"low bandwidth" option?

I like "Mail.app" when I'm using it on my computer at work where I have a T1 connection to the internet. However, from home I have a relatively slow modem. The program is just too "greedy" for bandwidth.

When I use Mail.app from home to look at the mail in my IMAP mailbox at work, it's always checking the status of all of the mailboxes, downloading headings from boxes I don't really care about, downloading messages to better memorize their contents for the sake of Spotlight, etc. which slows down the computer and prevents me from opening webpages, etc.

I would like it to just show my the headings of the messages in my Inbox (not any other folders) and download the contents only if I specifically open a message.

Is there a way to set Mail.app to do that? The only seemingly related option I can find in Preferences is an option not to cache any messages. I've selected that, but it doesn't seem to stop Mail from downloading the contents of messages without asking me, it only means that it forgets the contents immediately.

Alternatively, is there a mail reader out there (especially free or shareware) that just gives these basic functions for an IMAP mail program: see contents of inbox by heading, show messages when opened, and otherwise do nothing?

Thanks,

Alex