIGURE F

MultiMail's Options menu opens up to a number of useful configuration dialogs.

When it comes to setting up your POP3 accounts, the two programs have quite similar interfaces. As Figure G shows, HandStamp lets you configure up to five POP3 accounts. MultiMail, shown in Figure H, can handle up to four POP3 or IMAP4 accounts. Note that your mailbox name and password may not be the same as your ISP user ID and password, which you configure in Preferences the preferences dialog. You often get to choose your mailbox name, while your ISP will usually assign you a user ID and password. Remember to include the correct SMTP server name for your ISP and your mailbox name when configuring. For help in correctly configuring HandStamp's Preferences, including sample scripts for quite a few large ISPs, see http://www.smartcodesoft.com/support/support.html