Readers Respond: Which Free Windows Email Program Do You Use?

Responses: 144

By Heinz Tschabitscher, About.com Guide

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(Continued from Page 3)

I was forced like many others to switch to Live from OE. Bad move MS, removing OE and making the Live client. I had difficulties doing the simplest things. I'm not a novice at computers so things shouldn't be difficult. One issue is getting contacts imported or even added manually. The process is not intuitive. I have domain addys and a couple hotmail addys to manage. For some reason Live wants me to sign into messenger. Its not even installed. Why do I need a sign in assistant program?? The clincher.... somehow one of my hotmail accounts was used to spam my contacts list, 90% of which were not stored locally. When I logged into Hotmail web interface and deleted contacts from both accounts it also wiped the contacts in the Live client. What the.... ?? I tried to start a new blank email, clicked the "To" button and up popped my blank hotmail contacts list. Hotmail is NOT my default account and the contact list should NOT be stored online at all. I'm searching for a new client.
—Guest Anthony

In reading through these posts it has become clear to me that "e-mail program" means different things to different people. Some want all the bells & whistles, e.g. calendar, whilst others want a simple "e-mail only" client. In the work environment we used to use "Microsoft Outlook" but changed to "Lotus Notes" (a multi-user client-server application environment) around 2002. In my private life, after initially using "Microsoft Outlook", I settled on Pegasus Mail. It supports SMTP, POP3, IMAP4, LDAP and PH, is very secure, has excellent spam protection and is not resource-hungry. I work daily on two operating systems, "Windows XP" and "Ubuntu Linux". As a bonus, I have been able to get Pegasus running under Linux by means of "Wine", a Windows compatibility layer. Perhaps the answer is for each person carefully to define his or her requirements and then search for a replacement for the current program that is buggy, no longer available or whatever.
—Guest Rodney Gray

I use Windows Live, and I am experiences problems forwarding emails with embedded images. I receive them but when I forward them the contact receives a blank square with an x in the corner. I have tried to contact them on the problem and got no response. It has been crashing more often and keeps flipping safe senders to Blocked list without my knowledge. It runs very slow. Not at all impressed with service or technical support.
—Seritoga

I use Pop Peeper supports up to 15 email color coded accounts works good it is evolving slowly runs on Windows 7X64 fine too no problems a little touchy to configure but its Good!
—Guest jdjones

I downloaded Thunderbird this afternoon, set up my account (had to enter the name of my inwards server manually as TB didn't find it) and tried to just send a message and receive mail. The sent message worked in that it went and was received, but Thunderbird couldn't put a copy in my Sent folder because ... there is no Sent folder and no way of setting one up. in fact the only folder on view is the Inbox. Wonderful. I then tried to receive mail. Sent a message from our other address on our Mac, and ... nothing arrived. So I clicked 'Get mail' and Thunderbird said that it couldn't do that because "rosehopkin@talktalk.net isn't an IMAP4 mail server". Too damn right it's not - it's my account name, you useless bug-ridden ****. Two absolutely fundamental bugs in the first two things i attempted, rendering the app useless for it's basic purposes. Now to see if there's a way of uninstalling it that actually works: fingers crossed.
—Guest Rosemary

I much prefer Sylpheed after having gone through Tbird, PostBox, Windows Live Mail, Windows Mail and Opera with Windows 7. It's much lighter than Outlook but has great email functions and display. It also works really fast and efficiently. Eudora may well be the next best or equally good choice for many, but I really like the Sylpheed option. http://sylpheed.sraoss.jp/en/
—Guest Doug Robinson

I tried this program after reading tones of reviews and personally trying many alternatives of OE. I switched to Windows Live Mail but when i tried eM Mail i had no hesitation to switch again. Plus, it imported/converted all of my emails and contacts automatically. Give it a go, and see how responsive and full with clever futures eM Mail is.
—Guest Crozz

Windows Mail which comes free with Vista is the buggiest software I have ever used. To start with, you have to close the program and open it again in order to Send. And it gets worse the longer you use it.
—Guest Philip

I have my own website/domain name. Using T-bird. I am overwhelmed with spam: 5-600 dumb emails a day. Who can tell me the one email client that handles spam without losing good messages? HELP!
—Guest David

Thunderbird is fast because [extra features] aren't baked in at the factory. Look around, and you will find the accessories you are missing. I'd be using it today if I could sync it to my PDA (running Windows mobile). I'm in the market for a new cell phone and the next one WILL sync to T-Bird on XP -and- Linux. That is a deal-maker requirement.
—Guest BC in DET

For all who miss OE (yech) and can't find another, or those who can't get T-Bird to work with W7....TRY EUDORA! (www.Qualcomm.com - start typing Eudora in Search box and links will appear below) This program was light years ahead of all the others 18 years ago, and even tho it's no longer supported, it works beautifully in W7, Vista, XP, ME...etc, and 64bit is not an issue either. It's comprehensive, compact, does everything you need and much more in a very nice GUI (fully dockable), handles large attachments with ease, multiple personalities a snap, and stationary too. Give this a try and you will NOT be sorry!
—Guest DaveC.

I also have been a big fan of Eudora because it's so flexible and easy to customize. I'm still using 7.1 until the Open Source Edition has been out a while longer and the bugs get completely worked out, but I'm sure I'll switch at some point.
—Guest Joe

I just upgraded to WIN 7 and using WLM. I hate it! It deletes my msgs for no reason. It keeps sending me SPAM, even though I block it. I use Norton Security and it does not support WLM. Because of this, I cannot import my address book and my blocked list doesn't automatically import to my Norton program. However, NIS does protect my system. Will Norton work with any of these mail programs mentioned here? I read all 84 responses and I am still unsure as to any switch. I was impressed with Thunderbird, until I read "Thunderbird won't work with pop server". I was thinking to buy MS Outlook 2010. Can anyone give any feedback on this? I don't want to waste approx. $200, if I still have problems with my mail. Thanks!
—Guest Rosieshouse

I am a die-hard Eudora fan. I've used Eudora since before the beginning and even bought the last go-round before it went open source. I tried just about every program on this email.about.com page and they all sucked! But PocoMail is better than Eudora! Well, OK, maybe not better but it has some of the same features and is the best client I've found for Winders 7. w0ot!
—Guest uhclem