The VPOP3 Status Monitor is a small program which displays a postbox icon (usually red) in the Windows notification area (usually at the bottom right of the screen - by the clock). This icon can be used for quick access to various VPOP3 facilities. Note that the Status Monitor is not a required part of VPOP3, and it is quite possible for VPOP3 to be running perfectly without the Status Monitor running (and thus with no icon).

The Status Monitor logs into VPOP3 as a user, so different users can have different permissions - eg logging in as an administrator may give you permission to trigger connections and shutdown/restart the server. Logging in as a normal user may only give you permission to view the current status. Permissions can be set by the VPOP3 administrator.

If the Status Monitor icon has a cross through it, it means that the Status Monitor has not been able to connect to the VPOP3 server.

If you double-click the Status Monitor icon when it is connected to the VPOP3 server, it will display the status window.

The status window has two modes:

• The first shows the current connection state, when it last connected to send/collect mail, when it will next connect, and how many messages are waiting to be sent out, and in the logged-in user's Inbox folder.
• The second shows the above information, plus an activity log of what VPOP3 is doing on the Internet at the moment. It will not show local use, but will show incoming and outgoing messages.

To switch between the two modes, either double-click on the title bar of the status window (where it says VPOP3 Status) or right-click anywhere in the window and choose 'Show Activity Log'. This activity log can be very useful for diagnosing simple problems.