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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. |
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 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:
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.
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3.0 
Unrestricted Freeware 
Windows 98-Vista, Mac OS-X, Various Linux Distros
Portable version available
This software category is maintained by volunteer editor Joe Bennett. Registered site visitors can contact Joe by clicking here.
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I've been using T-Bird for awhile now, but it just seems to keep becoming slower and more of a memory hog. With the latest 3.x, it's become a lot less intuitive and convenient as well. So I decided to look around for something else.
Just over the past week, I've been using ClawsMail, which is a client that was originally based on Sylpheed and is now included in the GnuPG package. It took a little effort to get it working correctly with my gmail accounts, but it was worth the effort (in my mind, at least). The RAM footprint is around 1/3 of what T-Bird 3.x is. And it seems to be MUCH faster and more responsive.
I don't know if there's a Mac port. But it's definitely available for Windows, Linux, BSD, and Solaris for sure.
http://www.claws-mail.org/
Has anyone tried or have experience with Eudora?
yes. using XP and the new version 7.01.09 refuses to start after the first time. have to re-boot to get it to launch. Have used Eudora for year and this is the first problems. plan to remove it as soon as I can find a suitable standalone replacement.
I've been using Eudora since the mid 1990's and currently use the last formal version that they released 7.1.0.9
Problem is that I am still to find an email client that comes even close to Eudora in functionality and certain features like attachment control that is important to me. I think I must have tried about half a dozen alternatives.... none have impressed me thus far :(
Try this new BETA release.
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Eudora_Releases
Basically it's Thunderbird ver 3.0b4, and I think that whilst Thunderbird is a decent product, it has a way to go before one could consider it a stable and mature product. I continue to watch Thunderbird closely.... but for now Eudora is still more robust and with a better feature set!
Dreammail beats them all, and is now being actively developed and updated.
Updated or not I believe that Dreammail is still without a spell check which for a lot of people (me included) is a major consideration. Please correct me if I've got this wrong.
your comment stopped me in my tracks, then i remembered TinySpell which runs in the background of any text program checking your spelling as you type. I tried it on DreamMail and it works nicely. http://tinyspell.m6.net/
I went through this list of email programs and about 4 more (perhaps 8 in all) and so far am sticking with Dream Mail. It doesn't try to be everything under the sun (like Thunderbird-calendar, task list+ tons of add-ons), it's just an easy to use efficient and headache free program that does one thing very well. Best features, Intuitive, downright easiest to setup email accounts, easy on the eyes, low resource use so i keep it running all the time, portable version, lots of cool templates to bring back the fun in email.
Tried Thunderbird, was happy for along time, till i realized i was spending more time managing emails than I was with the content.
Thanks for posting this. I was actually aware of Tinyspell and had tried it with DreamMail but found it a bit limited. For now though I'm completely sold on Seamonkey. Apart from odd times using SRWare Iron I'm using both the browser and email components all day and can't fault either.
I've used Thunderbird since 2003 or so but am growing a little tired of trying Thunderbird 3 every time someone tells me how wonderful it is. Testing with the portable version automatically tries to download and index the entire contents of my gmail account and there appears to be no way of turning off that so called "feature" and lightning, previously one of Tbird's most useful extensions, still doesn't work properly even after following numerous sets of instructions on how to sync the nightly build of lightning with gmail. The instructions do however tell how to make every calendar entry appear three times.
There is an option to have T-Bird only sync every so many days, or only the most recent emails. Poke around and you should find it. I had the same problem, but have now fixed it.
An IMAP account should not require "syncing"
The mozilla thunderbird client wouldn't work on my pc
Same here,thunderbird 3 will not work on windows 7 64 bit.trying to write emails the text is all scrambled up.version 2 works fine so cant be 64bit problem./
I have been using T-Bird for weeks now on Win 7 64 bit. There is also a 64 bit version. Google for it.
I have Thunderbird 3 running on 7 Ultimate 64 bit with no problems.
Is it the 64 bit version? If so, perhaps you might to create a user contributed article and share it with us :)
Best regards,
Rik Mayell - Category Editor, Best Free Windows 7 / Vista 64 bit Software
See Rik's post here:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/freeware-forum/freeware-installation-and...
Thunderbird works on everyone's computer, even those running Linux, unless some sort of system problem, security setting or misconfiguration is preventing it. If yaz wanna post a bit more detail here in the forum we'll try and figure out why yours wasn't happy.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/freeware-forum/general-computer-support/
Dreammail is reliable, fast and easy. It is now being developed again and there was another update a couple of days ago. Works on Windows 7.
I prefer SpiceBird....I know it is still in beta, but it is a nice derivative of Thunderbird that comes with the Lightning add-on built into it. Give it a try and post back your comments. It has other functionality built into it including Google gadget capability. I think Thunderbird should take a long hard look at what Spicebird has accomplished in design and functionality.
Spicebird, nice remake of Thunderbird, very buggy though. will wait for a more stable version.
Pegasus mail is the oldest windows email system and one of the most capable and reliable. It does have its quirks - one of the hazards of pioneering. But for power and capability, nothing comes close for any platform. http://pmail.com
The BEST IS OPERA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i like OPERA !!!
Windows LIVE and OPERA = MAIL !!! lol
I loved Opera and swore by it, until I realized all my browsing problems were related to it. I was very sad, I really liked Opera, switched to any other browser and the sites worked, had to quit Opera. If they ever get the browser right, it will be the ultimate.
I used to think that Opera was the best for an integrated browser but since more of the Firefox extensions have become available for Seamonkey I much prefer this. The only possible drawback for some is that the latest Seamonkey won't copy & paste text if you have McAfee Site Advisor installed on your computer for use with another browser. Strange but true.
http://www.seamonkey-project.org/
Thunderbird 3 is out and having only been able to test it from a slow connection thus far, I'm inclined to say it does not work with gmail.
Thus far, it never finishes loading the inbox, it won't allow opening any of the other folders (labels), and it has a new tabbed interface and a couple of other features that take up excess screen real estate.
Is anyone switching to Tbird 3 and if so is it working for other people?
Works just fine with my GMail.
TB 3 is junk. Asks for master password even if you don't use, and will not work without password that does not exist! Stay with 2.0
agree!
Thunderbird 3 too many bugs. Can't reply to senders only get garbage and then the text disappears. Then it happened when I tried to write new emails. Uninstalled it and will wait for a month or two until bugs are fixed.
I've been using Thunderbird 3 since it was in Beta on x 64 Vista and now on Windows 7 and haven't had one single bad issue.
Me too
Source of these problems appears to be when Thunderbird fails to exit when the program is closed. It works fine once killed via Process Explorer then restarted.
I'm not sure what you are talking about gmail works perfectly in thunderbird 3. thunderbird 3 i find has much better support for gmail than previous versions.
Never had any issues myself. Works great, much faster than version 2. The only issues I have right now is 75% of my add-ons don't work, but I'm sure those will be updated shortly. Gmail IMAP works fine.
Well like so many others, I have trashed V. 3. It is a dog.
Teemarsh
But Evolution is big. When it installed on my XP machine it took 240MB and then worked veeeery slow. Uninstalled it few minutes later. In Ubuntu it is my preferred email client. Strange with this windows version.
Piotr
I wonder if any of you experts can help. I currently use Outlook Express but have problems with stationary that I send to clients along with normal text.
When they reply the screen shows multiple copies of the stationary obscuring the text etc. Is this a known problem and how can I fix it? I read with great interest the review and comments regarding Thunderbird but again I need to import stationary into Thunderbird that I currently am using. Is this possible?
Thanks for any assistance and fantastic site.
Mozilla Thunderbird all the way! The additional plug-ins that you can add to this client are very flexible! You can add your free based Hotmail and Yahoo web based accounts to Thunderbird once the needed plug-ins are installed. Top notch e-mail client!
I use a desktop mail client to access my mail from home, and a really impressive Silverlight based mail client to access my mail from everywhere else:
http://silvermail.com.au
It is a simple mail client, ie, it doesn't have any of the bells and whistles... it is quite handy when checking my mail when I am not at home (at the office, on holidays etc...).
Simon Mailor.
Has anyone tried "Sylpheed",.. I haven't read any reviews and I'm curious to know how it stacks up.
Sylpheed is great! Truly lightweight email client w/o the Thunderbird bloat...
I tried Sylpheed on Linux and really liked it. Doesn't compare to my preferred client Evolution but then it's not designed to. For anyone just wanting a lightweight, simple to setup and understand program though this is well worth considering. I would certainly use it if I didn't have a need for the other features in Evolution.
hello MC
2 times I tried to install evolution email for testing but it will not execute
Appearantly it has a windows version , but somehow this cannot be ibstalled
Do you have any recommendations or hints, please?
Qeqe
Unless you have a conflict with some of your system settings this issue may have been caused by the Evolution installer itself. I don't know how long it's been since you last tried this but the last two upgrades have both included improvements to the installer. This version is from July 7th.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/E-mail/E-mail-Clients/Evolution-fo...
Thanks for your advice Midnight Cowboy,..I guess that everybodys needs are different and what suits one person doesn't necessarily suit another. I've been using Thunderbird for a couple of years now with no problems but I like to look outside the square every now and again to see if there's anything better.
You're right. I too was a Thunderbird user but always felt the resource use a little too high which on my previous system was a real concern. I discovered Foxmail at that point and then Evolution when I dual booted my new PC with Ubuntu. For me the layout of Evolution works with mail, notes, tasks, calendar etc., all in one place. I'd also use it on my Windows partition as there is a version available but unfortunately it doesn't support x64 Vista.
Windows Mail should be in this list . Its free and works good .
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