6 replies to this topic

[sinnead]

Hi, it's been suggested that my hubby and myself use a different email program than Outlook Express, as it's easily corrupted. 1) is this true, 2) what would you suggest as an email program, 3) how would I switch to a new one, and 4), how do I import everything to a new email program. Neither of us are very computer savvy, and need something simple and easy to use. Thanks

[8210GUY]

I have not heard it said thats it's easily corrupted, but there may be security issues with it, but with decent protection and good practises you should be fine, my guess is your what I would term a low risk, so my guess is you're not in that category.
There is a program you can use as a safety barrier before you touch your mail, it's called Mailwasher, great program, it checks your mail online, it shows you a text only preview of what it is BEFORE it ever touches your system, and allows you to choose if you want to keep it or not, mark it accordingly and it will delete the mail with it never touching your system, it also warns against possible viruses, and because it's text only you can see the addresses of the images which usually tells you if it's likely to be a bad site, and because you can do all this before it ever touches your system so if it is infected your perfectly safe.

The alternative is to use web based mail, Hotmail is popular (it also acts as a chat utility where you can talk to others with it), another is Google Mail, both are free, but Google Mail is more secure I believe, I've heard Hotmail is not that secure, but I guess anything can be got at if someone knew enough and was determined enough to get in, but the vast majority of people who end up in that situation is not because they were "hacked" as such, but they had downloaded some infection that has allowed access to the offender.

If you can tell us what your expecting to achieve, and what email addresses you want to use, we can hopefully advise you on the best option for you, but be aware using either of the web mail options I suggested means another email address, you can't use the one you have with those, but that said your isp address probably has web mail available as well, but I find it much easier using Mailwasher, and suspect this would be better for you as well, hope this helps a bit anyway.

*edit
Just to clarify, do NOT post your address in a reply, and NEVER post it publicly ANYWHERE as thats where the problems often begin, but above where I asked what addresses you wanted to use I mean generally speaking, eg your isp address or some other address if you follow.

Edited by 8210GUY, 15 July 2009 - 04:45 AM.

[sinnead]

This is what I got in a newsletter I subscribe to(someone else had posed the original query), and it started me asking around. I use this for my business email(my personal one is a hotmail address), and so does my husband. We have had a couple of minor problems previously, but got them sorted out. My major concern is not "losing" to many client correspondence emails! For security, we use AVG free, and it does scan the emails before we get them. If the below IS true, not sure what else to use! ***Outlook Express is a fine, fine email program. Because it's free and available on every copy of Windows XP, and came free with Internet Explorer prior to that, it's a very popular email program. "Unfortunately, more people report more problems and lost mail to me having used Outlook Express ..." Unfortunately, more people report more problems and lost mail to me having used Outlook Express than any other desktop email program, hands down. Next to losing all your email in a free email account, it's probably my biggest source of email related data loss stories. The most common culprit is, in fact, the very database compaction that you're asking about. I'm sure it works well for many, if not most people, but when it fails it can be disastrous. Even backups can be problematic because Outlook Express is so touchy about the files and format of its email database. And that, perhaps, is the underlying problem: Outlook Express uses a proprietary and apparently very touchy database format to store your emails. While there are third party utilities, often expensive ones at that, to recover, it's simply not a particularly robust set up. It's hard to move, hard to recover, hard to repair and apparently easy to break. But it's free. ***

[8210GUY]

Well it's certainly true that due to so many using it, that it takes the hit when getting infections etc. which in turn can corrupt the data, so reports about such things will most certainly report it as being a bigger problem than it really is as such, it's like the difference between a car crash and a plane crash, because a plane crash deals with larger number's of people it will always appear to be far worse than a car crash, but if you put the numbers aside and look at the statistics your more likely to have a car crash, at least thats the way I view it anyway.

Anyway for starters I suggest moving away from AVG and getting Avast, far superior in most peoples view\experience, AVG is OK, but Avast is much better, unless your paying then NOD32 is as good as it gets, the only client I can think of off the top of my head is Thunderbird, part of Mozilla browser, but I don't know much about it, but many recommend it as a more secure medium.

But you say your business account email is the main concern, do you have web mail available with this ?
It's not easy to explain if someone doesn't know, but as you use Hotmail my hope is you know what I'm on about, if so reading\responding to mail using web mail is as secure as you can get, because the info is held on a server, so if your system gets a problem your mail is not affected as it's not on your PC, does this make sense to you ?

[sinnead]

Actually, it does, believe it or not, lol! And yes, my business email account is from a web based server. So, to get this straight- there is basically no reason I should be worrying about using OE as an email program? That the problems I've heard about are simply based on the percentages, and that's all?

[8210GUY]

No there is no such thing as not being concerned, especially where your work and the like depend on it, but you shouldn't let it panic you, but what you are doing now is exactly what you should be doing, and thats setting up a safety net, and picking up tips on safe practises and you will be as safe as it's possible to be with these things. Using Mailwasher as I explained above means nothing touches your PC until you allow it, because it downloads a preview of the mail, at which point you should be able to identify what is spam and the like, then delete it without it ever touching your system, this greatly improves your safety. Understanding about whats good and bad is another help, when you get infections often the 1st thing they do is forward themselves to everyone in your address book without you knowing, this is how they spread, it's the reason I use a software firewall as well, and make it so the email MUST ask permission BEFORE it can go online, because if your email suddenly asks to go online and you haven't asked it too it's a cert you have an infection, and this allows you to deny the mail net access, and start scanning and getting help to solve the issue. There are times that anti virus makers don't get a solution out before something bites, I got hit many years ago, it was so new anti virus makers didn't get a solution for a few weeks, and it was only due to making my email ask permission to go online that I was aware there was a problem, so I always promote this method as it's a way to stop your system infecting others should it ever get infected. Another rule is if there are attachments you do NOT open them, not unless you know where it's from and are expecting it, even then it's good practise to scan it with protection before opening it, you will often find the ability to scan via right clicking on the file rather than the whole system, the only way to be 100% safe is to pull the plug, other than that safe practise and up to date protection is as good as you can get. Now back to your web mail, my guess is your used to reading and replying to your email in your browser as you use Hotmail, this is probably your best option if you can do the same with your business email, then no matter what happens to your system the mail is safe as it's all on the server, so what you could do is if you want real time notification of getting mail, use Mailwasher, let it run by the clock, it's default is to check every 10 minutes for new mail, this can be adjusted if need be, then when you get the notification, you can see what it is, and if it's rubbish you can delete it without wasting more time, if it's something you want launch your browser and log into your web mail and deal with it in there. Have a think, maybe a play with these thoughts and see what you think, if you still want to have email on your system, I can try and get someone with more experience to advise on how to back up your email automatically, theres also an option to leave a copy of the mail on the server, unfortunately thats as much as I know about this, I know it's possible, but don't know enough to instruct personally, but if you want to go this route I will certainly try and get the help you require, just let me know.

[paws]

Hi , There is nothing wrong in using Outlook Express for your email.
Millions fo folks use it without problems,(although there will be folks who have problems with practically any program)

If the regular back up you perform of all your important stuff doesn't include your emails then its time to alter your back up so it does!......

Here's a link to an article that tells you one free way of backing up your Outlook Express emails:
http://www.freeemail...pressEmails.cwd

Remember its sometimes the operator of the machine that is the weakest link in the chain, not the operating system or the software, so if any of your computer operators have any weaknesses in their own knowledge or skill then it might be wise to consider a reading/skills program for them.
Regards
paws