# Fed up with Outlook



## Boneman (Mar 24, 2013)

So, I've had outlook foisted on me by microsoft because they think it's better for me, and I've had nothing but problems ever since. Oh, teething problems, no doubt they'll say, as though they haven't got enough money to thoroughly bench test it in Silicon Valley, before forcing it on us without asking.

I'm so fed up, I'm thinking of switching away from microsoft altogether. What would anyone recommend? Is Googlemail any good? Or any others - I'm pretty much a technophobe, but I did have a blueyonder account at one stage, maybe I'll resurrect that. 

Any suggestions gratefully received.


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## Mouse (Mar 24, 2013)

I use Outlook at work and it's fine, but not sure how it differs to the home version. At home I just use Yahoo. But you knew that.


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## Brian G Turner (Mar 24, 2013)

Thunderbird is an email client made by those clever people at Mozilla who built the Firefox browser.


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## Dozmonic (Mar 24, 2013)

I'll throw some more weight behind using thunderbird. It's pretty simple, pretty fast and pretty painless. It's not particularly pretty though


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## Lenny (Mar 24, 2013)

I'll third Thunderbird - rather than having to use the Outlook web interface (which I suspect is what you really don't like about it), you connect Thunderbird to your account and you'll be able to send and receive from the desktop, without having to open the browser.

Alternatively, if you want to move away altogether (for example, if you access your e-mail from multiple places and don't want to, or can't, install Thunderbird everywhere), I'd recommend Gmail - the web interface is simple, the spam filter is still one of, if not the best you'll find, and it's completely free.


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## Abernovo (Mar 24, 2013)

I use Gmail on Chrome, so I have Gmail Offline available, which means I no longer use Thunderbird (I used to and thought it was good). Gmail, though, is the best email service I've used, and easy to use for a technologically inept fool such as me.


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## HoopyFrood (Mar 24, 2013)

Another vote for gmail here. Very easy to use. Got the app on my phone, too, so can easily access. Very easy to sign up to, as well, I have a fair few accounts.

I don't mind Outlook that I use at work, but I'm yet to be forced over to Outlook and lose my hotmail. That'll be sad, hotmail was my first proper email.


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## dask (Mar 24, 2013)

I'm getting fed up with Outlook also. It's slow for some reason and the contacts won't show up by themselves. I'll click the show contacts thingy for an hour and it won't do any good. Why should I go to People, write the address I want on a piece of paper, then go to Mail and type it in the adderss box? This is the 21st Century for crying out loud and I'm paying a lot of money a month for super sophisticated internet access for my super sophisticated computer hardware and software.

Then I clicked the upgrade option that's supposed to make the thing work better and after jumping through all the hoops it tells me I need some sort of patch or whatever it's called so I download that and it still tells me I need it. Yeah, I almost put my fist through the monitor trying to figure this out. My brother uses Yahoo and has never complained, and I wouldn't be adverse to gmail if Outlook gives me any more grief. So far a few tricks I figured out allows me access to contacts without going analog, but if they ever fail me I'll switch to something else.


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## randomfromamber (Mar 24, 2013)

I love Outlook, and really, really dislike Gmail, but I'm a bit weird.

If you're looking for an online solution, I wholeheartedly *don't* recommend Yahoo. Their security is a joke. Good when you want to use an email address on sites you think might spam you, though. I've just started to use Hotmail, and I really do like it so far (very clean interface)...but that's Microsoft...and it looks like it's not called Hotmail anymore, but...Outlook. So maybe not, I guess...

If you're looking for a desktop client, personally, I really like something called Zimbra Desktop, you can configure it to collate mail from a variety of addresses, and the interface I think is pretty nice. I use it as a front end to my web addresses (I have more than one) and it keeps them open simultaneously, which is very useful.  

This article might be useful:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2027...s-that-can-improve-your-gmail-experience.html


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## alchemist (Mar 24, 2013)

Ever since that fateful day in a cybercafe in Singapore, March 1998, I've used web-based email. Hotmail first, until it was hacked, and now gmail. I use Outlook at work but really prefer the gmail. As Hoopy said, the android app works really well too.


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## mosaix (Mar 24, 2013)

I use gmail and collect it from there with Thunderbird. Works like a dream.


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## Mouse (Mar 24, 2013)

I've never had any problems with Yahoo. Don't even get much spam and when I do get it, it goes straight into the spam folder.


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## Boneman (Mar 26, 2013)

Thanks so much for that. I'll look into those - all I need is to send and receive emails and attachments - although I now have a phone that can receive emails on, I've used it about twice, so I think I've actually got a google account somewhere.... my son set it up for me, I'll have to ask him... 

Do you know, they've had a milder winter in Glasgow, than we've had down south?? Cold winds but hardly any snow - just got back from a funeral up there, and it didn't even rain.


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## nightdreamer (Apr 16, 2013)

I'm another Thunderbird guy.  I was never much of an Outlook fan, either.  Microsoft software just comes across as arrogant, assuming it has a better idea of what you want to do than you do.  I like PocoMail, too, but it costs money and doesn't offer anything I can't live without.


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## Vertigo (Apr 17, 2013)

Just a little rant for the ears of those singing the praises of gmail and Yahoo mail. In our business we send out a lot of images (photographs) that people have bought online by sending them as emails with JPEG attachments. Inevitably at times we send out quite a lot of these, and equally inevitably, it seems, gmail and yahoo (and hotmail) decide to block us as 'spammers' and our images don't even go into spam folders they just get deleted before anyone has seen them. We don't even get a failed to deliver message back. It is most frustrating!


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## Ursa major (Apr 17, 2013)

There is Outlook the program on one's PC, and Outlook (ex-Hotmail) which one contacts using a browser (because the content of mails is not on one's PC). I prefer the latter paradigm and the browser-contactable Outlook isn't so different from Hotmail that it gives me a problem (so far, at least).


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