Sylpheed is an email client and news reader based on GTK+ GUI toolkit. It's full of features designed to help you get more from your messages and improve the speed at which you receive and process news feeds.

Although it's designed for Unix systems, it also works on Windows although the GUI is not exactly what you might expect from an e-mail client. It's very no thrills with few graphical attractions but as you would expect from a program designed for Unix platforms, it's very secure and functional. The program is also remarkably well-organized, lightweight and supports just about every e-mail protocol you'll ever need. It's also designed for those that need maximum security because it supports not only the standard SSL protocol but also GnuPG and TLSv1.

In addition, it comes with more standard functions you would expect such as a powerful filtering and search tool, junk mail control and external commander that allows you to do away with the mouse for a while. It doesn't seem to allow you to retrieve mail from other POP3 accounts though although there is an extensive forum that no doubt, allows you to do this.

A very secure and highly professional e-mail client that doesn't make it easy for beginners but will certainly please those that need high security and work across platforms.

Download Sylpheed 2.5.0 in Softonic

Although web-based e-mail has meant that many desktop based clients are redundant, there's nothing that beats your own personal client. Koma-mail is the sort of client you can take anywhere on a USB stick which makes it ideal for those that are worried about the security of web based mail.

Best of all, it requires absolutely no installation and supports the all important SSL and APOP protocols. It also features support, as you would expect, for POP3 and IMAP plus it includes some other extra security add-ons such as ActiveX script blocking. From an aesthetic perspective, it's not the best looking e-mail client you'll ever use but it's very easy to find your way around, much simpler than something like Outlook and has everything you need. If you share the client amongst colleagues and employees, you can

You can define multiple user profiles so that each of them have their own settings and it supports multiple accounts, use of templates and both a simple spam filter and RSS reader.

If you're looking for a portable e-mail client to use between various people, then you'll find this helps you easily configure multiple profiles and does a simple but effective job.

Download Koma-Mail 3.7 in Softonic

If you spend a lot of time away from your computer or need access to all your email accounts while traveling then Reach-a-Mail is a great solution.

When you're on the move, you may not always have access to your webmail or at least, access may be slow. And if you are traveling to a destination where Internet connectivity is poor then, you'll need some way of accessing your old e-mails. The only way to do this is to take them with you which is exactly what Reach-a-Mail allows you to do. In a nutshell, Reach-a-Mail is an ultra compact mail client which allows you to compress and take your mail and address book with you on a USB stick. If you're internet connection is working, you can also check new mail but if not, it can save all your e-mails for offline viewing before you set-off on your travels. This includes e-mail to multiple accounts so it's a great tool if you're running a small business or private project on a budget but have to move around a lot.

Reach-a-Mail installs easily on USB flash memory stick, allowing you to store your address book and any important correspondence you might need for day-to-day tasks. In the free version, you are plagued with ads but this Pro version is completely ad free and also includes a small RSS reader. You may be better sticking to your regular reader though as it doesn't seem to import feeds easily but it's the mail client that impresses most anyway.

Ideal for travelers and business people on the move, Reach-a-Mail is a small, portable and easy to use solution for those moments when you don't have online access to your e-mail and contacts.

Download Reach-a-Mail Pro 3.5 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

Becky! Internet Mailer offers numerous advantages. It is a simple and easy to use alternative to the big email clients. It has the following features:

Create multiple mailboxes

You can switch between several different settings, like "LAN" and dialup

New protocols are supported

IMAP4rev1 for e-mail and LDAP for the address book

Fast

You can manage thousands of e-mail at your fingertip

Write HTML e-mail with Becky!

Becky! is a complete HTML enabled e-mail client

Flexible template capability

Pepare standardized e-mail format for business and personal e-mail

Unique "Reminder" capability

Receive e-mail from "you" on scheduled date

Powerful "Filtering Manager"

You can sort messages into folders according to the filtering rules and define unlimited and/or conditions for one filtering rule.

"Mailing Lists Manager"

Helps you organize multiple mailing list subscriptions

"Plug-In" interface

Enables third parties to create useful plug-ins to customize Becky! for your particular needs

Download Becky! Internet Mail 2.46 in Softonic

Email is an area where there have been few major innovations in standalone e-mail clients for quite some time. However, eMailaya makes a valiant attempt to do so with some interesting features and facets. The program is essentially an email previewer, client, and notifier in one. However, it's particularly good for those that want to set up multiple e-mail accounts because it allows you to set up new accounts with minimum complications or administrative headaches.

You can protect all accounts with a password and enjoy the benefits of tabbed e-mailing and switch between text and html. One bonus is that the program also allows you to convert your mailbox into a simple backup and storage utility for large files. One particularly nice feature is that eMailaya can tell you in each e-mail how long it took to be sent and be received which is useful when diagnosing delivery issues.

This is certainly one of the most innovative e-mail clients you'll find and well worth a try for those looking for something a bit different in their e-mail experience.

Download eMailaya 3.1.5 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

Simple to use, powerful, and customizable, Thunderbird is a full-featured email application. Thunderbird supports IMAP and POP mail protocols, as well as HTML mail formatting. Easily import your existing email accounts and messages. Built-in RSS capabilities, powerful quick search, spell check as you type, global inbox, deleting attachments and advanced message filtering round out Thunderbird's modern feature set.

Advanced Folder Views

Thunderbird 2 offers a variety of ways for you to organize and display your folders, whether by favorites, recently viewed or folders containing unread messages. As always, you can also set up RSS and newsgroup folders to stay on top of news and your interests. Thunderbird 2 also allows you to maximize your message view pane by opting for a folder drop down menu instead of the traditional sidebar.

Message Tagging

Thunderbird 2 allows you to “tag” messages with descriptors such as “To Do” or “Done” or even create your own tags that are specific to your needs. Tags can be combined with saved searches and mail views to make it easier to organize email.

Message History Navigation

Thunderbird 2 offers message history navigation that allows you to click “forward” and “back” much like in your Web browser. You can now quickly toggle between messages and folder views.

Improved Search

Thunderbird 2 features a find as you type pane that speeds up searches within displayed messages. Thunderbird also offers quick search, which starts showing search results as soon as you start typing in search terms.

Saved Searches

Do you find yourself searching for the same subject or message content over and over? Thunderbird 2 saves you time by allowing you to store this search as a folder. Rerunning the search is just a matter of clicking on the saved search folder in the folder pane.

Stay Informed

Thunderbird 2 has been updated to provide more informative and relevant message alerts containing sender, subject and message text for newly arrived messages. Folders provide a pop up summarizing new messages in that folder.

Easy Access to Popular Web Mail Services

Thunderbird 2 makes it even easier to integrate and use various Web mail accounts from one inbox. Gmail and .Mac users can access their accounts in Thunderbird by simply providing their user names and passwords.

Download Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.12 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

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 2.47 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

You wish to toss messages from your friends into special folders, send automatic replies to people from other departments, mark messages from your dear ones with special colours. Press Ctrl+Shift+F to quickly create a new filter based on the current message and define its functionality.

A sales manager should send personalised price lists and promotional material to her/his company partners. Just create Quick Templates by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Q, type the handle of the template you need and press Ctrl+Space - The Bat! will promptly insert text, attach files and make the message ready to send.

Every day, you have to go through endless lists of messages from somebody who wants to sell you something you don't need? You want to read messages only from people you need and do not waste your time reading all those ads? Just add BayesIt! anti-spam plug-in to The Bat!, feed it with examples of spam you receive and relax - BayesIt! filters our virtually all unwanted mail while messages you need get through.

Download The Bat! Home Edition 3.99.29 in Softonic

If you're always on the move and a big Thunderbird fan, then this program should answer a lot of your prayers. Thunderbird Portable can run from a USB stick and leaves no hard disk footprint meaning you can use it with ease anytime, anywhere.

The e-mail client is one of the most useful features - you can take your e-mail with you wherever you go although obviously, you can quickly fill up a flash drive with e-mails as you download them. Fortunately, the program itself only takes 30-40MB of space. In terms of performance, there are few noticeable differences between Thunderbird Portable and it's big brother. It's really easy to install although we found synchronization with the mail exchange could sometimes be troublesome.

The only major worry you might have is misplacing the USB drive if it's got most of your e-mails on. If there was some way to protect users from this kind of accident, then this would be the perfect portable app.

Download Thunderbird Portable 1.5.0.10 in Softonic

PocoMail gives you serious power over your email, from instant review of your folders via the unique Focus Box, to easy management of your contacts. You can automate email processing in a myriad of ways, from Filters and Events to easy-to-use PocoScripts.

Instantly create AutoText snippets to use throughout the program, and subscribe to your favourite RSS feeds and Newsgroups to be read on demand or delivered with your email. All in a secure package that puts you in control.

Download PocoMail 4.5 in Softonic

Barca gets you through the day with ease, with a top-notch email facility (powered by PocoMail 4) and a powerful Calendar, Planner and Notes. Use the powerful features such as the Focus Box to instantly summarize results in any of your folders, or quickly view only contacts from a certain company, or from a particular telephone area code.

Use the built-in Calendar to plan your day, and the integrated Planner to plan your year. Instant Reply lets you answer any email in two seconds flat, while powerful filters are able to manage it all automatically.

Download Barca 2.5.3900 in Softonic

e-Campaign is an HTML bulk email and mailing list application for companies, e-zine publishers, and professionals, as well as for individuals, for communicating with customers, subscribers, and other email contacts effectively. You can design rich HTML emails and newsletters easily and deliver personalized HTML email messages to your customer base and mailing lists.

Among the key features are mail merging, WYSIWYG HTML composing, a built-in SMTP server, bounce and unsubscribe processing, fast e-mail delivery, Unicode support, and secure SMTP (SSL) support.

Take a look at what this program has to offer:

• Allows personalized emails to mail lists using macros (email merge)
• Supports HTML, plain text, and multipart messages
• Includes bounce handling and unsubscribe features
• Supports WYSIWYG HTML message composing
• Has a built-in SMTP server
• Supports embedded images (inline and offline) in HTML emails
• Supports personalized file attachments and MIME-encoding
• Supports HTML background images/sound
• Fast email delivery (via fast, multi-threaded email delivery engine)
• Supports external SMTP servers, and SMTP authentication
• Allows mailing job scheduling
• Supports major international charsets/encodings and Unicode
• Supports encrypted SMTP connections (SSL)

Download e-Campaign 6.1 in Softonic

Scribe is a small and fast email client with an intergrated contact database and calendar. It supports all the major internet mail protocols and uses international standards where possible. Scribe doesn't require installation or uninstallation and can be used from a removable drive without reconfiguration. It comes with a highly accurate bayesian spam filter and translations in many different languages.

Updates are published regularly to respond to problems and to add features. Because Scribe runs on Windows, Linux and BeOS you can take your mail with you when you change operating system. And don't worry about viruses, Scribe protects you from the usual security holes in other email clients with it's own virus safe HTML control and executable attachment lockout.

Download Scribe 1.89 Test 13 in Softonic

Mail Commander is a super-fast email program that does it all - from the everyday sending and receiving of emails to managing mailing lists and customer requests. Mail Commander has extensive filtering and processing capabilities for incoming mail and requests. You can set up auto-replies to incoming mail using pre-set templates.

Plus you can set up the program to automatically process newsletter subscriptions and requests to be removed from your mailing lists. What's more, Mail Commander can process data from website forms, allowing you to easily build and manage mailing lists and process client and customer information.

Mail Commander is sophisticated, but it's also very simple to use and you can easily customize the interface and layout to fit your messaging needs. Other options include: Support of attachments, plain text and graphic html messages, message sorting by date, subject, address and other fields, message searches based on key words, and much more.

Download Mail Commander 8.40 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

Express Plus uses Bayesian Mail Filtering to quickly learn what messages you consider to be good and bad and start blocking the bad immediately! Bayesian filtering is great for getting that annoying SPAM out of your inbox and more effective than the mail filters you might create by hand that spammers always seem to find away around!

Mail-merge creates personalized individual messages rather than simply sending the traditional Dear Friend letter. Your business has done it for years on paper letters so why shouldn't you be able to do it with your email program, too?

Use mail groups for sending messages to focus on just the group of names you want to send this message to rather than fumbling through the entire address book.

Download Express Plus 2.1.2.4 in Softonic