Best Free Email Client

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Email programs today are a much more sophisticated breed than they used to be. In addition to simply sending and receiving email, they now can manage your contacts and calendar, read news groups and RSS newsfeeds, and even integrate with various web-based mail systems like GMail and Hotmail. MS Outlook revolutionized email and made it more user friendly, but there are programs now available that don't add bloat to your system and are much more secure.

Mozilla Thunderbird is a free open source POP and IMAP email client developed by Mozilla.org, the same folks who brought you Firefox. Feature-wise it sits somewhere between Outlook Express and Outlook, which means that it offers an upgrade to Express users and a downgrade to those who use the more advanced PIM features of Outlook. Additional features can be added through free extensions. Notable among these is Webmail, an extension that allows POP3 access to webmail services operated by Yahoo, Hotmail, Lycos, MailDotCom, Gmail and Libero. Thunderbird email files can be indexed by the Google, Yahoo! and Copernic desktop search programs.

Outlook Express users should seriously consider switching. You’ll be rewarded with a more advanced product with these features:

  • built-in spam filtering and RSS reader
  • message color coding
  • fast email search
  • anti-phishing measures
  • spell check as you type
  • inbox filters
  • Kerberos authentication
  • automatic updates
  • the ability to view your mail in conversational threads.

On top of that, the product is more secure than Outlook Express and, unlike the latter, is still being actively developed. Switching is made easier by the fact that Thunderbird looks and works similar to Outlook Express. Tools within Thunderbird also allow you to easily import your Outlook Express account settings and stored email. If you need assistance, there is an excellent guide from Mozilla available for download in the "Product Specifications" section below.

If you want an alternative to Thunderbird then try Foxmail. Despite the name it is not related to Firefox, but comes out of China. It's an impressive product with features that match or exceed Thunderbird's, and it's also very easy to use. My only real beef is the quality of the help files. Yes, they have been translated to English, but rather poorly; so poorly that they are actually quite amusing. Foxmail also lacks support for the IMAP protocol, which may be a turn-off for some people. If you don't need IMAP and are savvy enough to figure out the program yourself, Foxmail is worthy of consideration. It's a top product with eight million users world-wide, and it's a real alternative to Thunderbird. If you need help there's a good FAQ available in the "Product Specifications" Section.

Another good option that many people are not aware of is in the web browser Opera. The folks at Opera call it their "M2 Mail Client". Though there is no calendar in this program as in Outlook (it wasn't meant to compete with Outlook anyway), it is still quite powerful. This built-in e-mail client is a combined e-mail database, news reader, mailing list organizer and RSS news feed reader, and it supports both POP3 and IMAP protocols. My experience with it was quite pleasant. It was easy to set up, very intuitive to use, and it easily found any contact I had ever had email correspondence with. Overall, it's a very nice product.

Subscirber Shane Diamond suggested I take a look at DreamMail, and I'm glad I did. DreamMail has a lot of the features of Foxmail but goes a step further. What makes it unique is its ability to set up both standard POP3 accounts and access to web-based email accounts from within its interface. This is an excellent feature for those of you who have both a POP3 account and a GMail or Hotmail account and, frankly, it blew me away. The program is also skinable and extremely customizable. Like Foxmail, the current version of DreamMail is limited because it only supports POP3 and has no support for IMAP, but there is talk about adding that feature into the next version. It has a great support forum in multiple languages, and is an excellent product overall.

Product Specifications:

Mozilla Thunderbird
Website: http://www.mozilla.org/
Download page: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/
Author: Mozilla Corp.
Current version: 2.0.0.14
Version date: 5/1/2008
License: Freeware - Mozilla Public License
Download file size: 6.4 MB
Operating systems supported: Windows 98-Vista, Mac OS-X, Various Linux Distros
Additional software required: None
64 Bit version available: Yes - Avalable here
Portable version available: Yes 0- Available here
Non-English languages supported: Many - Available here
Other relevant information:

Foxmail:
Website: http://fox.foxmail.com.cn/
Download page: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/E-mail/E-mail-Clients/Foxmail.shtml
Author: Foxmail
Current version: 6.5 beta
Version date: 9/25/2007
License: Freeware
Download file size: 5.44 MB
Operating systems supported: Windows 95-Vista
Additional software rquired: None
64 Bit version available: Unknown
Portable version available: No
Non-English languages supported: Chinese
Other relevant information:

  • FoxMail English FAQ: http://www.hazeleger.net/psjs_faqs/index.html
  • Note: If after installing, the program comes up in Chinese, all you have to do is delete the file chinese.lgb in the installation folder.
  • Developer's website is in Chinese.
Opera (M2 Mail Client)
Website: http://www.opera.com/
Download page: http://www.opera.com/download/
Author: Opera Software
Current version: 9.25
Version date: 1/15/2008
License: Free
Download file size: 4.7 MB
Operating systems supported: Windows 95-Vista, Mac OS 7.5-OS X, Various Linux Distros, OS/2, QNX, Various mobile phones, and Palm OS 5
Additional software rRequired: None
64 Bit version available: Unknown
Portable version available: Yes - Available here
Non-English languages supported: Many - Available via downloadable language files
Other relavent information:
DreamMail
Website: http://www.dreammail-europe.org/
Download page: http://www.dreammail-europe.org/index.php?action=download&lang=en
Author: The DreamMail Team
Current version: 4.4.1.0
Version date: 7/16/2007
License: Freeware
Download file size: 5 MB
Operating systems supported: Windows 98-Vista
Additional software required: Windows Vista users have to download the file , "DHTMLEdit" available here: http://www.dreammail-europe.org/download/vista_DhtmlEd.msi
64 Bit version available: No
Portable version available: Yes - Available here
Non-English languages supported: French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Chinese
Other Relevant Information: None



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