Mail query

[John Lowther]

   I use earthlink.
   When I got my mac I had a .mac account for awhile but  didn't stay 
with it.
   I have long since deleted .mac account info.
   But, now and then earthlink has gas or some sort of blockage and I 
cannot send mail and I get a dialogue box telling me that I cannot send 
mail and it invariably asks if I would like to "try this account" and 
shows me; .mac.
   This seems odd to me, under Mail > Preferences > Accounts.. the .mac 
account no longer exists,.. so why does it do that?.. and is there a 
way to make it stop? (this is not a functionality problem, just 
curious.)

OS X.2
iMac 17" flat screen