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Since I started using my personal non-hotmail email account more I need to proper email client, I'm currently using Outlook Express but dude to my natural aversion of MS products where possible I need to find a good Email client. I will need one that makes ti easy to manage contacts into groups and organise a lot of mail.

Thunderbird is about as good as you're going to find. It's open-source, fast, easy to configure, supports groups with automatic filtering as well as multiple address books and has excellent spam protection.

Bounty wrote:Thunderbird is about as good as you're going to find. It's open-source, fast, easy to configure, supports groups with automatic filtering as well as multiple address books and has excellent spam protection.

+1 for Thunderbird. It's working flawlessly for me.

Lord Pounder wrote:Since I started using my personal non-hotmail email account more I need to proper email client, I'm currently using Outlook Express but dude to my natural aversion of MS products where possible I need to find a good Email client. I will need one that makes ti easy to manage contacts into groups and organise a lot of mail.

Has your aversion moved you away from their operating systems as well? If so there are many choices. Thunderbird is nice and has Mozilla style, and I quite like Evolution as well.

Also, look for clients here

Outlook is so much better than Outlook express.

Xon wrote:Outlook is so much better than Outlook express.

It also costs $109 more than Thunderbird's $0, with no real improvements feature-wise (well, mail-wise; I suppose it's a viable choice when you want an all-in-one organiser) and crappier spam filters.

I use Outlook at work & home. I use a lot of it's features which simply aren't avaliable in Thunderbird(at a reasonable level). Outlook also integrates with my MSN account as well, and can pull from hotmail too.

Price really doesnt mean much. I'ld spend more on a new Xbox360 or PC game ($99-110) and play the game less before moving onto the next thing.

Outlook also integrates with my MSN account as well, and can pull from hotmail too.

I thought that was restricted to paying Live accounts?

I'ld spend more on a new Xbox360 or PC game ($99-110) and play the game less before moving onto the next thing.

That was US$, not AU. If all he needs is a mail client (and since he's coming from Hotmail I doubt he needs task management or shared mailboxes) it's silly to spend any money when a freeware program fills his needs (well, his needs that we're aware of).

Bounty wrote:

Xon wrote:Outlook is so much better than Outlook express.

It also costs $109 more than Thunderbird's $0, with no real improvements feature-wise (well, mail-wise; I suppose it's a viable choice when you want an all-in-one organiser) and crappier spam filters.

Ahem, *bullshit*. I could go blue in the face describing the feature advantages Outlook has over Thunderbird. The two products barely compare; Outlook is a monster that is more of a dedicated Exchange client than anything else whereas Thunderbird is much leaner.

If you are only interested in mail and don't need the wealth of features offered by Outlook, Thunderbird is a decent choice. However I have to echo Xon and say that Outlook is a great client and definitely worth a try as it offers a lot of usability, even if you aren't using an Exchange server as a backend for your mail system.

Bounty wrote: I thought that was restricted to paying Live accounts?

Outlook and MSN have an integrated contact list. But ya, you used to be able to use Outlook/Outlook express and pull mail from Hotmail but that is now a pay-for feature.

I'ld spend more on a new Xbox360 or PC game ($99-110) and play the game less before moving onto the next thing.

That was US$, not AU.

With the stupidly weak USD, $109 USD is $120 AUD. That is a massive $11 difference.

If all he needs is a mail client (and since he's coming from Hotmail I doubt he needs task management or shared mailboxes) it's silly to spend any money when a freeware program fills his needs (well, his needs that we're aware of).

Managing contacts is a heck of a lot more than "just email".

Another vote here for Outlook - sure, as a POP3 e-mail client it isn't all that special, however if you leverage its organisational capabilities and hopefully get at least an IMAP account (or preferably Exchange) it turns into a integrated monster for managing your computer communications.

Plus, if you do use its organizer abilities (calendar, tasks, etc.), it will likely sync seamlessly with pretty much anything that can sync that sort of data since its the main target for the writers of those sync programs. My Nokia has become much more useful to me since I started using those capabilities as a handy reminder tool, which considering my rather poor memory I find very useful.

Thread needs more posters suggesting products the OP has specifically mentioned he does not want.

Xisiqomelir wrote:Thread needs more posters suggesting products the OP has specifically mentioned he does not want.

Organizing existing contacts, be they email, msn/yahoo contacts or others is very much something Outlook is great at

Thanks to all for the advice. Gonna give Thunderbird a go. The main feature I need is the ability to easily arrange and rearrange a large number of contacts due to the nature of my new duties as a political activist. Thanks all.

Lord Pounder wrote:Thanks to all for the advice. Gonna give Thunderbird a go. The main feature I need is the ability to easily arrange and rearrange a large number of contacts due to the nature of my new duties as a political activist. Thanks all.

I actually took a good look at Thunderbird's filtering system today and you can have it automatically organize a lot of shit to different folders, especially if you create several identities within the program. Especially if mailing lists are involved, the sorting by filter is easy.

I still use OE... I think it does what its supposed to well enough. Does anyone know if the new OE in vista is any safer?

I use Outlook at work and I HATE IT! Slow, bug prone piece of shit with worse message formatting abilities than OE.