Here is part 2 of my previous article on Open Source in a Windows world -- click here for part 1.


In this article I want to write about Mozilla Thunderbird and how I use it.  Each and everyone that uses the Internet, has a need for a good e-mail client and none come better than Thunderbird.  As I write this Thunderbird is at version 0.8 (0.9 has just been released but have not installed it yet).  Although it is very stable I have found some small and strange behaviors.  More on it later.

Firstly and the most important, it is not based on Microsoft Technology so it is not prone to all the Security issues that plague Microsoft products.

Although Outlook Express is free it is not Open Source like Thunderbird so if you want to look underneath the bonnet, you cannot with Outlook Express.

Thunderbird support multiple e-mail accounts all with their own folder structure.  Outlook Express on the other hand dump all messages together irrespective of the e-mail account used.  Thunderbird also support multiple identities for the same e-mail address.  With other words if you have an address xyz@domain.com and xyz@domain.co.za goint to the same mailbox you have also send mail from either.  Outlook Express will only allow you to send mail from the Primary account you have setup.

And then Thunderbird as great spam and message filtering.  If you get a lot a mail like me, then message filtering and spam filtering is a must otherwise your Inbox just get unmanageble.

Firstly you need to download the Windows Mozilla Firefox installer from http://www.mozilla.org/products/thindebird/.  Just under the Mozilla logo at the left top of the page is a link to download the Thunderbird English Windows version.  Download the file to some area on your harddisk from where you can later install it.

After you have downloaded it make sure you have closed all running programs on your computer.  (Note: It is a good idea to always close all running programs when you install something on your computer) Find the file you just downloaded from Mozilla and double click to install Thunderbird.  It will ask you a couple of questions like where to install it.  It will also ask you if Thunderbird should become your default e-mail client and say yes.  Do not worry ... nothing will happen to Outlook Express and you will still be able to use it.

The first time you use it, Thuderbird will go through a wizard to setup your first e-mail account.  It will also ask you if it should import your Outlook Express Addressbook and messages. 

From then on you can use Thunderbird just like you would any other e-mail client.

Although Thunderbird has some of the best SPAM/Junk mail control I have seen, it seems to loose its way sometime.  At time it will process incoming mail fine and move the mail it think is junk to the Junk folder and then at other times it would do nothing. 

Like most e-mail clients, when you delete a mail, it actually does not get deleted but only get moved to the Deleted Items folder.  This is a great safeguard so that when you change your mind your can retrieve it again from the Deleted Items folder.  Well sometime Thunderbird just delete the mail and does not move it to the Deleted Items folder.

I have only see this behavior in version 0.8.  In the previous versions both the Junk Mail control and Deleting was working as they suppose to.  Must be something they have done in this version that is causing the problems but I am sure when the next version comes out this will be fixed again.  As this is still beta software I am not too concerned about it.

If for any reason you do not like Thunderbird then you can just uninstall it using the normal Add/Remove Programs from your start menu.  As said before no changes gets done to your system and no changes gets done to Outlook Express or any other e-mail client you use. They will carry on working as normal.

Lastly remember that Thunderbird is still in technology preview, which is like beta, so there might still be some bugs in the program.  Having said that, I have found it to be very stable and have not encountered any major problems. 

Trust that you found some value out of this.  In a future article I will discuss the 3rd part of the Mozilla bundle namely Sunbird.  A standalone calendaring program that goes with Firefox and Thunderbird. Until next time, go out there and tell the world to use and support Open Source Software.