Prior to delving into Authenticated SMTP, we should probably give a short description of SMTP. SMTP is one of the famous Internet acronyms. It stands for "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol". The design of SMTP is the ability to relay Electronic Mail messages (E-Mail) from one computer to another.

SMTP does not often go directly to the recipients computer. It usually stops and rests in the users mail box, where the user will retrieve it. This intermediary is called an "SMTP server". Often, people send the initial message through their own "SMTP Server", commonly refered to as an "outgoing mail server".

SMTP is very similar to sending a real life letter, but without the "Do Not Bend Mail Into the Crusher" machinery. First, there are a few entities in the sending and recieving of mail. There is the local Mail Server (for example, the local post office), the recpient's post office (the recipients mail server), and us and the recpient. When we send a letter, we package it into an evelope to keep people from writing on the letter itself, and walk to the post office. We put the message in the mail box. When the post office sends the letter, it grabs a bit of mail, and delivers it to the recipients post office. The recipients post office puts it into the recpients mail box, where it waits to be retrieved by the user.


In order to better serve it's users, a mail server should not allow just anyone to send mail through it. This increases the speed of the server, and prevents spammers, or people who aren't authorized to use the server, from using it.

Typically, this restriction is put in place by not allowing E-Mails to be sent from outside of a network (as in a roaming dial up, or sending through a work service that has uses a different connection to the Internet), which can be likened to forcing a local post office to not send mail unless the sender is a resident of the local community.

But what if you are trying to send a post card while on vacation and the community won't send it? Authenticated SMTP is a method for the post office to verify who you are, and that you are okay to send a message.


To set up Authenticated SMTP, you can use the following instructions :

• Outlook & Outlook Express
  1. Open up Outlook
  2. Click on "Tools" on the menu bar
  3. Click on "Accounts"
  4. Click on the account you wish to add Authenticated SMTP to
  5. Click the properties button (Windows: on right side, Mac: on the left side)
  6. Click on the "Servers" tab
  7. Check "My Server Requires Authentication" (shown to right)
  8. You can click on the settings button, and enter the username and password
• Netscape & Mozilla Mail Clients
  1. Open the mail client
  2. Click on "Edit" on the tool bar
  3. Click on "Mail & Newsgroup Account Settings" (If the option is not available, click on "Preferences", then open up the "Mail & Newsgroups" option)
  4. Click on "Outgoing Server(SMTP)" or "Servers".
  5. You should have an option for "Use username and password". Check that, and provide the username and/or password