Outlook Express 6.0

OUTLOOK EXPRESS come with every Microsoft Computer. It is a free e-mail service. One of the first things you will see on your Computer desk top is an envelope with a blue arrow around it. Next to it it will say Outlook Express.

When I bought my new Computer it came with Outlook Express 6.0.

PLEASE:

Before you add any one on your e-mail list he first name on your address list should be 1001. You type that in the first name. In the email slot type in ''worm alert'' and then enter. This will stop any virus or worms for going through the People you send emails to.

THE FEATURES:

A. My mail flows in as soon as I open this e-mail account.

B. Each of us can manage our own email. We can block out spam in two ways.

1. Hit the block button and then go to the delete area and block it again.

2. Hit the block button and then go the delete area and hit on tools and then message rules.

There will be a large box that comes up and that is where you make the rules of who you want to block. I use a rule that says ''block all senders where the message line says''. A little box will come up and then you all the words exactly like the like reads, (using Capital letters, spaces and any marks they use). Then hit add and then close. Then you go back to the larger box and hit the tab that says apply. After it does then hit OK and then close. Block the message again to remove it from the deleted area.

I know this can take time but at least the spam doesn't come back.

C. I can keep the mail we want to keep in a draft section.

D. There is an area where you can select the language you want to use, (from Arabic to Vietnamese), the style of ''type'', the size of the ''type'', the colour of ink you want to use and some stationary. If you don't like the stationary you can add some stationary from Hallmark.

E. Each of my outgoing mail is scanned by Norton Anti-Virus. Norton's also scans my incoming mail and warns we when there is something I shouldn't open.

WHAT I'VE ADDED:

Outlook Express has added a new feature. I went to https://hotbar.com and downloaded the features to enhance the look of my emails. I also use hotmail and the hotbar feature is not offered there.

I can use backgrounds, make card, have my name swirling in different type of letters or add a lot of different type of smiles. I can also add animals, people, birds and computer images if I want to.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE:

All of the other Outlook Express' had a spell check 6.0 doesn't.

It doesn't automatically block out spam like hotmail.

It doesn't have a Messenger System like hotmail and yahoo.

MY CONCLUSION:

It's free and with the hotbar features my email looks superb.

Microsoft has a new Outlook but it is not available in Canada. I hope it will be soon and that will filter out the

spam mail for me.

©LL2003

Microsoft's Outlook Express is one the freebee the Microsoft Cooperation provides along with Internet Explorer. After so many Lawsuit and Protests, nothing has changed, IE is still the browser associated along with Windows and Outlook Express comes along. Outlook has been a regular feature along with IE since 1995, or so.

I had been using Pine on UNIX/Linux, for long time during my college days. Though at that time security is not your primary concern, yet Pine along with UNIX/Linux provided with more than sufficient security(Tihar Jail, kindaa). So no one was able to read my mails in the college network and I was pretty happy about it. Then after that, when I got a new System, and was staying more or less alone, I used Eudora Mail client, which I think is absolute High Class product. This time around, since I was staying alone, Security was no more a concern.

But now things have changed, I, currently self employed, and staying with my Parents and brother, Privacy was becoming a concern, as we all use POP Servers. Eudora doesn't support different Users to use a single Application, all accounts are common. Though you have the facility of not remember the Password from the Mail Server, yet once downloaded mail can read by anyone. And we cannot read message from the Hotmail Server, no other mail client reads message from the Hotmail Server, but Outlook Express. Now all these reasons, though might seem light, but made Microsoft's Outlook Express outweighs Eudora Mail Client/Netscape Messenger.

The usage of Hotmail Account which was my first E-mail Account, and still the most favored, let made my mind to go for Outlook Express. All the Mail client have more or less the same feature, but some advance feature separate the great from the ordinary.

Advance Features:

Privacy by means of Personality : Provides us with different user personality, each user managing his own mail account. This also gives us the ability to store our mails safely from others preying eyes. Great Feature.

Insert Stationary : Apply images as background, subsequently lightning up of personal mails. The free stationary that is available, are from Hallmark, so it got to be good.

Send & Receive Secure Messages : Though not used frequently is a very good feature. Again when it comes to security this Microsoft(though not known for) product has notched up a few barriers. You can add Digital Signature to your mail, making the mail almost impossible to read, but for the intended receiver of the mail.

Import & Export : A lot of mail clients have Import Message facility, but Outlook for one has the export facility too along with its import facility, by which you can download message even Eudora, Lotus & Netscape Mail clients too.

These are just the advance features, there are then again a tens of normal features, which comes very handy during normal usage.

Flaws :

Very Slow : Extremely slow when compared to other mail clients. The loading time is unbearable but worse is the time it requires to download messages, it can be sometimes unforgivable.

Unreliable : It crashes along with IE. And people who have worked on Windows know by themselves how tough is it to make IE work. So any probs with IE creeps unto OE.

Verdict :

The conclusion may come no surprise. The winner is OE among all the other Mail Clients. Just for two reasons, privacy in terms of personality and support to Hotmail. These ain't two of the toughest technologies to add to newer versions of Mail Clients. So till the day some other Mail-Client comes up with these techs, OE is the best, but just till then.

Note : I hate MS for its monopolistic policies and inefficient software's, but I have tried to keep my ire to its bare minimum, while looking at wider perspective. If at any comment the ire becomes quite visible then I Am Sorry.