Chances are that you will never look at many of the old e-mails again. Why don't you archive them by year? You can then open the archived files as required to access any data and close again when not in use. Don't forget to compact the data files after removing material from them.
As for your server issue - have you seen
How to set up a POP3 account in Microsoft Outlook 2010 - Support Centre - names.co.uk