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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
April 19, 2009
Q.
Can you recommend an email program that I
can use with all of my emails?
A.
Well, there is one that I am using that
allows me to receive and send emails from
all of my twenty plus email and six
newsgroup accounts. I have it set to check
email and newsgroup accounts every 5 minutes
and alert me with a tone when one arrives.
As emails are received they automatically
are routed to specific folders I have set,
or deleted if deemed to be junk (Spam).
It works
well with POP email accounts like
daddybob.com, bellsouth.net, att.net,
comcast.com, etc., and with web mail like
Gmail, Hotmail, Live, Yahoo, AOL and others.
All of these set up very easy and are free
to use except for Yahoo. This is a Yahoo
restriction requiring a payment of something
like $20.00 per year before it allows its
email to be checked anywhere but at yahoo
itself.
This
email/newsgroup program is called Windows
Live Mail and it is free to use and better
yet, it is free from commercial
advertisements. It is part of what Microsoft
calls their "Windows Essentials". (See
download link below).
Outlook
Express originally was part of the Internet
Explorer download. It was then included with
XP but was discontinued with Vista and
replaced with a very similar program called
Windows Mail. Starting with Windows 7, there
will be no email program included and
Windows Live Mail will be recommended.
Live Mail
is user configurable and has an excellent
Junk Mail (spam) filter that can be set to
several levels of filtering. No filtering
that let everything in; Low filtering that
filters out all the obvious junk; High
filtering that filters out most all of the
junk; Safe List Only that only allows email
from your safe list to get through. There a
setting where you can choose to
automatically delete all the junk mail
before it gets to the Junk Mail folder. One
other setting allows you to report the junk
mail to Microsoft to assist in updating the
junk mail filters.
Live Mail
is similar enough to Outlook Express so the
learning curve to use it is pretty low. A
little experimenting to learn the additional
features may be required.
Live Mail
is one of the Live Essentials and can be
downloaded
HERE.
The Essentials work with all Windows after
XP SP-2 and consists of:
Messenger and Mail:
With Messenger, you can chat, swap photos,
and see what’s new with friends. Mail brings
together your Hotmail, Gmail, and other
accounts, along with multiple calendars.
Writer
(Blogger):
With Windows Live Writer, blogging is a
breeze. You can add photos and videos,
format everything just so, and publish to
most blogging services.
Photo
Gallery and Movie Maker:
Use Photo Gallery and Movie Maker to edit
and organize your photos and movies, and
then post them online or send them to
friends.
Toolbar and Family Safety:
With Toolbar, you can customize your browser
and find what you need, fast. Family Safety
helps you keep your kids safer online.
I also
use the Photo Gallery and highly recommend
it to anyone that wants to manage all their
photos in one place. |
