OT - Thunderbird mail alternative

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2014: OT - Thunderbird mail alternative
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dick Lodge - St Louis MO on Wednesday, November 05, 2014 - 01:44 pm:

As noted, this has nothing to do with Ts, but I have seen through the years the amount of knowledge about so many things that exists in this on-line community, so I tend to ask here. I have used Thunderbird as my mail program for longer than I can remember. Some time ago, I upgraded to a newer version and since then it has become impossibly slow - constantly hanging up and "Not responding." In googling around, I saw a recommendation for Opera Mail. Does anyone here use it? Recommend it? Have other recommendations? Ideally, I would like to be able to import my Thunderbird mails and setup into the new program once I choose one.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Chuck Hoffman - Gold Country of Calif. on Wednesday, November 05, 2014 - 02:22 pm:

When I upgraded one of my computers to Win 7 I lost my favorite e-mail program (Outlook Express) and tried everything available for Win 7 and up. I don't like any of them, but would choose Thunderbird if I had to pick a favorite. Sounds like the upgrade is a little glitchy.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By G.R.Cheshire on Wednesday, November 05, 2014 - 02:27 pm:

I am not having any problems with thunderbird last update last night.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hal Schedler, Sacramento on Wednesday, November 05, 2014 - 02:52 pm:

I have absolutely NO problems with Hotmail or Gmail. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to this stuff, so what do I know??? I use a Mac most of the time. I know that with Gmail I can type in a word or subject and it will pull that subject from any Gmail anyplace on my computer, regardless of how old the mail is.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Philip Berg on Wednesday, November 05, 2014 - 03:04 pm:

I use Thunderbird and have no issues.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Wednesday, November 05, 2014 - 03:23 pm:

Thanks for the info, Chuck. I'm about to upgrade from XP to W7, and have used OE for many years. Does Mozilla have anything?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Stitt-Southern Oregon on Wednesday, November 05, 2014 - 04:17 pm:

Why not just use Gmail. It interfaces well with smart phones too.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Chuck Hoffman - Gold Country of Calif. on Wednesday, November 05, 2014 - 05:08 pm:

"Thanks for the info, Chuck. I'm about to upgrade from XP to W7, and have used OE for many years. Does Mozilla have anything?"

Thunderbird is Mozilla and the interface is a lot like Firefox.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Holzschuh - Panama City, FL on Wednesday, November 05, 2014 - 06:21 pm:

Important differences between types of email.

Gmail, Yahoo mail, & Hotmail are all webmail systems. That is: you actually read, compose, & store your mail on someone else's server.

Thunderbird, Outlook Express, Outlook, (and many others) are email clients, that is they are programs running on your machine which access your email on a server and then bring it into (download) your machine.

To make it more confusing, many company's that host email may provide a webmail interface as well as allow you to use your own email client.

Webmail is simplest and usually works pretty well. It relieves you of having to enter complicated email server settings and they store your email for you. In addition you can access your email from any machine anywhere in the world with a minimum of fuss. The only disadvantage I can see to webmail is that you can't send a webpage or URL directly to an email recipient without cutting and pasting.

MY customers who use webmail generally have less problems


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Thomas Mullin on Wednesday, November 05, 2014 - 09:24 pm:

I use Earthlink as my E-mail host. I can get at the messages from any browser pretty much worldwide. Had no problems on a recent boat trip on the Rhine and Danube. You can also log in through a third party program like Eudora.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mack Cole ---- Earth on Wednesday, November 05, 2014 - 09:42 pm:

you mean outlook exspress is not on the new microsoft system? What the heck are they thinking?
Hotmail has gotten so slow and complicated for me since I am still on dial up I hardly use it. Outlook espress on the computer here works great.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Zibell on Wednesday, November 05, 2014 - 10:20 pm:

I have had some issues with Thunderbird, but was able to work them out via the user forum. Latest updates are working fine. What I like about Thunderbird is it works well with both POP3 and IMAP e-mail systems. My ISP mail only works in POP3, but I use Gmail in IMAP mode and it works well via the web, PC, and smartphone. I also keep all my contacts in Gmail so they can really never be lost. I just wish Thunderbird could sync Gmail contacts like my Android smartphone.

You can get support here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/thunderbird To get community support, you do need to establish a Mozilla account.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Thomas Mullin on Thursday, November 06, 2014 - 09:43 am:

Mack, Remember to keep the string tight.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Garnet on Thursday, November 06, 2014 - 03:32 pm:

Mozilla Thunderbird and Firefox can also be backed up so as to prevent loss of data with a program called MozBackup. It's dead simple to use but you have to carefully read each window that appears or else you may end up accidentally password protecting the saved files. That might not be a good idea when you need to restore things and can't remember the password during the usual ensuing fit of rage (or is that just me?) ... The program will save settings, emails, any passwords, bookmarks ... everything needed to fully restore either program after a crash. On startup it will list what versions of both programs are on your computer and let you choose which one you wish to backup or restore.

(just a happy user - not affiliated)

Regards all,
Garnet


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ken Kopsky, Lytle TX on Thursday, November 06, 2014 - 04:31 pm:

Mack - Outlook Express died with Windows 7. Microsoft replaced the free OE mail handler with the free "Windows Live Mail". I think it's better anyway.

You better catch up! Windows 10 will be coming out soon. :-)
(Windows 10 evaluation copies are available now.)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Chuck Hoffman - Gold Country of Calif. on Thursday, November 06, 2014 - 05:03 pm:

"You better catch up! Windows 10 will be coming out soon. :-) "

Well. at least it can't get any worse than W8, and who knows, maybe they can make an improved OS for a change.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mack Cole ---- Earth on Thursday, November 06, 2014 - 05:54 pm:

Well how do you keep the emails on the computer? I have a hotmail account but they have got it so screwed up now it is like getting into fort knox and it keeps telling me to update a browser or something.I wish they would leave things alone that work. :-(
Wow, that means if I am stuck upgradeing,I will loose my email that I use all the time from the phone company because I get it thru outlook exspress. I tried that getting it online and it does not work for me at all!
I have been studieing this hi speed net stuff and I cant get it from what I can tell. Apparently there is special phone cable that is required and the old copper that was buried here in 1971 may not work.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Chuck Hoffman - Gold Country of Calif. on Thursday, November 06, 2014 - 06:45 pm:

Mack, sounds like you're on dial-up. Unless cable internet is available in your neck of the woods, the best you can do will be DSL if it is available. If not, then satellite maybe, but it's not that great. No matter which way you go, speed = dollars.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Holzschuh - Panama City, FL on Thursday, November 06, 2014 - 07:39 pm:

Mack

4 ways to get hi speed network connection (broadband), but unfortunately it can get expensive.

1. If you have cable almost all cable companies provide broadband

2. DSL but you must be within 15000 ft. of a 'slick' station on the phone company's network - not all houses are.

3. Cellular network. Can be quite inexpensive to very expensive. Often limited on how much data you can use. Usually involves using a "hotspot" from a cellular provider, but there are other options too.

4. Satellite. Hughes is the best known, but there are others. Can be expensive and often bandwidth (quantity of data you use) is limited

One of those might work for you.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ken Kopsky, Lytle TX on Thursday, November 06, 2014 - 09:32 pm:

I'm on a wireless system. Not the speediest but about 100 times faster than dialup. The antenna is on a water tower about 3.5 miles away. Other than a pricy cell network, there are no other option out here. I'd stay on dial up before switching to satellite. They have a rather skimpy data limit. (5GB/month as I recall.) When you go over the limit, you're done for the rest of the month. A Windows update and a few software downloads or videos will put you close to the limit. And it's not very fast. On top of that, you loose your connection when a cloud goes over.

The link below points to the folks I use. On the right pane there's query box to check if it's available in your area. There has to be an antenna within 3-4 miles of your location with a clear line-of-site to your antenna though. The house antenna is about 10" in diameter.

http://www.internetamerica.com/internet-service/index.php


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Doug Money - Braidwood, IL on Friday, November 07, 2014 - 05:54 pm:

John Zibell check out gContactSync


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Zibell on Friday, November 07, 2014 - 10:36 pm:

Doug,

Thanks for the reference. It looks interesting. I'm a little concerned as it states it is for Thunderbird 2 and up. Current release is 24.6.0 so the gContactSync could be a bit dated. Hopefully it won't duplicate contacts when I try the sync.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Zibell on Friday, November 07, 2014 - 10:41 pm:

Doug,

After reading the reviews I decided not to try it.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/gcontactsync/reviews/ If it deletes contacts on the later versions of TB, I don't think I want to try it.


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