Your mail files are protected such that no one else can read them and so that you cannot accidentally delete them. For your mail files, read and write access are granted to you and the system. All other users are denied access of any form. The system requires read and write privileges so that mail can be delivered to you and so that your mail files can be backed up.

See the description of the OpenVMS SET PROTECTION command should you want to change the protections of one or more of your mail files. To delete a mail file, you will need to set the "owner" protection to include delete access.