Subscribe to How-To Geek

Welcome to the How-To Geek Forums

We encourage you to register on our forums and post any questions you might have. The How-To Geeks monitor this forum and will respond to your question quickly.

How-To Geek Forums » Windows Vista

Alternative for Windows Mail

(9 posts)
  • Started 4 months ago by SarahJames
  • Latest reply from jd2066
  • Topic Viewed 373 times


SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 556

Since my contacts in Windows Mail still doesn't work properly
(the same problem as I have is discussed here - and it appears to be quite common ...
http://www.vistax64.com/vista-.....-edit.html)
and Microsoft still hasn't come up with a solution, I thought it might be a good idea to install an extra emailprogram to handle my email.
What alternatives are there and what do you like best?
(I know, I know I can google and find some names, but what do you guys use and prefer and why?)

I rather like Windows Mail, so I'd prefer an app that comes close to it (just works a bit better LOL) and works with the same eml files etc.
And I want it to be an app on my PC, not some emailclient on the web.
I make regular backups of my email and with Windows Mail that has become a lot easier then before. No more dbx files, but simply a folder with subfolders for each folder in your Windows Mail with the eml files in it
(C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Local Folders)
- so easy to copy to a location of choice;-D
Webmail doesn't provide good backup possibilities (or rather - it is out of my control), so I don't like it.

I'm curious to what you work with and why.

Cheers,
Sarah.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
sparky7415
sparky7415
Posts: 386

I've used Incredimail for years and it's easy to backup,it has some cool backgrounds and characters.And had no problems transferring my contacts and mail to another computer.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 556

Umm Sparky, I was looking for a mailclient, not a toybox! LOL

(no offence meant)

Posted 4 months ago #
 
whs
whs
Posts: 6322

Sarah, you always seem to like to make your life difficult. Why would one want to keep all this mail on their PC and have to worry about backups, crashes etc. I use AOL since day one and all my mail (since day one) is still stored upstream on the host. There I am sure it does not get lost and it is really easy to access it from anyplace I go - often to Internet cafes. Yes, AOL has it's querks too - but bottom line it is the most convenient service and you always have an extra browser which has helped me several times when the other browsers could not handle the situation.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 556

Sorry whs - no way! I want to keep control myself:)
(and I never ever visit an internet cafe)

Browsing around it seems Thunderbird comes closest to what I'm looking for, but I'm not sure yet.
Anyone any experience with thunderbird?

Posted 4 months ago #
 
jd2066
Posts: 3204

I'm the same way with my email. I like to keep it locally. My email is stored on a Linux server in the basement and I access it with Mozilla Thunderbird. I also have a webmail program set up on my server so I can still access my email remotely.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
SarahJames
SarahJames
Posts: 556

Just installed Thunderbird as a portable app on an USB stick. Looks nice. I'll play around with it a bit on the USB and maybe I'll install it later on on my PC. Not sure yet ...

Posted 4 months ago #
 
ScottW
ScottW
Posts: 2495

Sarah, I use Thunderbird and it works great. I have multiple e-mail accounts and it handles all of them. Some are POP, others IMAP. I used to use Eudora, for quite a long time. Then they stopped updating it, so I had to make a switch and I chose Thunderbird.

As for the eml files, I'm not sure how all of that works. I seem to remember reading that Thunderbird used the mbox format so it could be compatible with so many Unix-based e-mail clients. But, when I look in the APPDATA folder for Thunderbird, I see .msf files. I'm confused now and even a quick trip to Wikipedia didn't help. Does anyone know about all these different file formats or where I can go learn about them? Thanks.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
jd2066
Posts: 3204

@ScottW: For Thunderbird there are two files for each folder one with the name of the folder with no extension that holds the mail in mbox format and another with the name of the folder with an msf extension that holds the read/unread status and similar metadata.
Example of Inbox folder files:
Inbox - mbox format that holds mail messages
Inbox.msf - stores the mail message read/unread status and similar metadata

Posted 4 months ago #
 

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.

Sponsored Links
Getting Started
About How-To Geek
What Is That Process?
svchost.exe
jusched.exe
dwm.exe
ctfmon.exe
wmpnetwk.exe
wmpnscfg.exe
rundll32.exe
wfcrun32.exe
Ipoint.exe
Itype.exe
Wfica32.exe
Mobsync.exe
Cmd.exe
Dpupdchk.exe

Copyright © 2006-2008 HowToGeek.com. All Rights Reserved.