Here's the thing. I LOVE Earthlink's mailbox and have used it for years. Unfortunately, when I got my new laptop with Vista Home I found out that I can no longer have Earthlink's mailbox because it's not compatible with Vista. The Earthlink tech suggested Windows mail and that was awful. There was no "junk" file, no deleted file and I didn't like the set up at all. When I contacted them again they said I could use any of the Outlook Express programs, Incredimail or two others that I forget the name of right now. I've used Incredimail in the past and love it but I remember that I always had problems with it. I love how I can dress up my e-mails, though, and they told me it was highly recommended by Earthlink. The problem is that they don't have a free junk folder, so I have to go to my Earthlink web mail several times a day to see if there's anything in there that I need. I've also been getting error messages, but I think I fixed that this morning. I'm going to attach the message and I will tell you that I followed the instructions and went to my Firewall settings and added Incredimail to "exceptions." I hope this takes care of the problem so that I can keep Incredimail. However, if I choose to uninstall it, I would like some suggestions on mail programs that you all like.

Linda

While I do not like to "dress up" my E-mails, being a minimalist at heart, I can recommend Mozilla's Thunderbird as a very good E-mail client. You can "teach" it to recognize your own particular kinds of spam (perhaps missed by the E-mail provider) and automatically deal with them.
Regards,
John

Hi John,
I don't use Firefox so I'm guessing that is not an option for me. Plus, I have to get one of the mail programs that Earthlink suggested so that I can import my addresses to the new program, which Earthlink really messed up on me the last time. I know how to import/export addresses but let the tech do it through remote and he forgot to check "e-mail addresses" so I had to do it over again and then wound up with over 250 duplicates that I had to take the time to delete. lol I was not a happy camper. I have an e-mail sitting in my out box right now so I guess what I did this morning didn't correct the problem. I keep trying to send it but it won't go.

Thank you for your suggestion. Do you have any more?

Linda

Thunderbird is a stand-alone application. You do not need Firefox installed
http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thun...m-requirements/

Thank you. Would I be able to import my address book to this program (from Incredimail)? Does it show a folder for junk mail?

Linda

I'm reading about the features right now but I haven't found anything yet about importing my address book.

I realized that the program I pick has to be one of the ones Earthlink told me about and that is on their site because I save a copy to my server, so it has to work with Earthlink. I guess I'm going back to Outlook Express.

According to Earthlink's website. They support any POP3-compatible email clients. So you are not restricted to OE. Find a client then read the FAQ's on how to import your contacts list.

If I knew how to find a client -- I'm guessing that means an e-mail program, I wouldn't have asked for help. lol I don't know of any mail programs except for Outlook Express and Incredimail. I wonder why Earthlink gave me the choice of only four programs, only two of which I can remember right now. I have to call them anyway because now I can't even send out mail on my web mail.

Here's a link to Mozilla's take on importing Incredimail into Thunderbird: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Importing_from_Incredimail

Hi John,
I already looked at Thunderbird when you posted it before. It doesn't say if I can import my addresses from Earthlink or not. I'm on the phone with Earthlink right now. Now they're telling me I CAN get their Total Access program but right now I can't even send myself a test e-mail. I've now sent myself something nine times and it's not going to my web mail or Incredimail. I don't know what's going on. The tech sent me a test e-mail and it came through fine. lol There's two things that I really do not like doing and that's being on the phone with Earthlink and being on the phone with Dell. lol

In case I haven't been clear, I'm looking for a mail program like Outlook Express that doesn't require me signing on to the Internet but that works with Earthlink so that I can save a copy of my mail to the Earthlink server because I lose a lot of mail and that's my backup when I inadvertently delete mail that I shouldn't delete.
Linda

I believe that you can import your contacts to Yahoo email. Click on 'options' in the upper right hand corner.

Hi Jacee,
I already have a Yahoo account. I have to sign on to the Internet for Yahoo. I was looking for something that was free standing? I'm not sure what you call it.

Anyway, I have had a busy two days. After Earthlink telling me four different times by four different techs that Earthlink's mailbox was NOT compatible with Vista, I was then told that it was. Since that was my preference all along, I installed Earthlink mailbox. It turned into a nightmare for me. lol I can handle big problems in life but it's the stupid little things that I really get stressed about and I was very stressed. lol I had saved my contacts to my desktop from Incredimail which, by the way, I had imported from my desktop from Earthlink. Well, when I tried to import them to Earthlink, it imported over 300 empty contacts. All I had was the icon. lol Then Earthlink told me that I couldn't import from saving Incredimail contacts which made no sense since it was saved in csv format, but I tried it again anyway and then had 604 empty contacts. lol In the interim, Earthlink's server was having problems so their web mail was out until the next day. The bottom line is that after a lot of false starts, I now have Windows Live Mail, which I hadn't even heard of until yesterday. I thought I would have to have yet another hotmail or MSN account but other than it being from Microsoft, it really has nothing to do with MSN mail. I have my Earthlink address and I have all of my contacts, everything is working, it is free standing, and it even has stationary! lol I love stationary to fancy up an e-mail and you can add your own, too, so right now I'm saving all kinds of pretty backgrounds. lol

Thank you all for your suggestions.

Linda