The people who develop the FireFox web browser have also produced an excellent e-mail client called Thunderbird. Thunderbird is a replacement for Outlook Express that in my opinion, is much faster, more secure and easier to use. Setting up Thunderbird is dead simple, so let me guide you through the process.
Download Thunderbird
The first thing you need to do is get Thunderbird onto your computer. Visit http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/ and click on the “Free Download” link right at the top of the page. Save the file to a location on your computer where you’ll find it easily, such as your desktop (once Thunderbird is installed, you can delete this setup file that you’re downloading now). When the download completes, go to your desktop, double-click on the Thunderbird setup file and follow the on-screen instructions.
Set up your e-mail
After Thunderbird is installed, click on the thunderbird icon. When the program starts, you may be asked to set up your first e-mail account. If not, click Tools and then click Account Settings. A new window called “Account Settings” will open - look for the Add Account… button underneath the left-hand sidebar and press it.The “New Account Wizard” window will open, and you can begin telling Thunderbird how it should fetch your e-mail by going through these steps:
- Select the type of account.
- Enter your identity (your name and e-mail address).
- Enter the mail server’s name and type.
- Enter your username for logging into the mail server.
- Give this account a name.
Select the type of account
For now we’re only concerned with e-mail accounts, so check the box next to e-mail and press Next. The other options are there because Thunderbird can also be used to read newsgroups and rss news feeds.
Enter your identity
Your identity is your name and e-mail address, so enter both of these things in their respective boxes and press Next.
Enter the mail server’s name and type
This is the first technically oriented step of the process - Thunderbird first needs to know whether you want to fetch your mail via IMAP or POP, and then it needs to know the address of your mail server.
IMAP vs. POP
IMAP and POP are two different ways of reading e-mail that resides on a mail server. IMAP downloads copies of each message for you to read, but keeps the original messages intact on the server. On the other hand if you select POP, Thunderbird will download your new messages and then delete them from the server each time you check your mail. Most people prefer to use IMAP for reading e-mail for a couple of reasons. With IMAP you can set up a number of e-mail programs (like Thunderbird) on multiple computers and maintain your e-mail from anywhere. Since IMAP keeps the original messages on the server, you also don’t have to worry about losing them if something happens to your computer. Since POP deletes the messages from the server as you read them, you do not have these backup/archival copies on the server. Also, let’s say you have two computers, A and B, and both of them are set up to read your e-mail via POP. If you check your mail at work from computer A, then check your mail at home from computer B, computer B will not receive any of the messages that you read using computer A.
If this is a little daunting for you (or you just can’t decide which choice is better), go with IMAP.
Server name
Thunderbird needs to know the address of your mail server in order to communicate with it. If you do not know this address, your ISP can give it to you. If this is the first e-mail account you’re setting up, Thunderbird will ask you for the names of both the incoming and outgoing server (i.e. sending and receiving). If this is not the first account, Thunderbird will only let you enter the incoming server name and displays a notice about using the default outgoing server. You can change the outgoing server later, so don’t worry about it. Just enter the incoming server’s name and press Next.
Enter your username for logging into the mail server
Now you need to tell Thunderbird how it should identify you to the mail server in order to log in. This username will also be given to you by your ISP. If you don’t know it, you should ask them. Enter the usernames for both the incoming and outgoing server (they are often the same), and press Next.
Give this account a name
You’ll notice that all of your e-mail accounts are displayed in Thunderbird’s left-hand sidebar. At this point, you should type a name that will be displayed for this account in that sidebar and then press Next.
That’s it; the next screen will confirm all of the settings that you’ve entered, and Thunderbird will add this new mail account once you click Finish. At this point you’ll be back at the Account Settings screen, which is where you can add a different outgoing STMP server (if need be).
Add a new outgoing SMTP server
If the e-mail account you’ve just set up should use a different outgoing server, click on Outgoing Server (SMTP) in the Account Settings window. To the left, you’ll see a button labeled Advanced; click on it. This will bring up a list of your available outgoing mail servers - click the Add button to enter the new one. A new window will open and ask you for some assorted information that your ISP should have given you, such as the server name and port number. Enter this information and press OK to go back to the list of servers. Press OK again to confirm your addition to the server list.
Now that you’ve added the new outgoing server, you need to tell Thunderbird that your new e-mail account should use it. Underneath the name of your new e-mail account, click on Server Settings. Look to the left for the Advanced button and click on it. A new window containing a drop down box labeled Server will appear; click on the drop down box, select the correct outgoing server and press OK. You’ll be sent back to the Account Settings window, so click OK again.
Your finally finished… click the Get Mail button to download your e-mail.
