Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Outlook Express's day has come and gone. It's unsupported and often loses email. I'll explain what I think you should do instead.
I rarely make negative comments about specific programs or products. I prefer instead to present a more positive view of the products that I like and recommend rather than saying bad things about the products I don't.
Not long ago, Microsoft introduced the Internet Explorer 6 countdown in an effort to publicize the fact that there's no valid reason to continue to use IE6. Its days are over. IE7, 8 and 9 are all available, more stable and more importantly, more secure. (And, of course, there's a host of other browsers as well, but I'm not shocked to find that fact missing from the Microsoft site.)
In my opinion, they didn't go far enough. It's time for another program of that same era to go away.
Outlook Express must die.
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Outlook Express Loses Email
This is purely empirical, based on the problem reports that I've gotten from people over the last seven-plus years of doing Ask Leo!
Next to email account thefts, the biggest problem that I hear about is people losing email, often forever, while using Outlook Express. It happens so much that I cringe whenever I see a question come in that mentions it; I know that the news will not be good.
Anyone who's mistakenly answered "Yes" to the "Compact Now?" prompt has probably felt the pain. (Hint: Don't do it.)
Outlook Express' storage format is apparently fragile, difficult to backup in a way that's useful for anything other than a complete restore, and almost impossible to repair without expensive third-party tools.
Outlook Express is No Longer Supported
The last time Microsoft included Outlook Express with a browser was with Internet Explorer 6. The fact that they're now actively discouraging IE6's use should tell you something about Outlook Express.
There are no more releases, no more bug fixes, and precious little help if you have a problem.
Microsoft removed Outlook Express from Windows Vista, and there's no way to get Outlook Express in Windows 7 short of running a complete copy of Windows XP in a virtual machine ("XP Mode") - and even that only for Windows 7 Pro or better.
There Are Many Great Alternatives
There are so many great alternatives to Outlook Express that it's staggering. There are well over 100 different email programs or approaches one could take. Here are a few of the most common that I can suggest:
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Windows Live Mail, a free download, is Microsoft's heir-apparent to Outlook Express. It sports a more reasonable storage format, and significantly improved Hotmail integration.
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Outlook is Microsoft's full-featured, industrial strength mail program. More than a mail program, Outlook includes calendaring, contact management and much more. Outlook is a part of Microsoft Office, but it can be purchased separately. Outlook is not related in any way to Outlook Express, other than it has an unfortunate name similarity and comes from Microsoft.
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Thunderbird is a free, open source email program that, in my opinion, is perhaps the best replacement for Outlook Express. I've been using Thunderbird for several years and I am exceptionally pleased with its configurability, stability, and overall usefulness.
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Gmail is a free email service from Google. While it might seem odd to mention an email service when what we're replacing is an email program, two completely separate things, Gmail allows you to check mail from other mail accounts by fetching the email via POP3 into Gmail. The Gmail interface is popular among many, and Gmail itself is the only free email service that I can recommend.
Seriously, though, that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are many, many good alternatives worth considering.
Moving Is Hard
I agree: switching email programs a pain. (There's a common confusion that you need to change your email address when you change your email program. You don't - they are two different things.)
But it's less painful than losing all of your email.
And moving to an email program that's supported and updated and for which you have more resources for help is a really, really good thing.
The one piece of advice that I can offer here is: change email programs before you switch machines, if possible. Most programs that provide the Outlook Express import capability do so assuming that Outlook Express is installed and running on the current machine. Copying Outlook Express folders to another machine and then trying to import them into a new email program is often problematic.
Once you've converted to the new email program, moving to a new machine is typically much easier. This is another one of Outlook Express's weak points.
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In an ideal world, Microsoft would have continued to support and improve Outlook Express, but for whatever reason, they did not.
There's really no point in grousing about it now - it's a done deal.
If you're angry at Microsoft for taking this approach, then perhaps one of the best things that you can do to secure your email and feel a little better about doing do is to switch to a non-Microsoft email program.
Anything but Outlook Express.
Article C4776 - March 25, 2011 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
December 15, 2012 8:26 AM
OE is still the BEST email client for Right to Left languages.
Windows Live Mail is awful and Thunderbird is annoying
After moving to Win 7, (my XP laptop died after 7 years), I used Outlook for some time.
Didn't like it at all! Then, quite strangely, it stopped downloading incoming messages!
Fortunately, someone bothered to develop portable OE.
https://sites.google.com/site/simpledotnet/outlook-express-6-for-windows-7
God bless him!
December 15, 2012 12:58 PM
@Michael
Interesting link. I'm sure a lot of OE diehards will go for it. I just want to warn anybody that tries this that, it's at your own risk. It might be great, but experimenting with any unknown program bears some risk.
January 21, 2013 2:30 PM
I came across your article whilst researching lost emails in the inbox, but ironically enough I was researching it for Thunderbird. To explain, I currently use thunderbird version 2.0.0.24 which is about 4 years old. The reason I never upgraded was because ver 3.x I just disliked so much. However, I was looking at the latest version 17, with the intention of transferring my clients from outlook which is overkill for their needs to a simpler to troubleshoot program like thunderbird. I just felt that my version looks too dated. However, the number one complaint about thunderbird is - lost emails in the newer versions. I have never suffered this, but it was interesting that you recommended thunderbird (and I presume that you use the latest versions), given that the newer versions seem to be no more reliable than outlook express in terms of not losing emails in the inbox. compacting and anti virus programs again seem to be the prime cause of lost email in thunderbird just like outlook express. I hasten to remind you that I personally have never lost any email, but I do use an older version. However, I am tempted to upgrade to version 17, because the interface looks very modern compared to my dated version. Any thoughts on lost emails after compacting in thunderbird for versions newer than 2.x?
January 25, 2013 11:39 AM
Which version of thunderbird is MOST reliable for NOT LOOSING mails pls ?
I await your answer at the earliest as I have to install the recommended one on Windows 7 at the earliest
Alternatively, any other more friendly + secured email client ?
January 25, 2013 12:27 PM
@AK Agarwal
Generally, it's best to use the latest version of any program, as that would be the version with the most vulnerabilities plugged. I say generally, because in some rare cases, a fix may cause new problems to crop up.