Good email reader?

[slackerinabox]

Installed Windows Live Essentials and it oddly messed up Outlook 2007 - there are new panes and search features that slow things down and actually make navigating more confusing.

What's a sleek, quick, and visually attractive mail reader? I've used thunderbird but also find it a little sluggish. I love mail on my iMac and figure there's a simple equivalent on Windows...

I don't need corporate calendar, a complex address book, etc. Just a good mail reader that's lightweight and looks 2010 (vs. the last version of eudora I tried that felt like a 1993 win 3.1 app).

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I, too, wonder what alternative might suffice. I was stunned when importing mail accounts that it treats each mail account like an individual identity with its own Inbox, Sent Items, etc. folders. I'm not sure if I'll be able to export from this, or if a 3rd party solution can import from WLE.

 

[slackerinabox]

I, too, wonder what alternative might suffice. I was stunned when importing mail accounts that it treats each mail account like an individual identity with its own Inbox, Sent Items, etc. folders. I'm not sure if I'll be able to export from this, or if a 3rd party solution can import from WLE.

It's AWFUL, isn't it? I hate the "related emails" section that's usually wrong, always slows down opening messages (even if you hide the window), and actually makes reading emails more confusing. It's maddening!

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I'm sure the wife will accuse me of trying to mess with her.

 

[slackerinabox]

I'm sure the wife will accuse me of trying to mess with her.

Hah- my wife's the same - "stop changing things!"

 

[Homerboy]

I know you said you don't like it, but I LOVE the latest thunderbird.
Eudora.... LOL... that takes me back!

 

[alkemyst]

I like Pegasus. (www.pmail.com), just installed it on my latest Win7 build and migrated all my mail with a simple copy and paste.

 

[jaqie]

Thunderbird works great for me.

 

[slackerinabox]

Installed the otherwise cheesy incredimail (cartoony's the word), and oddly like the interface - reminds me of outlook express from back in the day

 

[GaryJohnson]

What's a sleek, quick, and visually attractive mail reader?

Gmail.

 

[jaqie]

GMail's web interface especially lately is *ANYTHING* but quick. I switched to thunderbird recently to access my gmail account because it was so mindbendingly frustratingly slow.

 

[Homerboy]

GMail's web interface especially lately is *ANYTHING* but quick. I switched to thunderbird recently to access my gmail account because it was so mindbendingly frustratingly slow.

I agree.
While gmail.com is fine for accessing your email in different locations, on the fly etc, when I'm at home/work I want an actual CLIENT that is powerful, slick and responsive. Honestly, I'm still sticking with Thunderbird (3,1 just released!)

 

[lxskllr]

I agree.
While gmail.com is fine for accessing your email in different locations, on the fly etc, when I'm at home/work I want an actual CLIENT that is powerful, slick and responsive. Honestly, I'm still sticking with Thunderbird (3,1 just released!)

I haven't found a webmail interface I like yet. I've been using Tbird for years, and am completely happy with it. Bonus points for it being open source, so my mail will never be held hostage by a proprietary app.

 

[Homerboy]

I haven't found a webmail interface I like yet. I've been using Tbird for years, and am completely happy with it. Bonus points for it being open source, so my mail will never be held hostage by a proprietary app.

agreed (again)
Like I said, I use the GMail interface when I need to (at a friends house, on the netbook at home etc) but when I'm at one of MY computers, then its a client. TBird rocks.

 

[jaqie]

ironically I have always hated email clients and always used the webmail clients ever since I had yahoo and its limit was 2.5MB, then I got gmail when it was invite only and stayed with it... but in the last year or so their web interface has been ungodly choke-me slow, so I finally re-tried Tbird and found that in the years since I have had to use it it has become much better, so I'm sticking with it.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

agree with some others here, the newest thunderbird is great.. the 3.x versions have been a huge improvement!!!

 

[slackerinabox]

ok, will try out tb

 

[coolVariable]

outlook. best program from MS hands down.

 

[Mallomar]

PMJI. I just got a new computer with Win 7, and need to find an e-mail program ASAP. I was using Eudora on my old XP PC, but I'm not gonna try to run it in Win 7.

I installed Thunderbird, but cannot get all of my e-mail accounts to work. I have several accounts with different hosts.

I spent over a hour on the phone with a tech support guy just to get ONE of my accounts to work. He was almost as mystified as I was.

Another account won't work -- I get an inscrutable error message when I try to Get Mail:

"An error occurred with the POP3 mail server. Mail server mail.[domainname].net responded:"

(but there's nothing underneath but the OK button, so I don't know what the mail server meant to say to me)

Another account can send but not receive. I know there are messages to receive, because I see them when I check the account via webmail.

I hate webmail so that's not an option.

Unless someone knows the magic solution for using Thunderbird, I need to find another e-mail program. It doesn't have to be free. I don't mind paying for software that works. I need a program that can automatically check e-mail for several different accounts, and each account needs to be configured separately (different ports, etc.).

I've seen Outlook, Pegasus and Incredimail mentioned. What's my best bet?

Thanks.

 

[lxskllr]

Make sure the ports and the encryption standards are set correctly. I'm not fluent enough to walk you through it, but those are 2 common areas of failure. I use Tbird with Comcast and Gmail. I haven't tried other accounts.

 

[TheStu]

I last tried Thunderbird maybe 9 months or so ago I think, can anyone say if that was pre or post 3.0?

When I did try it out, it was sluggish, ugly, and not confusing per se, but certainly not simple. This is coming from Outlook (which I am happy to use) and OS X Mail (which I also am happy to use and prefer).

Windows Live Mail, also crap. Eudora, super crap. I wanted to use Outlook 2010 Beta, but it crashed all the time.

If Thunderbird 3.0 is improved then I may give it another try. My simple requirements are IMAP, window appearance (needs to match the OS well), and when I hit DELETE on a message, it had better immediately disappear. Aside from that, it is all just feel.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

WLM still has hostage on 3-5 days worth of my wife's email. I can't export it to anything non-M$. I d/l and tried to import from Tbird 3.1 and it cannot import messages from WLM.

Exactly how the Tbird project thinks it will migrate W7 users over from Windows Live Mail is beyond me. Strangely enough, It can handle account settings and contacts, but not the actual messages. Seems like a Mozilla misfocus effort.

 

[lxskllr]

That's what happens when you use proprietary applications. I switched to Tbird years ago due to that exact reason. Earthlink's email app held my mail, and it was a real PITA to get it out. With open source I'll always have access to my mail. If they go in a direction I don't agree with, I can recode it, or pay someone to do it for me. It's free for me to use as I please.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Actually, I'm somewhat embarrassed because the solution was so easy. Open Windows Live Mail, highlight messages, and drag to folder on desktop or somewhere on your hard drive. Open non-WLM client and drag from folder directly into Inbox. I tried this with Thunderbird and it work fine.

In the words of Home, Doh!

 

[slackerinabox]

One annoying problem I'm having with Thunderbird 3.1 is moments of 100% CPU utilization, even if I quit the program ( I have to kill the task). I read it's a but and has to do with IMAP accounts with tons of email (I never delete email). Still trying to find a solution on the windows end.

I just installed snow leopard on my iMac and am going to give Apple's built in email app a try again, since thunderbird 3.1 for os/x has been sluggish as heck.