Email server question

[wpshooter]

Can the administrators of an email server detect/distinguish whether each of their email users are accessing the email server via webmail (i.e. thru browser) as opposed to via an email client application ?

Thanks.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Of course they can. They have all the logs.

You can even sometimes tell what email client was used, if you read the email headers.

 

[wpshooter]

I thought as much. I believe that one of the major email services is trying to use this ability to coach
their email customers into signing up for paid technical support plans which they (the customers) do
not need by sporadicly turning on and off the customers ability to send and receive emails when they are using a client email application.​

 

[you2]

Just be aware that 'bad' clients can fake headers. I normally validate IP in the logs when I think something is suspicious.

Of course they can. They have all the logs.

You can even sometimes tell what email client was used, if you read the email headers.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I thought as much. I believe that one of the major email services is trying to use this ability to coach
their email customers into signing up for paid technical support plans which they (the customers) do
not need by sporadicly turning on and off the customers ability to send and receive emails when they are using a client email application.​

This sounds very unlikely for Microsoft, Google or Amazon. Those companies are watched like a hawk and this would be front-page news on all the tech sites. On the other hand, if someone at ComCast read your post they'd forward it on to their lawyers for the go-ahead.

Is this "major" service someone smaller like GoDaddy or a little ISP?

 

[you2]

Just remember MS already charges an arm and leg for support for exchange server after charging an arm and leg for the software license. For the first time I actually had to use exchange server (as a client - not a maintainer) and after 28 years of using various unix mail servers without a single issue I finally experience the joy of a buggy mail server (which I find bizarre given the software should have been mature by 2015). Specifically in 2 years i had to use it I got to experience all sorts of interesting bugs dealing with imap and weird limitations in the server (esp mail box sizes). Yea the IT group would 'fix' one issue only to have a new one appear a few months later. That couple with all sorts of weird limitations and performance issues... well what can I say I think I've express my bias and hopefully will never have to use an exchange server again.
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This sounds very unlikely for Microsoft, Google or Amazon. Those companies are watched like a hawk and this would be front-page news on all the tech sites. On the other hand, if someone at ComCast read your post they'd forward it on to their lawyers for the go-ahead.

Is this "major" service someone smaller like GoDaddy or a little ISP?

 

[wpshooter]

I won't name them, however they have been in business a long time, I used to have to "try" to install some of their (communications type) software on some of the systems that my employer used back in the '90s, and to my thinking their software was junk back then and what I am seeing now sure has not changed my mind. I have complained about this to both the FCC and FTC.