# open the file in raw/binary output for writing
    open MAILOUT, '>:raw', "$receiving/message-$thetime-$popcount.msg" or LogWrite("Unable to open message-$thetime-$popcount.msg for writing: $!");
    # get the email into a temporary variable
    my $hold = $pop->HeadAndBody($popcount);
    # force it to use binary saving
    $hold =~ s/text\/plain/application\/x-msexcel/g;
    # write to file
    print MAILOUT $hold;
    # close the file
    close MAILOUT;