Free E-Mail Clients - Outlook Express and Windows Mail

Part 2 of my series "a suggested sequence of tutorials for those adopted by a novice to be their tutor" is advice on how to establishing a user friendly e-mail program.

If during your first tutorial session you didn’t configure your adopted novice’s e-mail account, I’ll wager in their haste to send and receive e-mail they attempted to configure it themselves.

Let’s assume they were successful or you’ve cleaned up the mess they made.

I suggest you begin your 2nd tutorial session assisting them in configuring Outlook Express (XP) or Windows Mail (Vista) as their "free" e-mail carrier.

In my opinion providing an opportunity for a novice or anyone for that matter to use either "I’ll go get it myself" Web mail or a "go get my e-mail and bring it back on board my computer" e-mail carrier will provide the only two choices they’ll need to begin a successful e-mail adventure.

Most novices on their own will establish their e-mail as Web based e-mail. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with Web Mail. It can be conveniently accessed from any computer with an Internet connection and most Web Mail ISP’s provide many of the e-mail organizing features offered by Outlook Express and Windows Mail.

However, without preventing a user from accessing their e-mail via the Web should they be traveling without their computer, Outlook Express and Windows Mail offers:
* A convenient way to backup to My Documents (XP) or Contacts (Vista) address books and
important e-mail.
* An opportunity to organize and prepare e-mail offline.
* A convenient way to configure bring all paid and free ISP e-mail into one In Box.

Next and in keeping with my goal of offering "free" or at least inexpensive ways to accomplish tasks, here’s a way for you to teach your novice how to save important e-mail without the necessity of 3rd party software.

Demonstrate how:
* To create an "Important E-Mail" folder in My Documents or Documents.
* In Outlook Express to click File > Save As. Then after either keeping or changing the e-mail File Name, how to click the little down triangle and select .txt file and Save the file to their My Documents "Important E-Mail" folder.
* In Windows Mail to click on File > Save As. Then after either keeping or changing the e-mail File Name, how to click the little down triangle and select .txt file. Then by clicking Browse Folders, find the "Important E-Mail" folder and Save the file.

Here’s wishing you a Good Boot.