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Email clients

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Ariadne

05:53 / 28.08.03

I know there's been a thread on this before but can't find it - I just got a new PC, using Web mail is annoying, but I don't want to use Outlook Express. What should I use?
Replies or links to the previous thread very welcome!

Unencumbered

06:27 / 28.08.03

The mail client that comes with Mozilla is pretty good.

Linus Dunce

09:09 / 28.08.03

Eudora works for me. If you don't want to spend any money, you can have it full-featured with a small ad on screen (it's fairly unubotrusive, no animation etc.) or you can have a "Lite" version without, but that's not as useful.

A friend used to run Pegasus (free, no ads) and was quite happy with it but I think the overall functionality is closer to Outlook Express.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

09:15 / 28.08.03

Another vote for Eudora.

The Strobe

10:05 / 28.08.03

The mail client that comes with Mozilla was my primary mail client for six months until I hit mac. It's very good indeed, has nice spam filtering, and can handle IMAP properly (which is more than any form of Outlook can do).

If you don't want to use Mozilla, though, then the client is now available as a standalone thing called the Thunderbird project. Which I'd guess is also pretty fucking awesome. Eudora's nice, AFAICR, though the ads in the free version get a bit irritating.

William Sack

10:22 / 28.08.03

Unless I am doing something wrong or misunderstanding it (which wouldn't be a first), the Mozilla email client won't pick up hotmail. Does anyone know any different? Will Eudora pick up hotmail?

Linus Dunce

10:42 / 28.08.03

Pretty sure Eudora doesn't play the Hotmail game and would be surprised if any non-Microsoft app did, though I *guess* you can pay Hotmail a small amount for POP access and pick it up with anything you like.

Ariadne

12:49 / 28.08.03

Thanks everyone, I'll have a look at Eudora and the Thunderbird thing tonight. Who knows, maybe I'll even get radical and change browser.

Rev. Orr

21:23 / 28.08.03

Oooh. yes. Big thumbs up for Firebird. According to Mozilla they're moving away from a suite of applications and are looking to make this and Thunderbird their primary systems. I moved over a fortnight ago and have had nothing but good times with Firebird - no pop-ups, better security, tabbed browsing, less hd space. It even imported all my bookmarks automatically. Maybe these smug Mac bastards have been onto something all this time...

ONLY NICE THINGS

22:32 / 28.08.03

For some reason Thunderbird and Firebird don't run on my desktop - when I install the dialogue box just goes to "not responding" - is annoying. I use OE, but am planning to migrate as soon as I can get the verdampt thing to work...

w1rebaby

22:48 / 28.08.03

There are a few programs out there that will enable you to access Hotmail from another client. I've used one with a cute Chinese client called Foxmail.

If you have an account with Fastmail, however, you can set it to automatically poll Hotmail accounts and transfer any messages found therein. I use Fastmail as my main mailbox, since they provide IMAP access, are cheap, give great service and have a superb webmail interface.

You can't pay for POP or IMAP access with Hotmail - it doesn't let you. They want you to use either Outlook or webmail.

I'm very interested in Thunderbird, the Mozilla mail client is great but unfortunately Mozilla sucks on Macs. TB is only at version 0.1 right now though.

w1rebaby

22:51 / 28.08.03

Oh, as for currently existing Windows mail clients, I'd pick Eudora. When I was still using Windows I used it practically all the time, occasionally the Opera mail client as well. Have you looked at that? The Opera 7 client is very interesting, it has a great system of "views" which are kind of virtual folders - I don't know any other client which does that.

I would not touch Outlook Express with a ten foot penis.

w1rebaby

23:13 / 28.08.03

For some reason Thunderbird and Firebird don't run on my desktop - when I install the dialogue box just goes to "not responding" - is annoying.

OMG IT IS EVIL MICRO$$$OFT PREVENTING YOU WTF BILL GATES YOU BASTARD!!!!!111

Shrug

21:33 / 16.05.05

I don't really use my hotmail account very much and as such it closes quite often and I also don't particularily like Outlook,has there been any update on the free emailware recently?
What about g-mail? Any suggestions?

w1rebaby

21:37 / 16.05.05

Yeah, I suggest you use gmail.

Shrug

21:39 / 16.05.05

I realise that it has a large storage capacity but isn't it just a massive snoop tool for add placement too? Plus it's invitation only.

tom-karika nukes it from orbit

21:55 / 16.05.05

You're right, the Gmail adverts can be pretty creepy - I type a message about electronics, I get a load of ads for electronics shops, etc. etc. They do promise in their FAQ that they aren't actually collecting data from your emails or giving it to advertisers - they just scan the text for keywords and pull up matching ads.

Gmail invites are easy to get now - pm me a your email and I can send you one.

w1rebaby

21:56 / 16.05.05

I use it all the time and I'm daft about that sort of thing.

Every user has gotten at least fifty invites recently, or go here.

■

22:04 / 16.05.05

Balls to that. I'm sticking with Pegasus. Been using it happily for ten years, see no good reason to stop now. Anyone who wants to send email with HTML (or worse) in it has missed the point. I don't want to read their superfluous tat.

alejandrodelloco

23:45 / 16.05.05

If you ever feel like getting a Mac, Apple's mail client is wonderful.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

10:23 / 17.05.05

I used to use Pegasus (TangoMango, knowing infinitely more about computers than me, installed it on My Very First PC) but now I use Thunderbird- it's more like Pegasus than Outlook, and a whole lot better than both.

Grey Area

11:16 / 17.05.05

A second vote for Thunderbird. I installed it two months ago in a kind of "oh why not" reaction when I got Firefox, and it was a seamless transition from Outlook (which is now banished forever). Imported every e-mail, folder and address without a hitch. Lovely.

■

12:05 / 17.05.05

I did try Thunderbird, but for some reason it demanded SMTP rather than POP3 retrieval, so I didn't bother. If that means nothing to you, go for the T-Bird. You'll have fun, fun, fun until someone takes it away.

w1rebaby

13:23 / 17.05.05

Um, SMTP is not used for retrieval. SMTP is used to send mail.

juan de marcos

15:18 / 17.05.05

I changed to Thunderbird and Firefox about a month ago. No complaints.

That's another Microsoft application thrown out of the Windows!! I wonder what I could kick next. Anybody experience with Open Office?

■

16:43 / 17.05.05

Um, SMTP is not used for retrieval. SMTP is used to send mail.

Hmm. You're mainly right (SMTP can be used for retrieval as well). It was something like that, though. As an experiment I've tried the new version and there seems to be no problem. Perhaps it was a glitch with one of the betas.

Unencumbered

18:00 / 17.05.05

Anybody experience with Open Office?

Yes, I've been using it for ages, both on my Linux machine at home and my Win2K jobbie at work. It's done everything I've wanted it to, so I can recommend it wholeheartedly.

alejandrodelloco

22:04 / 17.05.05

Just for those of you who want to do some proselytizing, Ubuntu Linux offers free CDs, some of which come with liveCDs, that when inserted in a windows computer, have Firefox, Thunderbird, GIMP, and OpenOffice.org ready to install. This is so handy if you are trying to turn people on to some of the best that open source has to offer...

ONLY NICE THINGS

22:21 / 17.05.05

Question the next - downloading Google Mail using Apple Mail?

w1rebaby

06:09 / 18.05.05

I use gmail with Apple Mail for maximum work/home compatibility. It works very well actually, if you're using Tiger - spotlight works like the gmail search function, only quicker and more convenient.

It can take a while to download everything from day one of course. You can set the options as to how much mail you want it to show as new.

One thing about gmail's POP3 to remember is that you don't want to try it across multiple machines. If you download it on your ipaq you won't then be able to download it at home; the messages won't turn up as new. I got round this by creating a dummy IMAP account with Fastmail, setting gmail to forward everything to that as well as keep it, and checking the IMAP account with my phone rather than the gmail POP3 one.

illmatic

16:57 / 13.01.06

Bump

I'm now online at home, currently trying to set up Thunderbird as my mail client. I've entered all the settings correctly - I think - but when I try and get my mail, I'm told that the user mailbox is locked. Anyone get any idea what this means, and/or how I get round it? R

Remember, I'm almost entirely PC illiterate.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

19:05 / 13.01.06

Gmail and adverts: The way round this is to use Firefox as yr browser for accessing Gmail (and everything else) and then install the CustomizeGoogle extension from here. Not only can you them block ads from all your google searches, but from Gmail too.

Firefox is great like that, with hundreds of little add-on programmes to do pretty much everything (even make the tea).

As for email clients, I use KMail on my Linux box, and Thunderbird everywhere else. Pegasus was good, but I've found both of these to be much better - and I never send HTML email if I can help it either.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

19:08 / 13.01.06

I've entered all the settings correctly - I think - but when I try and get my mail, I'm told that the user mailbox is locked. Anyone get any idea what this means, and/or how I get round it?

Not sure - depends on who your ISP is, but it generally means either that your account has lapsed. It really depends on who your account is with.

illmatic

08:24 / 14.01.06

I can't see why it's lapsed - I use it almost everyday. I'll email them. Anyone else got any advice?

quixote

03:30 / 15.01.06

I've used Thunderbird for years. It's excellent in almost every way, but there is one big caveat:

When installing it--if you have multiple email accounts--do NOT accept the default of Global Inbox. That imports all your previous email into one giant, disorganized, useless Inbox. I have no idea what they were smoking when they came up with that default.

download site for Thunderbird

OpenOffice is a phenomenal set of programs. I've used Writer (MSWord equiv) and Impress (Powerpoint equiv) and they both interoperate seamlessly with Microsoft's programs, which is a concern if you need to share documents with others. I do relatively complicated word processing, but simple Powerpoint. A powerpoint expert tells me that complicated powerpoints are easier to set up in Microsoft's program, although they import into Impress without trouble. Free download here.

I have info about these and other common open source programs on my website at this page.

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