the afw system has two major components: the communication modules and the web administration interface. the communication modules are comprised of a pop3 server, a pop3 client, a confirmation mailer, a janitorial process, and a web server.

the pop3 client/server pair allows ask to run local to the host machine as opposed to requiring the presence of an SMTP server on the same machine. the server acts as the only 'remote' connection your mail application requires, while the client regularly polls all of your remote pop3 servers and gathers the results into one mailbox.

the confirmation mailer is responsible for sending out ask's confirmation requests and black list 'nastygrams'. it can be set to intercept these outgoing requests in order for you to build up a good set of lists without bothering known people with these requests.

the janitorial process simply watches the message queue and deletes stale messages after a configurable number of days. the web server hosts the administrative interface and runs locally to the host machine.