Despite the popularity of web-based email accounts, there are still people who use POP3 mailboxes and email clients such as Outlook Express. If you're one of them, keep on reading because you're going to love this app.

SpamBrave is a powerful antispam tool that sets a filter between your mailbox and the mail server, analyzing each message you download and throwing all the spam away so that it doesn't bother you anymore. Of course, the program's efficiency depends highly on its training, and training takes time. But this learning process has been automated to a certain extent, which means that fortunately you don't have to go over all of your messages one by one.

SpamBrave can take a look at your Outlook folders and learn from what you consider good and bad email messages. If you don't have enough of them, it'll learn from its embedded spam library. Plus you can also create "white" and "black" lists with your approved and banned senders, respectively.

The program is seamlessly integrated into the Outlook interface as a new toolbar and includes some configuration settings with which you can adapt it you your needs.

SpamBrave is a powerful spam filter for Outlook Express that, after some careful training, can help you get rid of those unwanted messages.

Download SpamBrave Lite for Outlook Express 5.6 in Softonic

PopTray is a mail notifier with a large round of features. It can offer you the following:

• Unlimited number of Accounts
• Show number of messages directly on the TrayIcon (rotating by account)
• Quickly preview a message
• Delete messages from the server without downloading them
• Identify a message according to your criteria
• Configurable hot-keys/mouse-buttons/command-line options for most functions
• Plug-in support for protocol and notification
• Spam management using rules and white/black lists
• Multiple notifications (play sound, pop-up, etc)

Download PopTray 3.2 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

Don't miss a second of the World Cup action. This tool imports itself directly into your Outlook calendar and shows the schedule of every world cup match, from the first round to the schedule. It also informs of what English tv channel each game will be broadcast and the venue for each game. If you double click on an entry you can view extra information for each squad from the MSN website. Finally you can schedule alarm notifications for your favorite games.

Download World Cup 2006 fixture list 1.0 in Softonic

If you're the kind of person who likes to have a colorful signature in your e-mail messages, this program is for you.

WiseStamp is a Firefox add-on that lets you add a fully customizable e-mail signature to all your outgoing messages. The good thing about it is that it's compatible with the most popular webmail services on the web: Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! and AOL Mail.

WiseStamp is very easy to use: after installing it in Firefox, you'll see a tiny icon in the browser's bottom right corner from where you can enable or disable the extension, as well as choose between the two only available signatures: business or personal.

You can totally customize each signature: choose fonts and colors, add links to Internet sites, display a small image, link to your profile on a dozen different social networks… the choice is yours.

WiseStamp offers also a preview window to make sure your signature looks nice before saving your work. Pity it doesn't save and sync signatures across computers, which means you'll have to manually create and configure your signature in every single computer you access webmail from.

With WiseStamp you'll be able to create and use completely customized HTML signatures in your webmail system.

Download WiseStamp 1.1 in Softonic

Spam Terrier sits between your email server and your email client, working as a powerful filter to prevent all those spam messages from reaching your inbox. Although we didn't have the time to test it thoroughly (it would have taken days to check its accuracy) we certainly could see that this is a very polished and promising tool that can help you in your personal battle against unsolicited messages.

Spam Terrier is seamlessly integrated into your e-mail client as a toolbar from which you can mark messages as spam or non spam. The program does require some prior training but this can easily be done by means of a wizard and the messages you already have in your inbox. The program also enables you to create white and black lists (for approved and banned senders respectively) as well as decide what to do with spam messages.

Download Spam Terrier 2.0.164 in Softonic

Simple Mail is a Firefox extension that can turn your favorite web browser into a basic, yet fully functional email client.

Once installed, you can configure Simple Mail with your email account details and manage your mailbox from just another tab in Firefox. The extension works with POP3, SMTP and IMAP email accounts – no webmail support here, but hey, simply open another tab and browse to your webmail page. Also, you can set up as many simultaneous accounts as you want.

Simply Mail behaves just like any regular email client: you'll be able to check your messages, reply to them, see any attached files and of course send new messages from a full featured rich text editor. The program also includes some nice options such as an address book or the possibility to download just message headers. Just bear in mind that this is meant to be a simple, lightweight client so there won't be extra features like signatures or spam filters.

If you only need a basic, simple-to-use email client for your POP3 email account, then Simply Mail can be a perfect solution, as long as you use Firefox as your web browser.

Download Simple Mail 2.69 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

I use Gmail so much now that in many ways, I prefer it to even using Outlook. However, integration with Windows is nowhere near as good as Microsoft Outlook for obvious reasons.

gAttach! bridges that gap somewhat by allowing you to attach files directly to Gmail or Google Apps Mail directly from Windows. In other words, just right click on a file, select "Send To" and "Mail recipient" and the plugin will automatically open your Gmail client with the file already attached. It not only attaches files directly from Windows Explorer - it also opens up a whole new world of attachment possibilities from Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

There's not much more too it than that - it integrates perfectly into Windows Explorer. However, you may experience some glitches. If you are sending a file attachment whose filename is in a different alphabet to the one you use normally (e.g. your computer uses English but you're sending a Spanish attachment), it may not recognize or attach the file. It's also limited by Gmail's 20MB file attachment restriction. If you're logged into your Gmail, it won't prompt you for your details but if you are not, then it does ask you for your username and password which you may or not feel comfortable submitting.

For any Gmail fan, this is an excellent utility that makes attaching and sending files so much easier than opening your web client all the time.

Download gAttach! 1.2008.7.7 in Softonic

Have you ever been worried of losing your archive of e-mails? MailStore Server is an alternative way of storing your precious mails.

The program supports multiple clients including those offered by Microsoft and Mozilla. This means it can work with Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail Accounts Exchange, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey mail accounts and those based on the POP3 or IMAP protocols. To set it up, you select the type of customer or mail account you want to use, establish a connection and then instruct MailStore to back it all up. While you are backing up email, you are kept informed of the status via messages delivered to your internet browser and if your files and attachments are too big to be backed up, there's also a compression tool and functions to export and burn your backups. The advantages to all this are several - first of all it provides you with peace of mind that your mail is backed up, it keeps all your e-mail in one place and it also frees up valuable space that may be being taken up on your server. It can also be an invaluable resource in the case of legal disputes to have backed up e-mails as evidence.

If you need a fast and easy way to backup your e-mail from a non web based client, then MailStore Server is as simple as they come.

Download MailStore 2.5.1 in Softonic

There's nothing more annoying than your personal inbox getting filled with spam trying to sell you viagra, financial services and all manner of other things you don't want.

Mailwasher Free is an easy solution for those that want to try and stop the avalanche of spam that may be clogging your inbox. These programs can be hard to setup but Mailwasher is refreshingly free of jargon and will help you get setup on just about any mail client in a matter of seconds. The program has even received glowing write ups by the BBC and CNN so you know you're getting something pretty decent here. Mailwasher has a clever preview utility which allows you to preview spam before downloading it onto your desktop - this is especially useful if it's malicious mail that could do damage to your hard drive. You can customise it to make it more sensitive to your needs too such as by adding friends to your contact list and also instructing it to bounce suspicious mail back to the sender. This is particularly useful as it will make the sender think your address is no longer active so your name is removed from their list meaning they won't be bothering you again.

A very simple but highly effective and powerful spam management tool that makes sure your inbox stays junk free.

Download Mailwasher Free 6.1 in Softonic

If you're a Thunderbird user, and you're always receiving links from friends but can't be bothered opening them in your browser, then this extension could be what you've been looking for. It simply adds URL bar to the Thunderbird interface which allows you to view websites without having to even touch Firefox, IE or whichever browser you use.

The good thing is it's easy to use and unobtrusive because it doesn't require anymore buttons adding to your toolbar because it simply adds it to the message pane that you are reading. if you do want to use your custom browser you can simply right click a link and choose to "Visit in Browser". It's also remarkably customisable for an extension allowing you to configure various Hotkeys with "about:commands" in the URL bar.

The obvious downside is that it is very small. It's often hard to read text and graphics although you can select a full screen mode. Nevertheless, this is an excellent tool for Thunderbird users and will save valuable RAM and productivity time spent reverting back and forth between your browser.

Download ThunderBrowse 3.2.1.2 in Softonic

Backing up email is not always easy, mainly because you need to find the right tool for the specific email client you're using.. unless you use Amic Email Backup.

This excellent backup application enables you to save all data in your email client as a backup copy you can then restore on a fresh installation or a completely new computer by using exactly the same program. Amic Email Backup supports the most popular clients, including Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Netscape Messenger, IncrediMail and PocoMail.

The whole process is really easy: simply select your client, pick the data you want to include in the backup copy and let the program take care of the rest. What's more, you can also follow the program's wizard-style interface which is even easier.

Like I said, the program has also a restoring tool which you can use to bring your data back to the email client. Amic Email Backup also supports backup scheduling: use it to always keep an updated backup copy of your messages and you won't loose important information ever again. The only thing missing, apparently, is the ability to create incremental backups.

With Amic Email Backup you can easily create security copies of any data in the most popular email clients. Plus, the schedule tool lets you leave the hard work to the program.

Download Amic Email Backup 2.0 in Softonic

If you've got multiple e-mail accounts then keeping track of what you are receiving can be an absolute nightmare involving multiple browsers and lots of confusion.

A far better solution is something like POP Peeper which is an easy to use email notifier that runs in Windows task bar and alerts you when you have new email on POP3, IMAP, Windows LiveMail, Yahoo, GMail, Mail.com, MyWay, Excite, Lycos.com, RediffMail, Juno and NetZero accounts. The fact that it supports so many webmail accounts makes this a really attractive app although in reality, you may find that it doesn't detect mail until considerably after it has arrived in your account, if at all - especially with Windows Live Mail. However, it does allow you to send e-mail directly from POP Peeper and use the address book to email your frequently used contacts. Messages can be viewed in both HTML and plain text although newsletters and other mail with heavy graphics won't display properly in plain text. One major bonus is that POP Peeper is so small that it can be can be run from a portable device and password protected which means that it's fairly secure and is a decent solution for anyone on the move a lot.

Although it doesn't give you full control over your e-mail accounts, and may not even work properly with all webmail accoutns, this is worth trying if you have multiple e-mail accounts.

Download POP Peeper 3.2 in Softonic

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

If you like Google Calendar but the only supported calendar at work is the Microsoft Outlook one, this tool is going to make your life much easier.

Google Calendar Sync is a software app developed by the Google team with which you can sync events between your Google Calendar and the Microsoft Outlook calendar. Synchronization works in several ways: either one-way from Google to Outlook, one-way from Outlook to Google or two-way between both apps.

When installing Google Calendar Sync you'll need to close Microsoft Outlook and also provide your username and password for your Google account. Once you've done that you're pretty much ready to go. Google Calendar Sync shows an icon on the system tray (which is really not that informative) and can be set to synchronize events according to a customized period of time. Also, events are fully editable inside Google Calendar's web interface.

On the downside, all the events I had in shared calendars were not successfully synced so I guess it only works with your own personal calendars.

Despite not working with shared calendars, Google Calendar Sync is still a very handy tool to keep both Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar fully synced.

Download Google Calendar Sync 0.9.3.0 in Softonic

Spicebird is an all-in-one application based on the Mozilla Gecko engine that could pose a big threat to Microsoft Outlook. Best of all, it's completely free.

Spicebird principally includes e-mail, a calendar and and an IM client. Everything is integrated with Gmail so if you're a user, all your contacts can be conveniently imported immediately. Spicebird also features a nifty RSS reader to keep you ahead of the latest news from your favourite sites. And like Outlook, it warns you when a meeting or appointment is approaching on your calendar. Spicebird is still very much a work in progress and in the future will include new languages and many more extensions to enhance it's performance. In the future, it will include new languages and extensions that enhance its operation. However, there are still basic things that still need to improve before it can seriously rival Outlook including a more advanced contacts list. In addition, like many Mozilla products, it can be rather heavy on your RAM. There are undeniable similarities between Thunderbird and Spicebird but unfortunately, it doesn't seem to integrate very well but as it's still developing, hopefully they will take this into account.

A good looking, easy to use suite which has a lot of potential although it will be a while before it can seriously rival Outlook.

Download Spicebird Beta 0.4 in Softonic

Enigmail is a Thundberbird plugin which will allow you to encrypt your emails using OpenPGP.

As we previously wrote on our blog, you should consider sending encrypted emails whenever you're writing about personal things that you only want to reveal to your receiver. Encryption can be a pain but luckily Enigmail makes this easy for anybody using Thunderbird.

Encrypting and decrypting messages only takes a click and you can verify the signatures of messages received. Enigmail uses OpenPGP, which is a very good, open source encrypting solution. Since it works as a Thunderbird plugin, it's also small and unintrusive and integrates perfectly in the Mozilla mail client.

Enigmail brings some advanced configuration, which could still turn off some users. For one, you'll need to install GnuPG by yourself to make it work. However, take the time to delve into the preferences and you'll have encryption well set up in Thunderbird. You'll be able to choose your key, select to sign encrypted and non-encrypted messages by default or not and if to send an OpenPGP header with your messages.

Enigmail is flexible encryption tool, which lets you edit rules by recipient, manage smartcards and handle all your keys via one interface. In all, if you use Thunderbird, this plugin is definitely a must, so that you can send encrypted emails.

Although some users will be afraid of the configuration, Enigmail is a very efficient and flexible encryption plugin for Thunderbird.

Download Enigmail 0.95.6 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

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