Some students are checking their e-mail too often, slowing the time it takes to receive e-mail.

E-mail sent last week to several students identified as excessive e-mail-checkers asked them to change their program settings to check for e-mail no more frequently than every 15 minutes.

The e-mail system at Penn State is set up to deliver to thousands of faculty, staff and students. Some users check e-mail more frequently than every two minutes, causing an excessive load on the mail server. This slows the response time for all users.

"This creates, effectively, lines to check e-mail," said Kevin Morooney, senior director in information technology services.

The congestion results from students having their e-mail programs configured to check for mail every few minutes and leaving their programs open all day.

"People could check more frequently than the system will allow," Morooney said. "If you check it faster than limits allow, the work is lost, and nothing ever gets transferred."

Excessive e-mail checking has become a problem once every 18 to 24 months since e-mailing became popular about seven years ago.

The e-mail message advised Netscape users to turn off the automatic setting option and check e-mail manually. This is because Netscape accesses the server separately to check if a user has e-mail and to download the e-mail requested.

Some of the students notified about checking e-mail too often did not know they were causing a problem.

"I never really thought about it. I use Outlook Express, and I just use the default setting to check my mail," said Brian Freas (junior-information sciences and technology).

Freas said he disregarded the request to change his e-mail configuration.

"It didn't seem like they had a big sense of urgency," he said.

Other students did change their settings as a result of the notification.

"I didn't realize that it was slowing [the system] down that much," said Lauren Hankey (junior-crime, law and justice). "I changed mine as soon as I got the e-mail."

Allison Hill (freshman-health and human development) said she received both the e-mail and a phone call asking her to stop checking for new mail so often. Hill also expressed surprise about her e-mail set-up.

"It had said in one of the [Rescom] handbooks how to set it up, but it didn't say you could check too frequently," she said.