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I Don’t Have Outlook, Is There a Similar Product I can Download?

The short answer is, Yes.

Listed below you’ll find a variety of free Email clients available for download. But be aware, not all mail providers allow you to use a mail client such as Outlook. Both Yahoo and Hotmail require their users to upgrade to a paid service in order to access their Email via a mail client. However, if you’re ISP provideds you with an Email account, ie. pacbell.net, sbcglobal.net, att.com, comcast.net, etc., You’ll more than likely be able to access your Email using a mail client.

While Outlook isn’t our first choice in mail clients, in terms of personal use. It will typically be your first option, that is if your using a Windows computer. Outlook Express typically comes bundled on the majority of pre-Vista Computers, those being XP, ME, 2000 98, and so on. And with the introduction of Windows Vista your pre installed option is Windows Mail. There’s little difference between Windows Mail and Outlook Express, both being very limited, and basic in terms of functionality. If you don’t have Windows mail, it can be downloaded Here. The setup for both of these programs is fairly simple using the settings provided by you’re ISP or Email provider.

These products are “no frills” and are very much lacking in features and usability. For these reasons we would not recommend these programs you’re first choice in Email clients. But they are definitely worth mention, seeing as they are preexisting on most computers.

If one of our clients hasn’t already setup Outlook Express or Windows Mail, we would definitely recommend one of the following products.

Mozilla Thunderbird is without a doubt our first choice in free mail clients. Thunderbird is a free product from the makers of Firefox. If you know the Gurus, you’ll know that we have nothing but good things to say about Firefox. So needless to say Thunderbird is also an amazingly well built, extremely secure, and very well rounded mail client. Setup is pretty simple, and is similar to Outlook and other mail clients. Thunderbird also includes junk mail filters, an RSS feed reader, and the ability to search your mail. You definitely can’t go wrong with this product.

Opera has always been known to be a great web browser. They’ve also included the ability to use their product as a mail client. Opera is an easy to use, responsive, and secure product, with many similarities to Firefox. Its an open source product which is regularly updated, and is very well rounded and user friendly. You can read more about Operas Email capabilities Here.

Eudora is a product we’ve seen used in a few small law firms, boutiques, personal users, as well as a few of our Mac loving friends. It’s an open source product with few, if any, limitations. So in our book it’s a great free product.

Mulberry is a powerful, secure, and versatile email client available for most popular platforms. The few places this product is lacking are, ease of use, speed, and the ability to filter spam. Not one of the greatest products for the casual user, but a free mail client nun the less.

And lastly, Pegasus. It doesn’t have the most intuitive user interface, and its search feature lagged a bit. But on a positive note, it’s a very secure, and privacy conscious. But again, for casual users it may not be the best product.

Do you have a favorite mail client that we forgot to include? If so, let us know by leaving a comment below. Thanks for reading.