isr.co.ro : glossary Mailbox The computer location where you get your electronic mail. In most cases, the e-mail program you use to send and receive mail handles the details of how your mailbox works, and all you have to do is periodically clean out the accumulating messages. Technically, a mailbox is a special directory or file on one of the computers connected to a network that's under the control of the system mail program and that's used to store electronic mail messages for a particular user or group. Outgoing messages are often stored as well. Most Internet systems use a "client-server" approach to mail, in which your incoming mail accumulates in a file on a designated host computer on the network until you use an e-mail client program to examine the mailbox and download or upload messages. Consequently, if you use a desktop computer to connect to the Net, you'll often have a mailbox directory both on your Internet host and on your personal system.