POP3 hotmail, alternative clients please

So hotmail ditched DAV and went POP3. It is a pity. I have been using OE with hotmail since way back, and frankly don't like the way POP3 changes the synchros. I refuse to use any other garbage M$ offers like live, messenger etc.

So I use Calypso/Courier a lot for hosted domain mailboxes, but these older versions don't do ssl for the new and improved hotmail. I downloaded popcorn and some other app, but honestly I don't know if they will work or not. Then new Opera 10 mail works perfectly, but with one caveat.

I want a program that only gets the headers, not the message UNLESS is tell it to do so. And of course I want to leave the message on the server. It was nice with OE & DAV because I could organize the mail into the directories at work, and then at home or away they were still sorted. It seems as if POP3 will put an end to that. I don't really like the idea of it, but OE does work with the new and improved hotmail, but I don't have a reason to use it now that my favorite features are being new and improved

Anyone have any ideas as to what can be used now with the new and improved hotmail, achieving the SSL it needs, the leave message on server and MOST importantly, fetch message header only unless requested to fetch body manually.

Opera mail might become useful to me now, but I see some older versions had the option to only get the headers, but the new version 10 I don't seem to find that option anywhere.

Any help or insight appreciated. Umm, freeware software please, don't need to pay for an email client lol.

Sul.

 

PopPeeper will do it for you, I think. Free!

Check my sig for link.

 

Thanks. That program does offer what I want, but I also found a program called SpiceBird, which is actually a very nice application from what little I played with it. I will try them both out tommorrow at work more. I also found ones called sylpheed which seems nice as well, but have not played much with it. I will post back here with which I use and why in case anyone else might be looking as well.

Sul.

 

Actually they went with DeltaSync which I believe is only in Windows Live Mail and Outlook client at the present time ( I haven't checked to see if other clients use the API themselves). POP3 was requested strongly by users so it was added to the paid Hotmail plus accounts some time ago and extended to free hotmail when the decision to drop DAV was made. I have found Windows Live Mail (desktop client) to work well with my hotmail, POP3 and IMAP accounts on home PCs but I agree that the sync when using POP3 may not be the best implementation for those using other clients.

 

I think Mailwasher will do that. I have used it for years.
http://www.mailwasher.net/download-mailwasher-free

I finally went POP3. I also preferred the "old" way, but could not get the method MS suggested to work. I will just have to get used to the new.

Regards,
Jerry

 

You probably don't want to hear this, but Windows Live Mail does exactly what you are looking for

I used to use OE for Hotmail as well, but started getting tons of error messages, so I tried out Live Mail and it works very well. The calendar is pretty good too.

 

lol, you are right, I don't want to hear that. I will pretty much chew through my own arm before I install anything like that from M$. Old habits die hard I guess. So far SpiceBird is looking like a winner unless I experience resource hogging or instability. But I will maybe install what you speak of in vmWare just to be sure.

Thanks.

Sul.

 

If you're already using their operating system, what's so horrible about installing an application?

At any rate, it's quite an improvement compared to Lookout Distress

 

Try Windows Live Mail client from Microsoft. It syncs with Hotmail using prop. connector and not POP3. No no long delays to get your mail. Plus it syncs your contacts and calender with Windows Live too.
It has all the features of Windows Mail.
Link:
http://download.live.com/wlmail

 

lol, I only use thier OS because 90% of the known world uses it, 90% of the hardware works on it and 90% of the software is written for it. It is certainly not because I trust their software to be bug free before they start depolying it. Messenger and the likes I have always shied away from, preferring a third party solution. When it comes to dealing with the internals of the OS, like a firewall or such stuff, who knows thier architecture better than them? But when it comes to pretty much anything else that has to do with connecting to the internet, be it browser or mail client or IM, I don't trust them at all. Why should I? They have a pretty good track record of releasing beta versions to thier user base, then after a few million have issues they start pathcing everything.

I know this is how it works. Games today are the same way. In order to rush out the software and grab the market share or start getting some $$, you can buy a game the day it hits the shelves, and after you install it the same day, there is already a patch. This happens with Call of Duty, arguably one of the most popular online games in the last few years. But with M$ it seems to be the rule rather than the exception.

So no, I have no real desire to use thier product. Not that it is not any good, but I tend to look for a more streamlined tool first by a third party. It may well be that M$ makes the best solution for hotmail. My mind is certainly not closed to it, just that thier products will usually be my last choise.

Same thing goes for thier new OS. Many others have the same opinion. I will wait for awhile before buying it, maybe as far as the first service pack. It all depends on just how much beta the product is still in.

As for OE, I like it for hotmail. Always have. I would not use it on a regular mailbox, but for hotmail it works great.

Suffice to say though that I will indeed try M$ solution for the new and improved hotmail lol. And with an open mind at that.

Sul.

 

I used OE for a long time with Hotmail, but somewhere along the way it started getting really flakey, at least on my system it did. I've used Live Mail since the last two beta versions before the final (the official betas, not the RTM betas ) and haven't had any problems with it at all. On the contrary, it's faster than OE and I haven't been getting all the error messages.

BTW, if you happen to have Outlook (shudder) you can use it for Hotmail by installing a thing called Outlook Connector.

 

lol, I don't shudder, as I avoid Outlook. But I know many in the corporate world who use it extensively.

I tried live mail. It uses a lot of resources IMO, one process uses 38mb one uses 17mb. Not that big a deal I suppose. Install was easy enough. One thing I did not like was although I could leave the mail on the server, it offered no way to fetch headers only. I dislike clients that download content of everything. I would rather delete the message I know are not for me before bringing the content to my machine. Livemail works ok I suppose. It also does not have the support for the folders I created in hotmail like the DAV connection did. I saw no way other than pop3 to attach to hotmail with livemail, so perhaps I misssed something.

Intersting experience, not sure which I will use, but I think I am leaning towards something that fetches headers only with the option of getting the content.

Opinions here are as always greatly appreciated.

Sul.

 

You did miss something, LOL. For a Hotmail account you don't have to configure any ports or anything, it sets it up automagically. Just enter your Hotmail address and the password later when it makes a connection. It will download any folders you created in the webmail interface in Hotmail.

In the folder pane on the left just right-click each folder and you can set it in the context menu to only download headers. If you decide you do want to download a particular email, all you have to do is double-click it.

You probably already found it, but select the option to show normal menus on the top, makes things a lot easier to find. That other gizmo with the little button is a pita.

 

oh. lol, I opted to configure manually for fear it would have a setting that did not leave mail on server as default.

I will have another go. Thanks.

Sul.

 

Leaving the mail on the server is actually the only option. Or to be exact, there is no option. Things you delete, however, are removed from the server.

What I do with this is put the storage folder on another partition. That way if I re-install I can just point it to that folder again and everything is still there, you just have to re-enter the password. If I restore C from an image then of course everything remains current. All the mail, folders, settings, contacts, etc. are just like they were. I never managed to get that to work properly with OE, it always wanted to download everything again.

Getting the calendar to sync is pretty non-intuitive, however. In the Tools > Options > Connections, there's a thing about signing in for other Live services. You just add your account name and password again and then it will sync the calendar. Their online help doesn't explain this at all