Debian text login: 'You have new Mail'

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Alright, so if I log into Debian via one of the text sessions, I get details of the last login (If anyone knows a way to show this during X login - without halting things with a messagebox let me know), but it also comes up saying 'You have new Mail'

What on earth does this mean? Where do I access this from? any ideas?

 

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Usually you get messages from the system that are stored in /var/mail. Open a terminal session and type:

cd /var/mail

Then type ls -l to see a list of files in that directory. Note the name of the most recent file and type cat "filename" to read it.

Usually, the messages aren't of earth-shattering import, but it's nice to know they're there and that you get a notice everytime there are new ones.

 

You are most likely using the account you created at install time. By default, that account gets all the mail the system sends to root. To access the mail just type "mail" and hit enter. To learn more about how mail works use "man mail" before using mail.

 

I have to warn here that 'mail' is not very friendly to new users!

You may want to think about installing a slightly easier interface, such as mutt.

Harry.