Which email client do you use and why?

safehaven

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Messages
217
I just upgraded to Win 7. I am really unsure about Window Live Mail. It just seems a little wacky to me in comparison to Outlook express.

So, I am wondering what email client you all use and maybe the top 2 or 3 reason you use it.

Thanks!
 
i dont use one, have used Thunderbird and Outlook and a few others over the years but in the end i always have my browser open and always can open a tab with gmail quicker than i can use a client of any kind, have no need for client features, send, receive, forward and compose, is all i need
 
Windows Live Mail
I don't find it wacky at all, I used Thunderbird a while back and didn't like it. The WLM client syncs with Windows Live and the interface is alright. I usually turn it to gray though.
 
Google Apps in an IE8 Window on my second monitor. Have it up almost 24/7.

Works great, I really like that no matter where I am if I have an internet connection I can have all my email just like it is anywhere else. All my contacts/settings/folders/etc. are all organized perfectly.
 
at home, thunderbird. been using it for years. great for handling a few pop3 accts but does imap/etc as well.

i might swap to outlook, though, if i can convince my boss to allow me to sync my work email account/calendar, but he's already said 'no' once =(
 
Been using "webmail" (email services with browser-based interfaces) since the day after Hotmail went live so long ago. Gmail is the primary, my ISP's webmail next (Cox), then Hotmail as the old school backup...

Haven't used POP or IMAP clients in a decade, no plans to do so anytime soon either.
 
Outlook 07 for my office e-mail...Outlook over HTTP to Exchange
Thunderbird for 1 POP mail account
Browser for GMail
 
Thunderbird for a range of POP3 and IMAP accounts including GMail IMAP. Got multiple clients synced via a central IMAP server on the LAN. Thunderbird is free, stable, has no serious bugs I have encountered and is a lot more convenient to use than Outlook and webmail interfaces in my experience.
 
Outlook 07 for both work and personal e-mail.

Outlook runs my life though so I'm biased. (My Blackberry syncs with the exchange server, so calendars, tasks etc are updated)
 
Thunderbird. Works great for home. I don't need something like outlook for my home email.
 
Home, GMAIL web.

Work, Outlook 2003 with Exchange

Phone, Outlook with Exchange
 
Outlook 07.

Used to use Thunderbird, but I've switched out Outlook so I can sync my calendar/etc with my phone.
 
Outlook 2007. I'm not a huge fan, since I still have occasional program freeze cycles that will only be fixed by a reboot (Win 7 x64... had them since Vista), but it's what is used at work.
 
gmail FTW
Same here. I can check my e-mail using any computer with full Internet access using any browser. I could even check from a phone if I had cell Internet access (too expensive!) No virus can infect my e-mail client because there is no e-mail client (a big problem for Outlook users in particular really.) I suppose if IE were used it might be possible for an e-mail to infect it, but the simple solution is to use Opera or Firefox anyway. (Not that I think I'll ever even see such an e-mail. Gmail's spam filters are pretty incredibly accurate in my experience.) Any client, any location. What's more, it has such a clean and efficient interface. I could do without all the messy AJAX code in the back, but given that it even works in Opera without any problems these days and still manages to load very quickly I can live with it. (The irony is, the AJAX actually makes it run better at times since it doesn't have to do as much actively as a standard web interface. That's why I keep it on the enhanced mode or whatever they call it really.) Overall it's just a 10x cleaner and more efficient way of handling e-mail in my experience. I love how everything can be kept fully online where I can access my e-mail from any system and keep nothing locally. (I just have to be sure to log out if I use another system obviously. Clearing the cache probably doesn't hurt either, but with the way gmail works I'm not sure how necessary that really is.)

On those VERY rare occasions I for whatever reason wanted to use POP/SMTP (I still used gmail) I used Thunderbird. It has a clean and efficient interface for the most part, is less vulnerable to viruses, and so on.
 
Thunderbird. One of the few usable IMAP implementations on Windows...and it's a pretty good client in its own right.
 
outlook 2007 for work and personal accounts even my gmail account. All set up IMAP
 
Outlook 2007.
Been using outlook for years and have been pleased with it. syncs with my BB perfectly as well.

I used Eudora for a long time then switched to Outlook, can't remember why I switched but I did.
 
I've been using Thunderbird for years and it suits my needs. I currently use it for five email accounts without any trouble and this is a mix of POP3 and IMAP accounts. I have never liked webmail interfaces and avoid using them when I have the chance. If I'm not at my computer, I can still check my accounts via webmail interfaces as long as I have an internet connection so it's win/win for me.

As a user of several email accounts, using a webmail interface in a browser is nowhere near as efficient. I would need to keep each one open in a tab and switch tabs to check them. With Thunderbird, I can keep track of each one with a single window. That said, I use mostly gmail accounts so it makes setup easy. I don't think you can use Thunderbird with hotmail/live accounts without paying a fee and I have no desire to pay a fee for that.

 
I use Lotus Notes 8.0 at my job because I have no choice. I use Outlook 2007 for my personal and [H]ardOCP E-Mail. Why? Because I know Out look very well and on my network I need Exchange integration. (Exchange 2009 server is going online soon here.)
 
That said, I use mostly gmail accounts so it makes setup easy. I don't think you can use Thunderbird with hotmail/live accounts without paying a fee and I have no desire to pay a fee for that.

Yeah, it only works with Outlook and with some more strings attached AFAIK. I exclusively use my Hotmail account for spam and other stuff I don't fully trust, though :p
 
I use Opera's built-in mail client "M2".

I use it with Gmail IMAP and many other IMAP accounts that run on imap.1and1.com and fastmail.fm. (I use the Gmail and Fastmail web interfaces when M2 isn't available on the computer. I also use SquirrelMail (that I set up) to access my imap.1and1.com accounts).

I also use M2 to check newsgroups. (Usually only a couple of MS newsgroups)

I also use M2 for checking and reading feeds (about 53 at the momement). Some of them are even high-volume ones like twitter and forums posts feeds. Because of M2, Opera has the best feed reader imo.

I use my Gmail IMAP account for lots of W3C, standards and QA mailing lists and use my other IMAP accounts for other discussions and mailing lists. I currently have ~38000 messages on one of my imap.1and1.com accounts and ~3000 in my Gmail IMAP account. I have 4835 feeds messages that are unread (out of ~5600). Most of them are twitter posts (I'm a little behind at the moment) that are quickly read inside M2.

M2 just handles all that nicely. And, it's very easy to search through messages.

I also love all the configuration options M2 has including all the import/export options. But, I'd have to say the main reason I like M2 is because its UI is so awesome and has a smooth feel to it. I also like that it's built into Opera (Since I'm already using it).

M2 has really great mailto URI parsing, which is something that's important to me with all the testing I do.

M2 also has both IMAP folder views and filtered views so you can have your cake and eat it too.

Every time I use another mail client, I always feel something's not right UI-wise. I do like Thunderbird (and Seakmonkey's built-in client) and Sylpheed though. Both are pretty awesome, but Thunderbird's UI just feels sluggish and not so smooth while Sylpheed is just missing a few features.

I've been using M2 long enough to know just about every single UI quirk or backend bug it has. Knowing that, I can honestly say that M2 is in great condition quality-wise.

Now, I do have other webmail accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, ************** etc.), but Yahoo and Hotmail are just POSs and Yahoo and Microsoft discriminate against Opera. ************** is an alright Webmail and specifically supports Opera.
 
GMail mainly, Windows Live Mail for stuff that won't accept GMail, lilke hardocp. I use Gmail because I like being able to check my email from any computer or web enabled device, like my iphone, without configuring things.
 
Use Google Apps at work and Thunderbird for my personal stuff. POP3 only though, IMAP + Thunderbird feels too slow, and I don't need to sync anyway!
 
Outlook Express 6

been working good enough for nearly the last decade, don't see any reason to rock the boat
 
What's so wacky about Windows Live Mail? I can check multiple accounts at once, and keep a synched calendar and contacts list across all of my computers, very similar to Exchange.
 
I use Outlook 2007 at work, but for my personal email, I still use good ole' pine over ssh!
 
I use Lotus Notes 8.0 at my job because I have no choice. I use Outlook 2007 for my personal and [H]ardOCP E-Mail. Why? Because I know Out look very well and on my network I need Exchange integration. (Exchange 2009 server is going online soon here.)

I was wondering what happened to all the Notes users.

Work: Lotus Notes 7.03. It's no that bad. Really... No, actually it is.
Home: Gmail, Yahoo, Live, etc.
 
Been using thunderbird + gmail for about 3 years.
Switched to Outlook '07 for about 4 months. It was nice, but too bulky (i dont use the calender or anything. Just the mail and address book)
Went back to thunderbird. She's been serving me well
 
"I have to because my job uses it" aside, why does anyone use a separate client to check their email? What are the benefits to using (for example) Thunderbird to check your email (which, for example, is gmail) rather than just opening a tab in your browser and using gmail itself?

It's not that I'm against email clients, I just see what the benefits are. I use gmail all the time, and tried using both Mail and Thunderbird (I'm on OS X), but couldn't find any particular reason to use the clients vs. just using a web browser and checking gmail itself. Again, not trying to start a flame war; honest question.
 
Thunderbird.
1- It's Free
2- I love Mozilla's softwares
3- Light and easy to use
 
"I have to because my job uses it" aside, why does anyone use a separate client to check their email? What are the benefits to using (for example) Thunderbird to check your email (which, for example, is gmail) rather than just opening a tab in your browser and using gmail itself?

Because I prefer to have the email stored locally as well since it's a lot faster especially with large attachments, because it's more convenient with its new email notifications. Because it's more stable than a browser with a zillion other stuff going on inside it, potentially risking crashing the browser or the tab. It's more reliable.

All taken together a web UI is the slower, less reliable and less convenient (aside from the 'available anywhere' thing) option to access one's email, not to mention that one is completely dependent on the company in question to keep it free, keep its servers online, and so on.
 
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