A Look At Mozilla For Windows Users - Page 5

Thunderbird 0.5

Thunderbird is Mozilla's stand-alone email client. You'll notice the "0.5" version number. This means they are still playing with it and indicates it isn't quite finished. However, many thousands of people are using Thunderbird 0.5 today as their email client.

Thunderbird Window

(click on the thumbnail for a full-sized image)

Thunderbird is highly configurable and contains all anyone could need from an email client. Aside from advanced security settings, it does have a junk mail filter. I haven't used it because for it to be of any use you have to "train" it.*** FWIW- haven't seen a spam filter on the client side that was worth messing with to date but then I get way more spam than the average user. Give me a shout if you have used these filters with success. Extensions are where Thunderbird gets it's extra tweaking ability, I'm currently using a couple of them. I'll skip showing you every option screen as I did with Firebird and just show you the main menu. If your comfortable using Outlook Express's options menu you'll be more than comfortable here.

*** Apr.14, 2004 - The reason I don't use the junk mail filter is that because of the amount of testing I do I image/restore my computer on almost a weekly basis. Basically, this would mean having to retrain the filter every week. I fully realize that my situation is somewhat unique. I've received several letters that were very pleased with the filters.

My Thoughts

I went back and deleted several paragraphs from this article. Some things you just have to experience.

Many people look at Thunderbird as a replacement for Outlook Express. It's actually much more than that. I replaced Microsoft's Outlook 2003 with it. Not only does it have every feature that 99.9999% of the planet needs from Outlook 2003 but it does it without the bloat that comes with it. For users with multiple accounts Thunderbird is WICKED FAAAST! It is AT LEAST 3 times faster than Outlook 2003 at downloading from my 8 email accounts. I use the Get All Messages extension by Chris Neale. Thunderbird is also faster at sending email. I've noticed a significant difference when I send large attachments. Oh, and yes your anti-virus program will work with it.

So lets sum this up:

All the features you could ever want from MS's best email program with none of the bloat or cost, AND, it's faster! 'Nuff said!!!

Article Conclusion

I hope this article helped those unfamiliar with these applications. I firmly believe that Firefox & Thunderbird are the future of Mozilla.org. I also believe as they mature they have the potential to become the applications of choice in their respective categories for the majority of users.

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