A good email program?

[a nameless entity]

I used to use Mozilla's Thunderbird, but when I had it do and automatic update to version 3.0.8 back around last October, it blew itself up. I could no longer get mail with it. Apparently the same problem suddenly happened to thousands of other users also.

To make a long story short during my struggles to get it to let me download my mail from the ISP's server, the password it needs got corrupted. There was no easy way to reset it. And it failed anyway. So I decided to wait for version 3.2.0
But I broke down, and just tried to install version 3.1.10
Read about it here:
http://www.excalibur-holland.net/nuke/m ... 2d0f#14684

Way back when, I used Outlook Express. Then I went back to it after Thunderbird blew up. But I heard that Microsoft stopped supporting Outlook Express. Is that true? I certainly have not seen any updates for it from Microsoft for ages and ages.

If so, I would like to use a good email program. I am familiar with Thunderbird, but have just about given up on it. Mozilla's knowledge bases or whatever it is they call them are useless to non geeks. I have no idea wtf they are talking about. Their use of jargon is annoying, as is their assumption that everyone who reads that stuff has a phd in computer programming.
Their walk-throughs are incomplete, and poorly done, when they exist at all. They claim that the latest version of Thunderbird is easier to use than ever. That's total bs. Nowadays you can't even get to settings pages to edit stuff. There's just no way to do it.

Any suggestions?

[Hook]

I still use Outlook Express on my old comp - works Great.
(a very old version from 2000)
Who needs updates?

[David]

I still use Outlook Express on my old comp - works Great.
(a very old version from 2000)
Who needs updates?

Same here... I like Outlook Express. I am used to it and like it.

[Hermskii]

Yeah, I used to use Outlook Express but it finally became too weak for me so I upgraded it to Outlook which is part of the Microsoft Office suite. Since I know that is not readily available to everyone I would say to upgrade you Outlook Express. Yes Outlook Express no longer exist. It did morphe into something else though. While it was usable, I needed features it still didn't offer. If I recall, it morphed into Microsoft Web Mail. There was a way that you could push or upload all your stuff to it too so you didn't loose anything. I used it for a short while then pulled everything back into Outlook once I made the decision. I used to do all my personal stuff on Outlook and my gamer email on Outlook Express.

I think Outlook Express went away with Vista and Microsoft mail came into being to shortly be replaced by Microsoft Web Mail. I'll have to research it but anybody can easily with the quetion in Google what happened to OE or Outlook Express.

Here is one quick answer: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 555AAABDnH

Here is an even better answer Nameless: http://blog.pennlive.com/technology-cor ... _gone.html


I hope this helps. Gee! I feel like POTS by providing this useful information! By the way, gmail is another easy alternative. Half the planet is likely not wrong using it.

[*POTS*]

Yes Outlook Express no longer exist. It did morphe into something else though.

The successor of Outlook Express is Windows Live Mail which is part of the Windows Live Essential suite. You can import all of your old contacts from OE to WLM.
The good thing about WLM is the fact you can manage multiple e-mail accounts way better than with the old OE, since it keeps them separated.
The reason why I know this is cause I'm using it on my new laptop running Win7.

Gee! I feel like POTS by providing this useful information!

[Helen]

Newer isn't always better! In the software world, programs peak, and then go downhill as the makers have to come up with some reason for you to get the latest, but they just start making it worse.

IMO, Thunderbird's version 3 and later is its start of the downhill snowball.

I reverted to the last version of Thunderbird 2, kept my existing mail, turned off updates - no more worries.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Hook]

Helen - Perfect! (I agree)
My Outlook is old version 6. (works fast and simple with plenty of options)

[Hermskii]

I recall being shocked when OE6 was discontinued. It had done well for me but after a while, I just needed the strength of Outlook had over Outlook Express. I like the calendar features, the reminders the search engine and all of the other bells and whistles.

Don't get me wrong. If I had to keep using OE6 I could have but it was too easy to import everything into Outlook and just make another account. Now when I launch Outlook it ask me which profile I want to open being mine or Hermskii's.

It actually wasn't easy when I look back. I had to upgrade to the new program, then upgrade to the next new program then set up my current Outlook and import in everything from what was the twice upgraded Outlook Express account.

[a nameless entity]

Well I have given up on Thunderbird, and decided to stick with Outlook Exprss even though it is no longer supported. I actually do have Outlook on this computer too. But I have it tied to another account. To be honest, my attempts to create another account on Outlook didn't go so well way back when, and I actually liked using different programs for different accounts anyway. For a non geek it was the only way I could get things to work. So it suits me perfectly to this day. Mostly...

Tonight I composed a very long and important email about a local issue on my Outlook Express account. I sent a copy to both my local and regional councilors. I was planning to send a copy to the local paper too. It took me 1.5 hours to write. When I hit the send button on both emails, my hard drive made some noise and that was it. I saw nothing about the message going out. And guess what: Neither copy is in my drafts box, sent box, or out box. So both of them are GONE. And I used the copy and paste function for something else, so I have lost the message from my clip board also. I have no idea if they got the emails, but suspect they did not, because my boxes are empty. 1.5 hours down the drain? Damn! I sure hope I am wrong. I even called the tech department of ISP to see if they had the messages sitting on their mail server, but apparently that only works for incoming mail, they don't hold the outgoing mail at all. Bah!

This is actually the 3rd time that OE has given me trouble this last week or so. The last two times I had to hit "send" twice to get emails to go out. This time though, who knows what happened.

So I am pissed off again, and wondering which email program I should replace OE with again.

[a nameless entity]

(See the above reply before reading this one)
Ok it appears that they did go out after all. Well that's good! But now I must ask my councilor to send it back to me so that I can forward it to the local rag.

I want something better!

Edit:
Well thank goodness for getting your whole email back in a reply. So now I have a copy for my records.
But it seems that the matter is almost entirely a Federal level problem, and there is little that can be done at the local level. So now I must complain to my member of parliament, who is unfortunately a member of the Conservative Party, and they just won a huge majority in the recent election. So I'm not sure if I'll get more than just a condescending reply. I will soon see what this guy that I did not vote for is made of.

But let me repeat:

I want something better!

[Hermskii]

Did you see the gmail option I mentioned? I'm happy for you that you got your email sent and now have a copy of it from the reply. Going forward you may want to write the email in a word doc and then attach it to an email and send it. That way you can't ever lose your work. I would have been soooooo mad! Again, I'm glad it worked out for you!

[a nameless entity]

Thanks for the suggestion Herm, but as far as I know gmail and hotmail are essentially the same thing, so I don't see the point of gmail since I already have a hotmail account. Also my brother gave me a copy of "Mailwasher Pro" and it's easier to check for spam when you only use the pop3 accounts at the ISP's server. Mailwasher got all upset with hotmail and wanted me to change settings in my anti virus, which I wouldn't do. And since my brother paid good money for mailwasher, AND I am ignorant as well as lazy, things are stayin' just as they are.

Hell, I don't even know what the "CC" window in an email compose form is for.

[Hermskii]

CC = Carbon Copy.

This is a feature used most often in business. It lets you show the person you email something to that other people got the same email. It is a cover your butt feature in my opinion in the work place. Your boss tells you that nobody is getting a raise and your boss wants you to break the bad news to everyone so you compose a new email and put everyone in the to box that needs to get the message and you put your boss in the CC box so they get a copy of what you sent also and see you did what you were told to do.

I used this feature in Project Management often. It helps to keep everyone on the same page and it covers your butt when someone would have liked to say they never got the email even though the other 5 you sent it to did.

BCC = Blind Carbon Copy

Use this when you send an email to someone and you want to prove you sent it to someone else without the real recipiant to know. Example: I send you an email saying I'm going to BAN you for cussing on the servers. I BCC that email to HOOK. You reply and say to leavre you alone and that I'm a jerk. I reply to you with a BCC to HOOK again saying change your ways or else. You cuss more on the servers and I ban you off the servers. You then go onto the forum and complain I never warned you. Well, at that point I have proof and so does HOOK that you are lying.

I have all of my email since 1998 both work and personal. I use the BCC feature all of the time. I record every phone conversation I have. I record everything. All of the time! It has saved my butt countless times to do it so I do it.

[a nameless entity]

Ah ty Herm. I always thought that CC might be the field for the address of someone else you wanted to send the email to, but didn't know what "CC" stood for. Heh, young people probably wonder why it's called a "carbon" copy.

I had no idea that a BCC even existed. I just had a look at my Outlook email program, and I found the window to open to use that, but it wasn't obvious how to actually get it to work. I suppose I should read a manual. If I ever have a need for that BCC, I will.

Edit: OK I just went and checked with Outlook Express. I see now. You're supposed to put everyone's email in your contact list. Then you just click and click again. Nice, except I never tried to keep a contact list, in order to prevent any email virus I might ever pick up from using my address book to send itself on to more people. I thought I was doing that in Outlook Express also, but apparently not, because I DO have a contact list in there.

Actually in the local matter that turned out to be a Federal jurisdiction, my regional councilor asked me "to copy her" in my email to my Federal MP. I wasn't sure if she meant copy and paste what she said or send her a copy of what I sent or what. Now I guess she wanted a CC or a BCC. Maybe she wants to see if I get a different kind of answer from the Federal level guy than she would.

[a nameless entity]

IMO, Thunderbird's version 3 and later is its start of the downhill snowball.

I reverted to the last version of Thunderbird 2, kept my existing mail, turned off updates - no more worries.

Great! But what is the last version of Thunderbird 2? I found a site that still has 2.024. Is that the last one?