Various public email clients and stuff computer-y

[maytagbear]

What do you use, and why do you like it?

As some of you know I now have a real computer, thanks to a very generous friend. It is a Toshiba Satellite, A215-S7437.
(And I didn't have to play with him, though I would, in a heartbeat.) {A claim I don't make every day }

I also now have some DSL through AT&T, which is vastly faster and two dollars a month cheaper than the Webtv (which I am discontinuing around the 8th or 9th of this month).

So, what's your favourite? I just signed up for a Gmail account, and it is making me wonder if I shouldn't have started another Yahoo.........

At the suggestion of another friend, I downloaded the Firefox browser, and like it a great deal, except for the trouble I am having in downloading Flash.

I am trying diligently to not tear out what remains of my hair, which is excellent in length, if not in thickness.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[DADoES]

Mail service I use is the one provided by my ISP. I don't use the freebie/public mail services such as Yahoo or GMail.

Well, it was my ISP (and my employer) until we shut the business down 8 months ago. Hosting of the domain and mail was transferred to another company, and I continue to get mail service for the duration ... that is, until such time that a decision is made to let the domain registration lapse. If/When that happens, I'll probably make use the mail service provided by whoever is my ISP at that point in time ... assuming the service platforms don't change radically and connection ISPs give up on dealing with e-mail ruckus (and believe me, dealing with the problems of keeping e-mail running on the service-side is a ruckus ... been there, done that).

You should have mail service and an address via AT&T as part of your DSL service.

I primarily use Firefox's companion mail client Thunderbird. I also use Outlook Express for a few addresses related to the (former) business. I've also used Netscape Messenger, way back when.

 

[maytagbear]

Thanks, Glenn-

I do have an at&t email, but I like to have portable email addresses. Especially when I am not sure if I'll have this laptop with me.

L/Mb

 

[whirlcool]

I think that Firefox is confused as to what Media player should be used to play .wmv files. I have seen this problem in Internet Explorer 7.0, but not in Firefox. Does anyone know how to tell Firefox how to play those files? I don't know off the top of my head. I think that you have to modify the file associations so that Firefox recognizes .wmv as a WMP file and use that to play it.

 

[cleanteamofny]

Let's start getting your flash up to date.
If you running XP or Vista, uninstall the old flash then reinstall.
Click on this link for tool removal.</p>
Then make sure your Java is up to date, they work hand in hand.
Verify Java Installation</p>
As a choice for browsers, both are very good and extremely tweakable to your likings.
I use both IE 7 and Foxfire.
IE 7 is my main Browser because my links has folders which I store weblinks/URL's for later use and
Foxfire for my nasty website's due to multiple downloading which can be viewed when it is complete without opening the folder where the file is stored, how convenient this is!

Anyway, for your main E-mail client as others noted,
it is best to use your DSL ISP client since everything would be in one location without checking on multiple accounts unless you don't mind........

 

[DADoES]

I've never understood why some users insist on using a web-based mail service. The only advantage is it facilitates access to mail content via multiple computers at the same time since all the content is kept on the provider's server ... but there are other ways to do that. The BIG disadvantage is LOSING access to all the content when/if changing services or addresses. I frequently had customers who ordered their account closed, and got irate or panicked when they lost mail content and particularly their webmail address book. Hey, not my fault, you wanted it closed.

By using a mail client that downloads the mail to one's local computer and maintains an address book there, all the content is always accessible ... EVEN if the ISP or address is changed. The data can also be transferred from one computer to another when getting a new one, just like any other data files. I have messages that are YEARS old, and have been transferred through four or more computers.

 

[2drumsallergy]

Windows Media Player Firefox Plugin

Hi Folks,
Microsoft have released Windows Media Player Firefox Plugin, it allows Firefox to play Windows Media files within the browser.
You can download it from my link.

Hi Lawrence,
If I understand correctly you want to download Flash movies .flv files from YouTube or other video sites? I have tried many applications but the absolute simplest and best is the new RealPlayer 11, it ads a "Download Video" button above any playing flash movie in Firefox 2.0 and IE 7.0. You can download it free from the link below. The screen shot below is RealPlayer 11 playing a Flash video downloaded from the Maytag site.

RealPlayer® PC features

Find out more about RealPlayer for PC features. Official Site.

www.real.com

If you want Adobe Flash Player for Firefox you can download it from the following link.

Adobe Flash Player End of Life

Adobe Flash Player End of Life general information

www.adobe.com

I hope this helps.

David

http://port25.technet.com/pages/windows-media-player-firefox-plugin-download.aspx

 

[mattl]

Maytagbear, hope you don't get overwhelmed with all the computer jargon tossed around. I volunteer for a local non-profit ISP and help people out all the time in setting up their accounts. We have our own mail server, but I'd guess 40-50% of people prefer web based email. I have a number of accounts both versions. With the way ISPs come and go and people change providers it makes more sense to go with a web based model like Gmail, or Yahoo - but I much prefer Gmail.

I'd recommend you stick with Gmail, and set up two or three accounts. 1 just for friends and family, 1 for use in places like this, and 1 for junk sites that want you to register for a newsletter or something, but will end up spamming you. If you need an invite for more Gmail accounts let me know.

The nice thing about Gmail is that it has a very good filter. I get 0 spam messages through after I've trained it only slightly. Of course all the mail is still there for you to browse just in case, but I rarely do that anymore. Another nice thing about Gmail is that you can configure your Outlook Express to download your mail and have the best of both worlds, web based and a "hard" copy on your computer.

As to FireFox there is a whole world of great stuff you can add. I have my ads blocked, I have an inline spell check, I have weather at the bottom (with a animated radar display...)my favorites slide out from the left hand side and disappear after I click one, and the list goes on and on. You will find someone out there has come up with a way to do just about anything you might want in a browser. If you would like I have a little file with all my add on's configured that will set up all my goodies in Firefox, I pass it out to my friends so they don't have to hunt for each one separately. Let me know if you'd like a copy.

Have fun exploring your new toy!

 

[frontaloadotmy]

Lawrence

What do you mean by a "portable" email address?

 

[2drumsallergy]

Firefox Addons

Hi Matt,
I would love a copy of your addons file I like the idea of the bookmarks. My e-mail address is in my profile.

Many thanks.
David

 

[maytagbear]

Thanks, everyone

I am sure that once I finally defrost, I'll be able to do something with the excellent suggestions in this thread. Thank you.

Frontal, by "portable email," I mean "web-based," an email that can be accessed at almost any machine with an internets connection. Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail...

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[rp2813]

So far I have mixed feelings about Gmail. I think the GUI needs work and the whole thing seems slower than Yahoo mail. I use both, for purposes such as Matt has described above. But now that Matt has mentioned it, I think Gmail is superior at filtering out spam and junk. It's annoying to get spam from your own provider, which is a regular thing with Yahoo.

Lawrence, I believe your AT&T service goes through Yahoo but there should be a way to get it to work on Outlook also. I get my DSL from Verizon so can't provide you with anything in the way of personal experiences with AT&T/Yahoo but I have a buddy who has AT&T DSL and isn't entirely pleased with their Yahoo email arrangement.

 

[whirlcool]

I have AT&T DSL and I don't even use the Yahoo e-mail address. You get a "[email protected]" address to log into the DSL system with. You can use this e-mail address with most all e-mail programs (Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.) All you need are the POP and SMTP server names to go with your id. You can get this information from the AT&T Helpdesk.

 

[DADoES]

GMail does support POP access.

POP is Post Office Protocol - a method of downloading mail from a server. Or POP3 (Post Office Protocol version 3).

Instructions are here:
     Enabling POP in GMail
     Configuring a Mail Client for GMail

SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) is used for delivery -- moving messages from client to server, and between servers from the sender's ISP to the recipient's ISP.

 

[rp2813]

POP

And here I was thinking that "POP" meant "Point of Presence" all this time. I guess some of the stuff I remember from a position I once held isn't interchangeable between Telco terms and ISP terms even though both can be the same company in some instances.

 

[DADoES]

POP can also mean Point of Presence, depending on the context.