Windows Live Mail Desktop is a simple, powerful tool that lets you get e-mail from multiple accounts in one place and integrates your mail with Windows Live™ Spaces, Windows Live Contacts, Windows Live Messenger, and more.

It gives speedy access to multiple e-mail accounts in one place (even AOL, Gmail, and many others) and allows you to compose and manage e-mail while offline: simply connect to the internet and your messages are sent and new messages downloaded.

Other key features include a reading pane with drag-and-drop features, so you can quickly read and manage your mail plus synchronization with Windows Live Mail and MSN Hotmail accounts.

It also features increased security options to keep your mail safer from hackers.

Download Windows Live Mail Desktop 12.0.1606 Beta in Softonic

Believe it or not there was a time when using email was something of a novelty, rather than the routine means of communication it's become today. If you're yearning for those halcyon days when emailing was new and exciting then maybe it's time you found a way to spice up your text life. Incredimail is an email client that allows you to inject a bit of fun into your mail.

The application, which has been around in various forms for some years now, allows you to insert audio and visual elements such as background images, animated pictures or humorous (or at least supposedly humorous) noises. It's clear from the outset that the program is aimed at the less technical user from the set-up wizard that makes it incredibly easy to register your accounts and import your existing mail from either Outlook or your webmail account.

Once you've got the app up and running, you'll find a truly impressive range of backgrounds, fonts, emoticons and all manner of other bells and whistles that you can browse through and add to your messages effortlessly. There's also a wealth of downloadable extras you can find on the web should you want to add even more variety to your outgoing mail.

In terms of its basic mail features Incredimail is very similar to Outlook Express, though the junk filtering system is a little difficult to set up, which isn't really in keeping with the rest of the program. Another interesting touch is the addition of a 'mail servant,' which notifies you of new mail even before you've opened the client. The default is in the form of an animated butler, although this can be changed if, or should we say when, you become annoyed with him.

There's no doubt that the program provides an interesting way of making your emails appear more interesting. The trouble is, one person's idea of fun is another's vision of tackiness hell, and festooning your messages with all these gimmicks means mail takes longer to download, which is doubly annoying for dial-up users. Although we personally wouldn't want to subject our friends to animated kisses, jumping clowns or burp sounds, Incredimail certainly provides a novel way of making your emails stand out from the rest.

Download IncrediMail Xe 5.70 build 3524 in Softonic

Although Internet speeds are getting quicker and email providers are offering more mailbox storage space, it's still no excuse for bombarding people with huge attachments. Yes, I know it's much easier to just dump the original file you want to send into the message, but programs like WinZip Companion mean you don't have to do this. The application allows you to zip and unzip files within Outlook with the greatest of ease.

WinZip Companion delivers several useful tools for helping you achieve smaller file sizes. The plug-in, which works exactly like the popular WinZip utility, provides a handy interface for compressing files directly before they are sent. It can bundle several different files into a single attachment, making things a lot easier for both you and the recepient of the email.

It's also very secure, because the software boasts built-in 256-Bit encryption. This means you can apply passwords to attachments so that they can only be opened by those who are authorised to do so. You can also opt to exclude certain file formats from compression if you so desire.

If you're an Outlook user and you send and receive attachments regularly then you can't afford to be without this program, as it will dramatically speed up transfer times and save precious space in your mailbox

Download WinZip Companion 2.0 in Softonic

Mail Bomber sends personalized e-mail to masses utilizing mailing lists and templates. It is a useful tool for anyone who needs to send information/notifications to a large number of recipients. It allows you to create and manage a number of separate mailing lists, write e-mail messages and keep track of feedback from your customers.

Download Mail Bomber 10.1 in Softonic

Yahoo Mail disabled free access to its POP3 service in April 2002. This resulted in many people looking for alternative free POP3 services. But this exercise can be very difficult because of the fact that your Yahoo Mail address could be with several people and informing all of them about your new email address could prove to be a nightmare. So, YPOPs was born.

YPOPs is an open-source initiative to provide free POP3 access to your Yahoo Mail account. This application emulates a POP3/SMTP server and enables popular email clients like Outlook, Netscape, Eudora, Mozilla, Calypso, etc., to send and receive messages from Yahoo Mail accounts.

Download YPOPs! 0.9.5.1 in Softonic

So you’ve made the leap and installed the versatile internet browser, Firefox, but are you ready to trade in your Outlook Express for Mozilla’s open source mail application? Thunderbird is Mozilla’s award winning and free solution to manage your mail more efficiently.

Thunderbird woos users thanks to its flurry of options and the benefits of an open source application. Automatic updates ensure that you have the latest version of Thunderbird, preventing any security threats and offering you new features as soon as they’re available.

The biggest worry for users is switching from one mail application to another and losing precious information. With Thunderbird the switch is painless because you can quickly import your mail and contacts from your Outlook and set up your POP3 or IMAP account is a snap. To stay well organized we suggest that you take advantage of Thunderbird’s filters. While this option is nothing new to the experienced Outlook user, you’ll come to see that Thunderbird makes filters much more accessible, thanks to a simple selection of combinations and actions. Create distinct folders for your personal and professional mail and your newsletters and associate them with filters to avoid the hassle of constantly sorting your mail. Another feature we could single out is the integrated spell checker, a blessing if you send many emails and can’t be bothered to constantly verify your writing.

Although it isn’t visible right away, Thunderbird also features an RSS reader. Handy if you need to follow the news or specialist websites, this tool fits seamlessly into Thunderbird and you could almost forget that it is a mail application. Paste in the RSS feed from your favorite news source and the main messages window will reveal a list of all the latest feeds. The message pane is used as an integrated browser window to display the selected article.

Email is the number one source of viruses, that’s why Thunderbird offers various levels of message encryption, a spam filter and support for valid certificates. We found the spam filter particularly effective. Set it to “learn” mode, and it teaches itself to separate the valid email from the rest of the junk. You have to be mindful of this option though, because Thunderbird can become too restrictive and may decide on its own that one of your friends is suddenly persona non grata. Reviewing your junk folder every now and then should avoid you accidentally losing friends. Thunderbird also automatically turns off Javascript and by default does not load remote images, a good way to defuse the risk of viruses from dodgy emails.

Another known feature of the Mozilla line of products is customization. Just as with Firefox, Thunderbird can integrate a slew of extensions and add-ons to rev up your inbox. You can also add or remove icons from the actions pane, selecting the ones you use most frequently.

The one place where Thunderbird fails, and professionals will confirm this, is the failure to integrate Microsoft Exchange support. An essential tool in any work environment, the collaborative messaging software is sorely missed in Thunderbird and seriously limits its usefulness in offices. Furthermore, we can question why Mozilla included an RSS reader yet failed to incorporate a calendar, standard in most mail applications nowadays.

While the lack of proper business minded features will limit Thunderbird’s point in the workplace, the simplicity, customizability and security make it a number one choice for home users. If you’re worried about your safety on the Internet or are just looking for a more efficient way of handling your mail, Thunderbird is probably the best solution out there.

Download Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5.0.10 in Softonic

So you’ve taken the leap and installed the versatile internet browser, Firefox, but are you ready to trade in your Outlook Express for Mozilla’s open source mail application? Thunderbird is Mozilla’s award winning and free solution to manage your mail more efficiently.

Thunderbird woos users thanks to its flurry of options and the benefits of an open source application. Automatic updates ensure that you have the latest version of Thunderbird, preventing any security threats and offering you new features as soon as they’re available.

The biggest worry for users is switching from one mail application to another and losing precious information. With Thunderbird the switch is painless because you can quickly import your mail and contacts from your Outlook and set up your POP3 or IMAP account is a snap. To stay well organized we suggest taking advantage of Thunderbird’s filters. While this option is nothing new to the experienced Outlook user, you’ll have to admit that Thunderbird makes filters much more accessible, thanks to a simple selection of combinations and actions. Create distinct folders for your personal and professional mail and your newsletters and associate them with filters to avoid the hassle of constantly sorting your mail. Another feature we could single out is the integrated spell checker, a blessing if you send many emails and can’t be bothered to constantly verify your writing.

Although it isn’t visible right away, Thunderbird also features an RSS reader. Handy if you need to follow the news or specialist websites, this tool fits seamlessly into Thunderbird and you could almost forget that it is a mail application. Paste in the RSS feed from your favorite news source and the main messages window will reveal a list of all the latest feeds. The message pane is used as an integrated browser window to display the selected article.

Email is the number one source of viruses, that’s why Thunderbird offers various levels of message encryption, a spam filter and support for valid certificates. We found the spam filter particularly effective. Set it to “learn” mode, and it teaches itself to separate the valid email from the rest of the junk. You have to be mindful of this option though, because Thunderbird can become too restrictive and may decide on its own that one of your friends is suddenly persona non grata. Reviewing your junk folder every now and then should avoid you accidentally losing friends. Thunderbird also automatically turns off Javascript and by default does not load remote images, a good way to defuse the risk of viruses from dodgy emails.

Another known feature of the Mozilla line of products is customization. Just as with Firefox, Thunderbird can integrate a slew of extensions and add-ons to rev up your inbox. You can also add or remove icons from the actions pane, selecting the ones you use most frequently.

The one place where Thunderbird fails, and professionals will confirm this, is the failure to integrate Microsoft Exchange support. An essential tool in any work environment, the collaborative messaging software is sorely missed in Thunderbird and seriously limits its usefulness in offices. Furthermore, we can question why Mozilla included an RSS reader yet failed to incorporate a calendar, standard in most mail applications nowadays.

While the lack of proper business minded features will limit Thunderbird’s point in the workplace, the simplicity, customizability and security make it a number one choice for home users. If you’re worried about your safety on the Internet or are just looking for a more efficient way of handling your mail, Thunderbird is probably the best solution out there.

Download Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.16 in Softonic

GetMail for Hotmail is an email forwarding program that aims to address the lack of a POP3 server for Hotmail. This means that you can automatically setup Hotmail to forward your e-mails to other addresses. If you use GetMail For Hotmail with other third party POP3 tools such as FreePOPS or YPOPS you can also forward from AOL, Yahoo and many other webmail email accounts.

This makes it particularly useful for mass migrating all your e-mail to Gmail but also to continue forwarding e-mail received in your old accounts. For those that wish to forward to other POP accounts, the developers have created a list of SMTP servers. GetMail for Hotmail can even forward e-mail to your Blackberry. It's SSL compatible and can run as a Windows service.

This is an excellent program that's long overdue. As many more people move from Hotmail to other e-mail accounts, this will become an increasingly popular program.

Download GetMail for Hotmail 4.00 in Softonic

Advanced Mail Bomber is a professional email software intended for fast mailing list management. It allows you to organize email-based subscriptions on your web site, and send requested information or notifications to your recipients.

You can create and manage thematic mailing lists in several mailing groups, import the full recipient data from any file formats that lets you use the program with any database system, and generate personalized messages on fly from predefined templates using recipient database fields.

Advanced Mail Bomber can send email messages in several different formats such as plain-text, HTML, and EML. EML format enables you to send colored messages with embedded graphics created in Outlook Express, which will look exactly as you see them there.

The interface of the program is very simple and easy to learn - nearly all functions can be performed using hotkeys on the keyboard. This software is a handy tool for making your web-based email subscription possible, it's a mailing list manager, a simple and handy address book, and a simple email program. Online Help is available.

Download Advanced Mail-Bomber 9.8 in Softonic

GetMail is a mail forwarding program that started life because of the lack of POP3 availability for Hotmail. If you have tried looking for a POP3 address for Hotmail you'll know that one is only available to paying customers.

From these humble beginnings it has evolved into a flexible Hotmail/MSN/Pop mail directing forwarding program. Plus by using GetMail with other third party tools you can forward on AOL and many other account types making it the ideal tool to use for not only mass migrating your e-mail to Gmail but also continuing to forward on mail received in your old accounts.

Download GetMail 3.3 in Softonic

Genie Outlook Express Backup supports backing up the data of all the identities in Microsoft Outlook Express in the same backup file. Backup your data in the form of a standalone EXE file that can be executed on any machine even if Genie Backup Manager is not installed. What makes Outlook Express Backup different from all other backup applications is that it gives the user the ability to backup data of unlimited size. Outlook Express Backup also introduces a new valuable tool to its users, it gives you the option to “test” your backup file anytime you want to make sure your data is always safe and sound. You can backup:

• Multiple identities
• Message rules
• All accounts
• Preferences
• Block senders
• Signatures
• Stationery
• Windows address book
• Windows favorites

The new Auto Update feature allows you to automatically update your version of Genie Outlook Express Backup. You can also view emails inside the backup file without having to restore them first. This new feature allows you to quick-view your emails. You can even “copy” the text of the email and you can view images, media, etc. An automatic backup scheduler enables you from starting the backup process at anytime without you being physically there.

Download Genie Outlook Express Backup 6.5 in Softonic

Lookout is lightning-fast search for your email, files, and desktop works with Microsoft Outlook®.

Lookout was acquired by Microsoft in June, 2004. Since that time, we have been hard at work building the MSN Toolbar Suite, which is a new search product from MSN. At this point Lookout is still available to use, but future developments from MSN will be in the MSN Toolbar Suite product. Existing Lookout users are welcome to continue to use Lookout as long as they wish, or upgrade to the new MSN product.

Download Lookout 1.3.0 Beta in Softonic

ePrompter automatically and simultaneously checks and retrieves your e-mail messages from up to 16 password-protected e-mail accounts, such as AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo, POP3, Earthlink, Excite, Juno, GO, Gmail, Email.com, Mail.com, Mindspring, MSN, MyWay, OneBox, Rediffmail, USA.net, and hundreds of other e-mail domains.

ePrompter not only lets you compose, forward, and reply to your retrieved messages, but also gives you the ability to delete unwanted spam or suspicious-looking mail without having to launch your e-mail program or having to go to your Web mail's site. ePrompter notification features include a unique rotating tray icon and a choice of five screensavers that let you know at a glance the number of new messages in each account, as well as audio alerts for new messages. ePrompter also includes autodial for automatic message retrieval.

Download ePrompter 2.0 SR105 in Softonic

Grab the calendar of the first stage of the 2006 World Cup. All you need to do is import this file into your Outlook and it will show the schedule and the venue for each and every one of the first stage games. That way, you'll be able to keep in touch with the timetable for the games.

Download World Cup 2006 Outlook Calendar 1.0 in Softonic

With Voice mail Compressor you can send voice email messages to anyone with an e-mail address. Voice Mail Compressor generates compressed .wav files reducing the size from 16 to 10 times. The recipient doesn't need any special software to listen your messages, by just double-clicking the file, you can listen it using the default audio player.

Features:

• Works with the Windows® bundled ACM codecs ( present in all 32 bits windows versions).
• You can select the codec of the output voice file.
• Only 32 KB for a 30 second voice message with the DSP True Speech® Codec.
• Only 50 KB for a 30 second voice message with the GSM 6.10® Codec
• Only 30 KB for a 30 second voice message with the Lame MP3® Encoder, now with the mp3 format, Linux, Mac, Pocket PC and Palm users can listen your messages too.
• Simple, minimalist and intuitive graphic interface.
• Send the voice file automatically with your favorite pop3 email client or save it in a hard disk folder for use with your web-based email account.
• Compatible with all MAPI e-mails clients ( Mozilla Thunderbird®, Eudora®, Outlook Express®, etc...).
• Easily share Voice Mail Compressor with your friends ( less than 1 MB for the installer file).
• Voice Mail Compressor is 100% freeware, no ads, no limitations, no adware, no banners, no spyware etc....

Download Voice Mail Compressor 2.20 in Softonic

Spamcc Pro is a powerful, safe spam filter. It can help you block spam and pick up useful e-mail from your inbox. Spamcc Pro automatically and simultaneously checks and retrieves your e-mail messages from multiple accounts, such as POP3, IMAP, Hotmail, MSN, AOL, Yahoo and Gmail. It's easy to set up and no additional configuration required. With the program, you can preview message, save attachments, delete unwanted messages directly.

Spamcc Pro uses Bayesian analysis technology to detect spam. You can train it to learn what you consider spam and what you consider legitimate e-mail. The more you train, the more effective it becomes. Other filter features include Friends List (import from Outlook, Outlook Express, and MSN Messenger), Blacklist, Country Blocking and customizable filters. The unique grouping filter enables you to view grouped messages from family, friends and workmates and other categories. Spamcc Pro can trace e-mail and show geographical location of sender, validate the message is from the location you expect.

Download Spamcc Pro 3.0 in Softonic

FreePOPs is an easily extensible program, which gives access to varied resources through the POP3 protocol. It is used mainly to download mail from the most famous webmails, but it can also be used as an aggregator for RSS feeds and much more. In this way, it is possible for you to get all your messages in your favorite email client.

Download FreePOPs 0.0.98 in Softonic

Nostalgic users of the classic Eudora will be glad to get their hands on the latest outing, Penelope. This updated version manages to mix in iconic Eudora features with many things from Mozilla's Thunderbird. You'll immediately recognize the Eudora icons and the typical Thunderbird interface. The mail client is easy to install and to set up your own account. You can create filters to manage incoming mail and use Mozilla's search as you type feature to skip through your emails.

Penelope also includes an RSS reader, once again based on the one from Thunderbird. It worked smoothly importing new feeds. The preview window lets you read feeds directly from Penelope instead of opening them up in your browser. Another neat feature of the mail client is that you can now install all Thunderbird add-ons to it. The address book has also been improved and you can easily import or export it to various formats.

Despite still being a bit unstable (Penelope is still in development after all), the Eudora mail client provides a good alternative to send and receive mail. Qualcomm Penelope developers seem to have succeeded in blending the strengths of both Eudora and Thunderbird into one.

Download Eudora (Penelope) 8.0.0 b3 in Softonic

Gmail Notifier enables you to check your Gmail account right from the system tray, that is, without having to visit the Gmail webpage. Although this idea seems quite convenient at first sight, the truth is that I found this little app a bit disappointing.

First, you can only check one account, while other similar notifiers such as Gmail Manager have support for multiple Gmail accounts. Also, Gmail Notifier only checks your mailbox when you tell it to do so, as there's no automatic check feature included.

On the upside, the program shows message snippets every time you check email, so you can decide if it's worth opening the browser to read them or not. It can also set Gmail as your default email application to open email links online.

Download Gmail Notifier 1.0 Beta in Softonic

Atomic Mail Sender (AMS) is a mass mailer, a utility that delivers e-mail messages directly to the recipients' mailboxes without using your ISP mail server. This mailer supports the mailing lists stored in the formats of text files (.txt or .lst) or CSV-files exported from MS Excel or MS Access. Atomic Mail Sender provides basic mailing list management options: adding new addresses, removing addresses, filtering features, etc.

Combined together with Atomic Subscription Manager, the two software applications make the entire process of addresses management automatic. You need not add or remove users manually anymore!

Download Atomic Mail Sender 4.20 in Softonic