Chapter 25: Using Windows Mail for E-mail

The most popular use of the Internet is to send and receive messages from other Internet users. Windows Vista comes with Windows Mail (previously named Outlook Express), Microsoft's free e-mail and newsreading program. You can also install and use any number of mail and newsreading applications, whether they are Microsoft products or not. Windows Vista also comes with Windows Contacts for keeping track of names , addresses, e-mail addresses, or whatever information you happen to have about people.

This chapter describes how to use Windows Mail to send and receive e-mail messages, and organize the messages you decide to keep. This chapter also describes how to use Windows Contacts, both with and without Windows Mail.

Should You Use Windows Mail?

If you are a happy user of Microsoft Office Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Yahoo! Mail, Google Mail (Gmail), or another e-mail program, Windows Mail doesn't contain any gotta -have features that would make you want to switch. The hassle of importing your messages (which never seem to come through perfectly ) isn't worth it. However, if you are a new user who doesn't have a lot of message files, or if you have used other e-mail programs and have been unhappy with them, Windows Mail is worth a try.

The case for using Windows Mail gets a little better with each new version. Windows Mail has a number of advantages: it's free, already installed, and easy to use; it has a nice collection of features for handling e-mail and newsgroups; it lets you import messages and addresses from most other popular e-mail programs; and it works well with Office Live Mail (also called Hotmail), Microsoft's free web-based e-mail provider.

Windows assumes that Windows Mail is your default e-mail program (the program that runs when another program tells Windows that you want to send e-mail). If you install another e-mail program, its installation program usually asks whether to make it the default e-mail program. If you plan to use it regularly to send and receive e-mail, choose Yes.