Want reliable, stable email program

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I am looking for a reliable, stable email program that is not Microsoft software. Their Windows Live Mail has crashed on me for the last time. I am tired of it deleting everything in my email addresses and stored folders and recovering it under a “recovered” folder. The name is always changed and folders are truncated. I am so frustrated and no longer want to use their email software. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am willing to pay for a software program as long as it is user friendly and I can import my existing folders and emails into it.

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I don’t know if Mozilla Thunderbird will do exactly what you want or not. I’ve been using it for awhile and it works fine for me. I use it to POP/SMTP Windows mail with no problems.

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I prefer Mozilla Thunderbird http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/. Its free and very reliable for me.

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Another vote for Thunderbird.

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I’ve been using Thunderbird for over three years under Win 7 (OutlookExpress before that under Win XP), and have never found any reasons to look elsewhere.

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Try Poco mail.I’ve used it for years.Wouldn’t use anything else.

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Try Poco mail.I’ve used it for years.Wouldn’t use anything else.

http://download.cnet.com/PocoMail/3000-2367_4-10028380.html

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I am now trying out an email program called eM Client. It looks a lot like Outlook Express and it is free. I am trying it out on a Win 7 and a Windows 8 machine and so far it has worked out well on both. They have a paid version but the free version allows for two email accounts and that works for me. http://www.emclient.com/

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@quaker:
Thanks for the lead to emclient. As you say, it does look a lot like both Outlook Express and, as I note, the older versions of Thunderbird. I won’t switch from Thunderbird, but with any friends who are unhappy with Windows Live Mail I’ll recommend emclient.

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I prefer Portable Thunderbird to Thunderbird. It is much easier to move around over the years since it is not installed to Windows. Just move the directory to any place you like, even a thumb drive for portable use anywhere. I even set it up to work on one directory accessed from several PCs on my home network including a Linux HTPC.

However I have never tried to import mail from other programs. (maybe one of these days I should attempt to merge all my ancient archives of Compuserve and Eudora email – I just left those programs and their emails off in an old directory)

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you want a pop 3 not an imap solution

i use eudora
downloads all emails to my pc where i control them

thunderbird may be the latest version
i got eudora 7.1 for free as a requirement to use fios
when my older paid version of eudora did not have a way to work around fios’s roadblocks

thunderbird should be good too
i just dont like upgrading to versions higher than i have to have
(if it aint broke i dont fix it)

i still have hotmail and every time they make a big change i get forked for a couple of weeks
one more time and i will find a pop3 program that will download all my imap emails onto the pc
and avoid the hassles that cowboy coders cause us

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Imap works better than POP when you want to access your your email from more than one computer or mobile device. If you only use one computer to acess email, I prefer POP.

Jerry

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imap is slow and a real pain
and you have no guarantee that they wont lose your emails

i keep ALL mine for reference
many times i have found it useful to search through old ones for some info that i needed

pop3 puts them all on my pc where i own then , control them, and can use them when i want to
much faster and easier

AND i can back them up so they dont disappear as often happens with cloud based imap storage of email

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imap is slow and a real pain
and you have no guarantee that they wont lose your emails

IMAP is quick and trouble free on my computer. The IMAP server is an automatic email backup in case of a local computer or hard drive failure.

i keep ALL mine for reference
many times i have found it useful to search through old ones for some info that i needed

You can choose to keep all your emails with Imap as well. Many IMAP emial clients also have search functions.

AND i can back them up so they dont disappear as often happens with cloud based imap storage of email

Any reference to cloud based IMAP loosing Emails? I have never experienced this but have had clients lose thier POP email because they didn’t back it up.

That said, I use POP on my ISP based email, mainl because they don’t offer IMAP and back it up. The choice of IMAP vs POP is really user preference. As I said in an earlir post, the main advantage of IMAP is that you can acess and sync your email from multiple devices. With POP, the email is suckedon to one device and is not readable on a second device unless you can set the POP server to keep a copy. This option is messy to maintain.

Jerry

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BTW – I don’t know about Live Mail but Outlook and Outlook Express both saved all their data in one big file. Big issue if it gets corrupted. Programs like Eudora and Thunderbird don’t make this mistake.

But do have a backup. Like digital photos, email tends to migrate from a casual amusement into key personal records. Its easy to set up on todays computers and external drives are cheap.

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IMAP is quick and trouble free on my computer. The IMAP server is an automatic email backup in case of a local computer or hard drive failure.

You can choose to keep all your emails with Imap as well. Many IMAP emial clients also have search functions.

Any reference to cloud based IMAP loosing Emails? I have never experienced this but have had clients lose thier POP email because they didn’t back it up.

That said, I use POP on my ISP based email, mainl because they don’t offer IMAP and back it up. The choice of IMAP vs POP is really user preference. As I said in an earlir post, the main advantage of IMAP is that you can acess and sync your email from multiple devices. With POP, the email is suckedon to one device and is not readable on a second device unless you can set the POP server to keep a copy. This option is messy to maintain.

Jerry

i have lost ALL my emails with imap when the servers crashed
and again when the provider decides to start over with new software and just plain lost (or tossed) them

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After a lot of review, I migrated to Thunderbird from Eudora when they stopped development. I migrated all the mail with it. While one may like the idea of sticking with the version that works, in today’s world, not keeping Internet applications current is inviting trouble. Old versions with unpatched flaws are red flags for hackers and viruses. I’ve seen this in action.

I also migrated many years of Palm calendar into the Thunderbird Lightening calendar plugin. That took a couple of steps. You can also sync that to things like Google calendar online if you want.

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1 more vote for Thunderbird. 🙂

I have mine setup to retrieve e-mail via POP on 4 accounts;
2 on Cox.net, 1 G-mail, and 1 work private-domain.com

Also use MozBackup weekly to save all my account settings, address books, and e-mail folders.
Been doing this for 5+ years with no problems.:D

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I have been using Mozilla Thunderbird for a number of years now and have been quite pleased with it. When I got a laptop recently I decided to try out a number of recommended email programs and one I have been using was the Mail add on for Opera’s web browser. It works fairly well but lacks a number of features that I like in Thunderbird, so I have gone back to Thunderbird on my laptop also. I have 7 different email accounts loading into Thunderbird and all work well.
Just recently I got a new desktop PC and found that I was able to bring all of my mail, Mail Accounts, saved emails and folders, address books, groups, etc to my new PC by copying the profile file from old PC to new PC. Note that I said COPY – not export/import. If using Win 7 64-bit system you will find it at C:UsersOwner (pc name)AppDataLocalThunderbirdProfiles(odd file name folder) you also need to copy C:UsersOwner (pc name)AppDataRoamingThunderbirdProfiles(odd file name folder). When you copy the folder with the number/letter file name to from the old pc to the new pc, if a file like this exists already on the new pc you will need to rename the old profile file with the new name on your new pc. You need to copy both the local and roaming profiles. When this is done, all you email accounts will already be set up, your saved mail and folders will be there and all your groups and addresses – sweet!

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I have been using Mozilla Thunderbird for a number of years now and have been quite pleased with it. When I got a laptop recently I decided to try out a number of recommended email programs and one I have been using was the Mail add on for Opera’s web browser. It works fairly well but lacks a number of features that I like in Thunderbird, so I have gone back to Thunderbird on my laptop also. I have 7 different email accounts loading into Thunderbird and all work well.
Just recently I got a new desktop PC and found that I was able to bring all of my mail, Mail Accounts, saved emails and folders, address books, groups, etc to my new PC by copying the profile file from old PC to new PC. Note that I said COPY – not export/import. If using Win 7 64-bit system you will find it at C:UsersOwner (pc name)AppDataLocalThunderbirdProfiles(odd file name folder) you also need to copy C:UsersOwner (pc name)AppDataRoamingThunderbirdProfiles(odd file name folder). When you copy the folder with the number/letter file name to from the old pc to the new pc, if a file like this exists already on the new pc you will need to rename the old profile file with the new name on your new pc. You need to copy both the local and roaming profiles. When this is done, all you email accounts will already be set up, your saved mail and folders will be there and all your groups and addresses – sweet!

Sorry to repeat myself but while it can be fairly easy to copy Thunderbird profiles, it’s even easier to just copy the whole directory of Portable Thunderbird. It is the same program but it has been changed so that you don’t have to install it into the Windows Registry. Even if you have no intention of running Thunderbird off a thumb drive, I think it’s just easier to manage in the long term if the Thunderbird directory is simply an independent directory that can be moved about at will.

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As a replacement for Outlook I installed eM Client, and with a ‘similar feel’ I quickly felt at home. I love it and strongly recomend it.

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As a replacement for Outlook I installed eM Client, and with a ‘similar feel’ I quickly felt at home. I love it and strongly recomend it.

Only 2 email accounts with the free version apparently…

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Yet another vote for Thunderbird.

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MG provides great info here for members if they need to move the installed Thunderbird from one PC to another.
I tried both portable and installed Thunderbird; and portable Firefox, Palemoon, etc.

Like edmcguirk, I prefer portable software; easy to move and backup. No install too.

Beware though, some portable apps still write to registry, create tracking cookies, and create folders/files in your PC, etc., even if you run it from an external USB drive. Some even hide tracking info in obscure folder it created.

My advise: Run it sandboxed the first time. It is supposed to only write to its own folder(s) and its own file(s) (hence ‘portable’).
For examples, one scientific calculator portable app creates tracking cookies in the C: drive to track your usage. One portable non-MS, non-Sun Office Suite writes to Registry and creates folder(s) for tracking and other purposes.

Software come full circle. In DOS days and Win3.x days, just like today’s portable software, we simply copy to move. No installation and no complex copy and move (and may even need to hack the Registry). It takes Google Linux to circle back to portable apps.

Some software can be turned into portable apps (but not all). A simple method is to use UniExtract and sandboxing. Google UniExtract for info. Google PortableApps for more portable software.

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I used Thunderbird for years but looked for another program when Mozilla stopped development on it.(It is still being supported by independents). The email clients which I tried and found worthy are: (in the order in which I liked them) 1. Pegasus Mail – free 2. Postbox – $10 3. Inscribe – free 4. eMClient – free 5. Dream Mail – free. Thunderbird is still great and I still have it on my laptop. Give them a try (as someone suggested, in a sandbox(which is how I tested them)) and maybe you will find one to your liking.
BatBytes

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I’m surprised that nobody has supported Windows Live Mail.

I’ve always found it simple, user friendly and ideal for my needs.No crashes, data loss here.

I can’t compare it to Thunderbird, which I haven’t used, but it was certainly an improvement on Outlook Express.

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I continue to use Eudora 7.1 because all the mailboxes are plain text. I never use the preview, and if an email looks “hinky” I move it to my “Questionable” mailbox, then open that mailbox in Notetab Light and strip the html so I can read the headers, real message, and any URLs. As far as I know, you can’t get hit by “drive by” malware in a plain text message. I was given Eudora and was taught this by my local computer shop when I first started using email.

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I use Thunderbird. You can option to view email in text-only mode, full HTML mode, or non-download HTML (simple HTML) mode.
[Menu-View-Message Body As]

Simple HTML and Text-only mode prevent drive-by infection (from email content).

I used to use text-only mode. This way, real link hidden behind a written name is exposed. No way to hide the secret link. However, recently, inept IT guys of my credit card company ‘improve’ their email. In that no text is shown (a blank email content as a result). Several emails to them re this seem falling into black-hole. You must use HTML mode to read the email. So now I have to use simple-HTML mode. It is not as secure as text-only mode. I have to hoover the mouse over the link to reveal the true link address. Less convenient and now I have to remind myself again ‘never click on an email link’.

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I use Thunderbird. You can option to view email in text-only mode, full HTML mode, or non-download HTML (simple HTML) mode.
[Menu-View-Message Body As]

Simple HTML and Text-only mode prevent drive-by infection (from email content).

I used to use text-only mode. This way, real link hidden behind a written name is exposed. No way to hide the secret link. However, recently, inept IT guys of my credit card company ‘improve’ their email. In that no text is shown (a blank email content as a result). Several emails to them re this seem falling into black-hole. You must use HTML mode to read the email. So now I have to use simple-HTML mode. It is not as secure as text-only mode. I have to hoover the mouse over the link to reveal the true link address. Less convenient and now I have to remind myself again ‘never click on an email link’.

I use MailWasherPro to check my email before downloading with Thunderbird. The free version of MailWasher only allows 1 account. The Pro version allows multiple accounts.

With MailWasher, you don’t see HTML. Although it does show the unmasked links.

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I use Thunderbird for all three of my personal accounts. One is POP3 and the other two are IMAP. Everything works great; I have no complaints whatsoever.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Which IMAP server? As I stated, I have never had an issue with IMAP but your millage may vary. People have lost Emails from POP as well but that is also rare.

Jerry

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I’ve used Google’s Gmail for years, and it has served me well. Its spam filter is quite good, and although it has evolved since I started using it, the evolution has been for the best overall. I have email forwarded to it from other accounts, so everything shows up in the same place, but filters identify the source account. Filters also pre-categorize email to label (allows archiving to a “folder”). Contact’s info can be pretty extensive, and if exported to a spreadsheet, consists of many columns. Allows text formatting, file attachments, photos, and other features.

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