Email and virus Protection on Windows 7??

[cokids]

Just bought an Acer D260 running Windows 7 which does not come with an email program. What program are YOU using? I downloaded Thunderbird, but so far it has been unable to send or receive email. Not sure what's going on, but maybe I need a different program. Which free ones work with Windows 7?

Same question for virus protection. Are there any good free programs that work well with Windows 7? This is the abbreviated edition....can't remember what it's called.

Beth

[ericinboston]

AVG Free for antivirus.

For thick email clients...I dunno...most people use Outlook which I hate. I still use Netscape Mail from like 1997. If Eudora is still around, that's great.

Otherwise, 90% of folks use online sources to read their mail (Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, your ISP also offers an online interface).

Thick email clients are pretty much dead these days.

-Eric

[ThisIsNot]

AVG Free is pretty good. I would also see if you can't get a "pro" level anti-virus client from a university or business. My old university offers the professional version McAfee for free and I think UC has the pro version of Norton. My office will actually supply me their enterprise version of Norton for personal use if I requested it.

As previously stated, e-mail clients are basically dead. They really only survive in the business world and that is due to many businesses not wanting to supply HTML/Java/Flash interfaces for their e-mail service. Instead they will turn to something crappy such as Lotus Notes or MS Outlook. Mail clients such as Gmail offer more features with a GUI that is much easier to use while requiring a lot less system resources than a dedicated client all through your internet browser of choice. Outlook will easily consume about 259MB of RAM (and 17% of my CPU) when accessing Gmail while FireFox will idle at around 3% CPU usage and 70MB of RAM when doing the exact same thing.

Case in point; your e-mail provider sucks if their browser interface is worse than Outlook, Lotus Note, Thunderbird, etc.

[ericinboston]

Originally Posted by ThisIsNot

Instead they will turn to something crappy such as Lotus Notes or MS Outlook.

Actually...Outlook is rock solid in the corporate environment...rock solid. Exchange also provides a web UI. The calendar feature of Outlook rocks, too. Again, all with Exchange and corporate use.

Outlook Express, on the other hand...I agree with your comments...drives me nuts that people still use it to read their ISP mail.

Remember CC:Mail?

-Eric

[ThisIsNot]

Sorry, I have a choice of Outlook 2000 or Lotus Notes at work. I have no love for the two especially since they can't do what want (it has something to do with their filters). Yes, we really are that far behind when it comes to e-mail clients. They keep Lotus Notes up to date but Outlook is still a decade old, it runs slower, it isn't fully compatible with our e-mail server, etc. So I have no love for it right now. However, my gripes against the two mainly have to do with the crappy calendar that Notes has, the basic functionality of Outlook, and the fact that neither can filter out the e-mails that I don't want.

I get over a dozen e-mails that are sent to everyone in the building and they have absolutely nothing to do with me. One e-mail had to do with an article in the NY Times about mothers being treated unfairly in the work environment. I am not a mother, I am not female, and I don't care. It didn't affect my job in any way, shape, or form. That e-mail sat in my account overnight and ended up filling my inbox. We only have 250MB for our e-mails, that isn't a whole lot by the time you add in 15MB attachments.

I want to filter those e-mails out while still accepting the good e-mails sent to everyone (like ones about meetings, safety training, etc.). Neither e-mail client can do that for me so I don't like them. Instead I have to check my e-mail 20 times a day to delete all of the incoming crap.

[cokids]

Thanks for the confirmation that there really isn't a decent email client for windows 7....or any other system...

Will keep looking and try to get email installed on this new netbook. Any ideas will be much appreciated. I already have a yahoo account. Maybe I should just use it? What a waste of time! Sending messages to my whole address book telling them to start using my yahoo address seems like a collossal waste of time!

Oh well....I'll continue to come here hoping someone has a solution!

Beth

[ericinboston]

That's why I have had a Yahoo account for 10+ years...I never need to change it.

Sure, my ISP has changed over the years...and I still use that quite a bit, too.

People's phone, address, and email change all the time...there is no problem or shame sending a mass email stating "hey, my ____ email is gonna end in a few days...I will email you all when I get my new one" or something similar.

-Eric

[ericinboston]

Originally Posted by ThisIsNot

I get over a dozen e-mails that are sent to everyone in the building and they have absolutely nothing to do with me. One e-mail had to do with an article in the NY Times about mothers being treated unfairly in the work environment. I am not a mother, I am not female, and I don't care. It didn't affect my job in any way, shape, or form. That e-mail sat in my account overnight and ended up filling my inbox. We only have 250MB for our e-mails, that isn't a whole lot by the time you add in 15MB attachments.

I want to filter those e-mails out while still accepting the good e-mails sent to everyone (like ones about meetings, safety training, etc.). Neither e-mail client can do that for me so I don't like them. Instead I have to check my e-mail 20 times a day to delete all of the incoming crap.

What you are describing is a corporate decision to make your life miserable. Seriously. The same email policies are true at my company and millions of others. There are 2 primary reasons why companies limit your inbox (and even thick client functionality):

1)Too much email. The more email you get/send, the more the IT dept has to back up...the more they have to back up, the more time and money they have to spend. Period. Put a limit like 200MB and people learn not to send 20MB attachments...and learn to delete/archive email that is 90+ days old and very likely unimportant now.

2)Lawsuits. The more email a company has on ALL its machines, the more likely the company will be sued. All it takes is 1 small lawsuit and the lawyers start going through all the emails looking for stuff pertaining to the lawsuit. Even if the emails are old and somewhat out of context, they can be used in the suit. This scenario is essentially called Records Management and companies need to basically "delete what you don't need and keep what you do". That's the name of the game. If you still have an email in your Sent box from 2001 telling a worker he's a *!@#*%)(! bleep bleep bleep, when he sues the company 10 years later if that email is found, the company is in deep do do. Even if the company policy is to delete email after 5 years, the fact that IT IS STILL SOMEWHERE is the problem. Again, companies simply have begun to just delete everything that is not a "Record".

-Eric

[cokids]

I am using Yahoo again as a solution to my email dilemma.

Would love to have a stand alone program, but....yahoo will do!

Anti-virus is problematic though. i downloaded CyberDefender, but it keeps telling me that I have spyware on my computer and when I click 'Remove' it seems to do nothing. I expect they don't fix anything until you've paid your dues!!?? There is an 800 number very obviously on the screen. They want me to call and pay!

Beth

[cokids]

Oh, and the netbook arrived w/ McAfee installed. I have not activated it and do NOt wish to pay for it...it's a trial version which works for a limited time only.

Beth