Configure local SMTP and POP3 to check the send and receive mail cycle

Question

I would like to have alternative SMTP and POP3 servers on my local machine, for checking code that sends letters and waits for a response, even when I'm online. GPRS rates in SA are pretty prohibitive, so I try to avoid them where possible. I would like to have a test SMTP address instead of my regular Google, and that the SMTP server should be able to send mail to my local POP3 server, where my mail client can receive this mail.

How can I do this in Windows 7 Home Premium?

Answer 1

I assume that your e-mail program might provide the smtp server address.

If so, you need to install your own mail server and configure your program to use localhost (127.0.0.1) as your SMTP server. (When I say “personal,” I mean in the sense that you want something that does not have heavy system requirements.)

A few years ago (before broadband and gmail) I used Surgemail (from http://netwinsite.com/surgemail/ ) on my home computer (it was free for 5 users)

But there are loads or others, for example http://www.hmailserver.com or Mercury 32 (from http://www.pmail.com/overviews/ovw_mercwin.htm )

You might think that this is too much, because these programs are likely to do much more than you need, but I was surprised how much they can do without requiring a high specification. (From the example, I probably ran Surgemail on a Pentium III with 1 GB Ram)