Now that the holidays are over, everyone’s playing with their new toys. Many people have received new Windows 8 devices, like smart phones, tablets or computers. If you didn’t have time to fully play around with your new Windows 8 device as yet, and plan on using it for work, then I have some bad news for you..

Windows 8 does not support POP3 email protocol.

Some people may not understand what this means, and continue to yell ‘ why can’t I set up my work email account on windows 8? It worked before?!’ The issue is this: there are 2 main ways email is handled by your device: POP3 or IMAP. If you set up your email on other devices and chose POP3 as the type, this won’t work on your Windows 8 device. What’s the difference between POP3 and IMAP? Have a look at our article here that explains the difference between the 2.

The main difference between the 2 is that IMAP synchronizes your email on all devices with the email server, so if you delete an email off any one device, it will automatically be deleted from ALL devices. POP3 allows you to administer your messages independently on all devices, so if you delete an email from one device, it will still be available on your other devices that check the same email account.

What is Microsoft’s solution to this? As usual, they made it more complex than needed: Either call your email provider and ask them to set you up with an IMAP account, or better yet, switch to their new Outlook.com service! Easy, huh?

You can read more about the issue here:  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows-8/pop-email-accounts

What kind of experiences have you had using the new Windows 8 operating system so far? Any issues besides the obvious email issue? If so, let us know by leaving a comment and we’ll be sure to post your frustration (oops, meant wonderful user experience) with the new Windows 8 operating system.