recommendations for email provider

Proxima_Centauri

Can anyone recommend an email provider which does not require the latest up to date software in order to run it?

I have been using Outlook, which worked fine prior to a few months ago, when they decided to make 'improvements' or updates.. it is now very slow and unresponsive on my Mac, and marginally better but not very fast on my Windows computer. It often crashes or simply doesn't respond.

Mac is fairly old, and has Snow Leopard OS version 10.6, I think.

What email provider do you use/would you recommend?

AndyPix

GMAIL - hands down best in terms of availability, ease of use, security, spam filtering etc etc etc


However, i suspect you may really be asking about a suitable email CLIENT ie software to run on your computer. In that case i would recommend thunderbird ..


Give us a clue, what domain is your current email address ? (the end bit, after the @)

esuhl

GMX is by far the best, in my opinion.
https://www.gmx.co.uk/mail/#.1559528-header-nav1-2

But if you want an email client, I'd also go with Thunderbird.
https://www.mozilla.org/en-GB/thunderbird/

zagubov

If you're on Snow Leopard, then Thunderbird will work fine. Another voter for gmail as well.

Proxima_Centauri

The Mac has an email programme and it's asking me to set up an account by inputting my email address. I'm afraid I don't know what the email programme is called, but we have a plusnet account which we may be able to set up on this machine. There's iCloud, but I think it needs newer software than the one I've got.

Thanks, I haven't heard of GMX before. Gmail would also be an option.

esuhl

Proxima_Centauri wrote: »

The Mac has an email programme and it's asking me to set up an account by inputting my email address. I'm afraid I don't know what the email programme is called, but we have a plusnet account which we may be able to set up on this machine. There's iCloud, but I think it needs newer software than the one I've got.

Don't use your Plusnet email account. You'll lose it if you ever change ISP. It's much better to use one of the free email providers (like GMX, GMail, etc.).

Thunderbird is an alternative to the Mac email program. You should be able to use either one, so it's just down to your preference. You could even install both, and then use whichever one you're in the mood for!

I hadn't heard of iCloud, but it looks like a service that allows you to upload certain things from your PC/device to a cloud server (photos, documents, etc.), so you have a "backup" of sorts, and so you can access your files from any other device with an internet connection.

That kind of thing is built-in to email (as IMAP), so the iCloud isn't relevant for emails.

Proxima_Centauri wrote: »

Thanks, I haven't heard of GMX before. Gmail would also be an option.

Again, either would be fine -- it's just personal preference, and you can always set up multiple accounts with different providers and check out their features before you actually settle on one.

zagubov

Proxima_Centauri wrote: »

The Mac has an email programme and it's asking me to set up an account by inputting my email address. I'm afraid I don't know what the email programme is called, but we have a plusnet account which we may be able to set up on this machine. There's iCloud, but I think it needs newer software than the one I've got.

Thanks, I haven't heard of GMX before. Gmail would also be an option.

GMX is German and you used to have to have a German address to register with them, but they're internationally available now. I used to use an ISP email but it changed from telewest to blueyonder to virgin and I lost the will to live. Webmail all the way for me now.:beer:

Proxima_Centauri

I'm warming to the idea of GMX, perhaps I'll give it a try. At least with webmail you can access it from anywhere, and if you change provider you won't lose your email in the process.

Code

Icloud is the apple cloud storage, which includes an email service (just like Gmail & Google drive etc). Except icloud is tied to apple nonsense, so I'm guessing you're talking about iTunes on your desktop PC, a piece of software determined to make the fastest PC run like a sedated tortoise.

Just use Gmail, or outlook.com, or any of the free providers for the reasons given already.

esuhl

zagubov wrote: »

GMX is German and you used to have to have a German address to register with them, but they're internationally available now.

GMX became popular because the privacy laws in Germany were considered amongst the best in Europe (and certainly better than US-based Google GMail). I'm not sure that's still the case, however. And GMX do have US servers now.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/growing-demand-for-german-email-providers-after-nsa-scandal-a-918651.html

They've offered .co.uk addresses for years now (a decade, surely?). And they don't scan your email to profile you for advertising purposes, like Google do.

I prefer the GMX web interface to Google's, although I find it a little bloated. But I don't generally use webmail. I much prefer to use an email client like Thunderbird. It's so much quicker/easier.

And I don't like the way that Google sets up "Important" and "All Mail" boxes where one email appears in multiple folders.

But, from what I've heard, GMail has a better spam filter.