Using Email
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Email Clients
Common Email Tasks
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Frequently Asked Questions
Further Information

Email Clients

If you decide to download your email to your local computer, you'll need an email client to view it. There are many available, and the best one to use is largely down to personal preference. A few of the more popular email clients are described below, to give you an idea of what's available. Apart from Outlook, these are all free.

They all do the basic functions (sending and receiving email, organizing it into folders, searching etc.), so unless you have specific requirements, any of them will probably meet your needs, and your choice is likely to be influenced largely by which one is already installed on your computer. Rather than delve into detailed technical reviews, what we've done below is to try to identify the key factors which might influence you to choose one over another if you do need to install one.

Outlook

Microsoft Office Outlook is a comprehensive email client integrated with a sophisticated calendar and scheduling tool. Its key advantages include:

  • Integrated scheduling tool, allowing you to see your contacts' calendars, find when they're free, and schedule meetings with them.
  • Integrated Business Contact Manager, which allows you to manage all of your contact, customer and potential customer information in one place, allowing you to be more respond to your customers.
  • Support for free Hotmail accounts using the Outlook Connector referenced in the Hotmail section.

While Outlook is a great email client, it's really targeted at high-end business and power users. If you already have, or are considering purchasing, Microsoft Office for other reasons (to use Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc.), then it makes sense to use Outlook. Otherwise, one of the other email clients below is likely to meet your needs.

Thunderbird

Thunderbird is a free, open-source email client, provided by Mozilla (who also provide the free Firefox web browser). Its key advantages include:

  • Ability to organize your messages with views, filters and tags such as “Important”, “To Do” etc.
  • Strong protection against spam and phishing.
  • Ability to customise your email client with various add-ons and custom themes (see https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird).

You can download Thunderbird from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird.

Windows Live Mail

Windows Live Mail replaces Outlook Express (on Windows XP) and Windows Mail (on Windows Vista). Its key advantages include:

  • Support for free Hotmail accounts without the need for the HotPOP3 application.
  • Integration with other Windows Live services, so for example, you can use Windows Live Messenger to begin an instant messaging session directly from your inbox.

You can download just Windows Live Mail from http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview or download all of the Windows Live services (including Windows Live Mail) from http://get.live.com.

Windows Mail

Windows Mail was the replacement for Outlook Express, and was provided free with Windows Vista. It does a pretty good job, with two exceptions:

  • It doesn't support access to free Hotmail accounts (unless you use the HotPOP3 application).
  • It doesn't support access to multiple email accounts. You can create different user accounts on your computer, and access a different email address from each of these, but this is a very cumbersome workaround.

Windows Mail has now been superceded by Windows Live Mail. Upgrading to Windows Live Mail is free, and download instructions are contained in the Windows Live Mail section above.

Outlook Express

Outlook Express is a cut-down version of Outlook, that was provided free with Windows XP. It does a pretty good job, except:

  • It doesn't support access to free Hotmail accounts (unless you use the HotPOP3 application).

Unlike the Windows Mail product that replaced it on Windows Vista, Outlook Express does support access to multiple email addresses (by adding and switching between identities).

Outlook Express has now been superceded by Windows Live Mail. Upgrading to Windows Live Mail is free, and download instructions are contained in the Windows Live Mail section above.

More Information

If you want more details on these or other available email clients, then a good resource is the Wikipedia page on Comparison of e-mail clients.

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Common Email Tasks