Error number: 0x800ccc0f in Windows Mail

For several weeks I have been getting the following message when I attempts to access my email server to receive messages in Windows Mail (VISTA):

 

your server has unexpectedly terminated the connection. possible causes for this include server problems, network problems, or a long period of inactivity. account: 'david forrest', server: 'pop.gmail.com', protocol: pop3, port: 995, secure(ssl): yes, error number: 0x800ccc0f

 

This occurs often but not on all occasions and when it does it takes me several minutes of repeated messages to eventually receive email

 

After much experimenting I have found that disabling NIS anti-spam protection resolves this.

 

Any comments?