Frequently Asked Questions
Regarding the MSUALUM.COM Email Forwarding Service

What’s the benefit of using the MSUALUM.COM email forwarding service?
How do I change my Forwarding Address?
If mail is sent to my MSU Alumni Association address (@MSUALUM.COM), where do I get it?
What do SMTP and POP mean?
How can I tell what Forwarding Address I set up?
How do I setup my email software to use my MSUALUM.COM email address?
What are your rules for choosing an email address?


Other links of possible interest:
MSUALUM.COM Email Forwarding Acceptable Use Policy
Privacy Policy

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What’s the benefit of using the MSUALUM.COM email forwarding service?
Your MSUALUM.COM address is your "virtual" email address and your "existing" email address is the location where you want you email messages to reside. If you receive email at yourname@domain.com ("existing" address), you will still receive email messages sent to that address. We recommend, however, that you give friends, family and colleagues your new MSUALUM.COM address so that you'll never have to worry about missing another email. When checking your email messages, you will check your "existing" email location, but when giving anyone your email address, you will give them your MSUALUM.COM address.

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How do I change my forwarding address?

Step 1: When you visit MSUALUM.COM you'll be prompted with a new pop-up window (featuring Sparty) asking if you'd like to register.

Step 2: If you've previously registered simply click "Go to MSUALUM.COM" to continue to our home page; continue to Step 3. If you have never registered, click on "Yes, please" and you'll get a welcome message; click on the "Continue" button to go to the user registration screen and complete the form per the instructions on that screen. Note: The username field on this form is what will become your email forwarding address. DO NOT use your full email address here. The "Alternate Email" field is where you put your email account that you want email forwarded TO.

Step 3: Login with your same username and password on the left column and then you'll get a message saying you've successfully logged in.

Step 4: Click on the link to continue to MSUALUM.COM.

Step 5: Now click on the envelope icon in the left column and you'll get a new page titled "msualum.com Email Forwarding" with a confirmation of the email address you previously entered when registering.

Step 6: If the address noted in the previous step is the correct one you'd like to forward ALL of your MSUALUM.COM email to click on "Accept" and you're all set to go. Make sure that you double-check this email address, as all your incoming MSUALUM.COM email messages will be forwarded there.

Step 7: If you need to change the email address that is noted on this page follow the instructions and click on the "preferences page" link. This is your user profile page and about half way down is a field for your "Email Account". Change the email address here to your new address and you're done.

Click here for email address creation rules.

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If mail is sent to my MSUALUM.COM address, where do I get it?
The MSUALUM.COM email address is not a conventional SMTP & POP system (see below for explanation of SMTP/POP). It simply forwards all email sent to your MSUALUM.COM account to whatever alternate email address (or addresses) you have specified. At the MSUALUM.COM site, there is no facility for reading email messages online, nor can you send email from this site. If you are using an email software package, you cannot point to MSUALUM.COM's POP or SMTP servers. All email sent to your MSUALUM.COM address will be forwarded promptly to your alternate POP email server, where you may pick it up normally.

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What do SMTP and POP mean?
SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, the computer language used to describe how email is delivered from one Internet computer to another. When you send mail to an SMTP server (a computer somewhere on the Internet), that computer in turn sends the email to the appropriate computer on the Internet.

POP stands for Post Office Protocol, the language used by computers to describe how email is retrieved by the user. If you have an email account where you routinely pick up your email, you probably do so through a POP server, though some online services maintain their own proprietary email transfer system.

Frequently, POP and SMTP servers are the same computer. Some ISPs (Internet Service Providers) use one server for receiving email (POP Server) and another for sending email (SMTP Server).
Click here for email forwarding setup information.

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How can I tell what Forwarding Address I set up?
Just follow the directions for changing your forwarding address above and your current forwarding address will be displayed.

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How do I setup my email software to use my MSUALUM.COM email address?
With MSUALUM.COM, you continue to send and receive your mail exactly as you did before using the email program of your choice. To optimize your MSUALUM.COM email address you should change the reply-to address on your existing email program to your new MSUALUM.COM email address. Please do not change your POP or SMTP account information, as you will continue to retrieve and send your mail exactly as you did before.

With Yahoo! Mail or Hotmail you can easily change reply-to address (in Yahoo! Mail go to Options and then Mail Preferences; in Hotmail, go to Options and then Preferences under Additional Options). Note: MSUAA has no connection or financial incentive with either Yahoo! Mail or Hotmail nor any other free email provider. Click here for a list of other free email providers (courtesy of Yahoo!).

Most full-featured email programs (Eudora, Outlook, Netscape Messenger) have a setup area so you can easily make these modifications. Here is the basic configuration information for a majority of dedicated email software packages:

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What are the rules for choosing an email address/ username?

Rule #1:
The username field on our form is what will become your email forwarding address. DO NOT use your full email address here. The "Alternate Email" field is where you put your email account that you want email forwarded TO. The address you choose must be @msualum.com. In other words, you may not add anything after the @sign to your MSUALUM.COM address.

Rule #2:
Only alphanumeric characters may precede the @sign in a MSUALUM.COM account. An alphanumeric character is a letter (upper or lower-case) or a number. Here is the full range of usable English characters:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

The only exceptions are the three common email punctuation characters. They are Underscore (e.g. JOHN_SMITH), Dash (e.g. JOHN-SMITH), and Period or Dot (e.g. JOHN.SMITH).

Rule #3:
A MSUALUM.COM email address must begin and end with an alphanumeric character. Underscores, dashes, and dots must be bordered on both sides by an alphanumeric character, and may not be placed together. Here are some examples of usable and unusable addresses:

If you have any further questions regarding the MSUALUM.COM email forwarding service please send email to: msuaa@msualum.com

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Published 5/25/01