Australian PC World - A survival guide for Microsoft e-mail packages

A survival guide for Microsoft e-mail packages

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Microsoft has been churning out e-mail programs as prolifically as Stephen King turns out horror stories -- and some users have found them just as scary. There's Exchange, Outlook 97, Outlook Express, Internet Mail and News, and a new Outlook Web Access. Because each bears the magic Microsoft logo, users eagerly buy or download them, certain they're getting something good -- and sometimes they are. But one morning they wake up and realise they have four Microsoft e-mail programs on their system -- and are using Eudora Light instead.
Here's a guide to the Microsoft e-mail programs, when to use them, when to nuke them, and what to do if they act up.
Exchange. This is the "universal in-box" that comes with Windows 95; it's also known as Windows Messaging. To find it, click the Inbox icon. Exchange is a rudimentary e-mail program whose sole advantage over other Microsoft e-mail programs is that you can rig it to download messages from a variety of sources, including CompuServe, the Microsoft Network, and your Internet service provider. You can also use it to send faxes -- a procedure not for the timid. But Exchange is clunky. If you have only one online service or ISP, you're better off using that service's software or an e-mail program such as Eudora Light. Microsoft is dropping Exchange; the default e-mail package in Windows 98 will be Outlook Express.

Outlook 97 combines e-mail with a PIM, but is has problems with stability and compatibility

Outlook 97. Microsoft's most powerful e-mail client integrates e-mail with personal information management and groupware features. It offers calendars, journals, and schedules; a battalion of contact management tools; and the ability to create personal folders and subfolders galore. If your office runs Exchange Server (Microsoft's proprietary messaging platform), employees can use Outlook 97 to share contacts and calendars. You can automate e-mail retrieval, tag messages with notes about follow-up action, and drag and drop Microsoft Office files into e-mail messages.
But the original shipping version of Outlook 97 was famously buggy, particularly with Internet mail servers -- it was designed primarily for Exchange Server. Until now, Outlook 97 has suffered from problems such as e-mail messages getting stuck in the Outbox, program and system crashes, and other glitches. It has also had difficulties supporting multiple POP3 accounts. However, in mid-August Microsoft released the Office 97 Service Release 1, which should fix these problems. The service release can be obtained from http://www.microsoft.com/officefreestuff/office/dlpages/sr1off97.htm.
If you prefer simpler and more robust e-mail products, try Pegasus (http://www.pmail.gen.nz) or Eudora (http://www.eudora.com).

Outlook Express is a free Internet e-mail client that will look much like Outlook 97

Outlook Express. This e-mail program will be built into Internet Explorer 4.0 and Windows 98. Outlook Express is the successor to Internet Mail and News, which is found in earlier versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Outlook Express supports HTML-formatted mail and offers a few nifty features such as the ability to integrate e-mail with Usenet news and the ability to search big Internet "white pages". It can filter e-mail (useful for automatically deleting spam), and gather messages from multiple ISPs.
But the early beta versions of Outlook Express were clumsy to use and full of bugs; for example, they disabled the Mail button in Internet Explorer. Microsoft says it will fix the bugs and offer a revamped user interface, much closer to that of Outlook 97, by the time the package formally debuts along with Internet Explorer 4.0. If the program works for you, great. But before you settle on it you may want to test-drive Eudora Light or Pegasus -- I find them both friendlier.
Outlook Web Access. This is a new Web browser e-mail client, but it works only with Microsoft's Exchange Server.
You'll find a variety of helpful troubleshooting tutorials on Microsoft's Web site (http://www.microsoft.com). Click Search and type in the name of the e-mail program you're using.
The first step in fixing Outlook 97's problems is to install the Internet Mail Enhancement Patch; for details see http://www.microsoft.com/outlook/documents/imep.htm. Technical support newsgroups for Outlook 97 can be found on the Web at http://www.microsoft.com/Support/Products/ Office/Outlook/.
Sue Mosher's Slipstick Systems Outlook page (http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/outlook.htm) is the premier source of Outlook 97 advice. It offers directions on how to import the contents of mailboxes and address books from non-Microsoft e-mail programs and export Outlook 97 contents to other programs. Mosher's page also provides recommendations on mail add-ons.
- Judy Heim

Category: Internet
Issue: Nov 1997
Pages: 182