I personally use windows live mail 2009.
Its a really easy to use interface (mail folders in a tree on the left, tab to the list of messages on the right, tab again to read the message). Its got support for pop3, imap and http (microsoft hotmail). Its also a great feed reader (though some figiting may be needed for some sites).
The reason I specify 2009 in particular is that its got menus, as opposed to those blasted ribbons. In order to get a hold of it you'll want to do some googling (windows live 2009 full setup is what I used), as its no longer the official version.

There's also the classic outlook express6, and it still happens to work under windows 7.
get it here
This outlook express is free and compatibility is guaranteed for windows 7 and up and possibly even windows 10. I think this one's lighter and much more responsive than the newer outlook

Ok, I'm trying Mozilla Thunderbird for email.

Every time I highlight an email with external graphics, Thunderbird pops up an alert about blocking the external content. Other than allowing the content, how do you stop that very annoying alert from popping up?

If that alert can't be gotten rid of, Thunderbird is out of here!

I use mozilla thunderbird. It's easy to use. Outlook 6 was very good too, but what I hated about it was that you had to do a lot of configuration to make it support Hotmail.

I'm actually glad that you brought this up, since I've wanted to get one myself ever since I switched to Win7 about two years ago...
Now I just need to get used to not using gmail's website to check my mails anymore, lol!
I'm gonna give you a thumbs up for this topic as a thank you ^^

On Windows, I use Thunderbird.

Well, at least I can say I tried it, but it looks like Thunderbird is going to get booted out of my system. While trying it, I've encountered a number of annoyances and problems, some of which I've been able to resolve, but this last one not only doesn't seem to have a solution but to most people is silly, a lot of people have been asking the development group behind Thunderbird for a solution to this since 2004 and yet it still exists. In a list of emails, everybody I've ever heard of wants the newest emails at the top, in other words, sorted by date in descending order. Thunderbird's default is to sort by date, but in ascending order. And there doesn't appear to be a solution, there is a setting in the configuration manager that sounds like it should do it, but it doesn't. I would even accept having to set the sort in one folder and then have to option of using this setting for all folders. Not in Thunderbird! You have to set the sort order for each folder separately, and then remember to set it again everytime you create a new mail folder.

I'm giving up. It seemed like Thunderbird would work, but it has too many things that need attention, and I have better things to do than fight with an email client.

Now its a choice between the current Windows Live Mail, the 2009 version, Outlook Express 6, or Outlook 2007.

Because I prefer not to have my email client running all the time, I use a program called Mail Bell which sits in the system tray and monitors my email account and notifies me when new email arrives. Unfortunately, Mail Bell is no longer a free program, I'm thankful I've kept the free version, it may be old, but it still works.

Hi,Has anyone sucsseded in adding Hotmail into Outlook express?

@Genewarner Yes, the extention is a bit buggy especially when you don't launch outlook and the extention at the same time, which is why I recommend making a batch file that launches outlook express and the extention at the same time, and just replace the standard outlook express shortcut with the batch file. Works a little better when I do that. But if that doesn't work, there's always mail bell or you can also get google's gmail notifier.

Ok Thunderbird experts,, what's the secret?

I tried to send an email to two people. In Outlook I could put as many addresses in the to field as I needed. I tried that in Thunderbird, but every time I hit tab to accept an auto complete offering, it moved me to the subject field. I had to shift tab back to the to field, hit end, then a comma, then manually enter the next address with no auto complete to help. When everything looked right and I tried to send it, the mail server wouldn't accept it saying there were invalid addresses in the to field. What gives?

Hi Gene,

Regarding post 22, here are 2 options:
Start typing the first address, press end to accept the auto complete, then type a semi colon, space, and then the next address.
Separating the addresses with semi colons works where commas do not.
Pressing end only works to accept the auto complete if you did not press down to choose from all the possible choices.
In that case it seems you still have to press tab or enter to accept it.

Option 2:
Type the first address and press enter instead of tab to accept it.
This adds another address entry field and moves you down to it.
This also allows you to specify some addresses as To, some as CC, and some as BCC.

Personally I prefer option 2 unless I am using an external program to generate a list of addresses.

Hope that helps.