However, many people still don’t know that if you want to pull your email into third-party email software, it has to be capable of using secure connections. This means SSL (Secure Socket Layer), and TLS (Transport Layer Security). Both of these protocols use encryption, and are built in automatically to most up-to-date email software. Instead of using ports 25 and 110 to sends and receive, you’ll be using ports 465 and 995, and Gmail won’t work without it.

So what happens when you are asked to set up an email system to talk to Google Mail, which doesn’t allow those ports, and is so old it doesn’t know the first thing about encryption protocols? Well, one answer could be a little program called Stunnel. This little gem sits on your computer and converts standard emails into a format suitable for Google Mail. It can handle incoming and outgoing mail, and is robust enough to use on a network where many people are sending emails at the same time. It also uses very little system memory, and rarely crashes.

Setting up Stunnel is a easy. You simply run thorough the install process which will take all of about 20 seconds, and then edit a small text file which configures the program to use whichever email service you are using. Of course we are talking about Google Mail here, but this program could be used to interface with any email system using secure socket layers.

You can set up port mappings easily, so if your software will only receive emails from port 110, it will automatically translate that to port 995 for you, and the same with outgoing mail. It will also handle IMAP email as well.

You can install Stunnel on any computer running Windows. In a network environment you can install a copy on a server, and point all your workstations to it. Stunnel seems to allow multiple connections with no fuss whatsoever. I’ve seen a single instance of Stunnel handling email for up to 200 workstations. Of course if you have more, there are no reasons why you couldn’t install more than one instance of Stunnel to handle the extra traffic. It also installs itself as a service on server operating systems, which enables it to be started automatically. It can also be installed on individual machines, such as laptops.

This program finds favor with quite a few people. It’s simple and does exactly what it says it does. It’s also flexible enough to fit in with almost any network.

This article offers a short but handy list of Microsoft Outlook downloads that put the messaging software to the next level. The following seven programs are partially third party tools and partially add-ins. I have added a short description to each listing, a screenshot, a link to a previous review here on Ghacks and a link to the developer website.

Microsoft Outlook Mail Statistics

One area where Outlook could need some improvement is statistics and information. That’s changed by the portable third party tool Outlook Stats View by one of my favorite Windows developers Nirsoft. It basically scans all emails and displays information about all users that emails have been send to or received from. Very handy for a top ten listing of your most important email partners. [homepage]

Outlook Password Recovery

Outlook data is stored in pst files which use a weak encryption. The free Outlook Password Recovery software can retrieve the passwords so that it is possible to access the data if the original password has been forgotten or lost. [homepage]

Microsoft Outlook Temp Cleaner

Email attachments are automatically stored in a temp file by Microsoft Outlook. This can be problematic for a number of reasons, including security, privacy and the notorious can’t create file errors. The temporary files cleaner can be used to delete the files with the click of a button. That’s handy if you do not want to hunt down the folder that is used by Outlook on the system. [homepage]

Microsoft Outlook Email Compression

This is an Outlook add-in that can reduce the size of the Outlook inbox by compressing threads. It basically removes redundant information from the threads. Only really useful if the inbox quota has been set to a very low level in your office. [homepage]

Outlook Blocked Attachment Unlocker

Outlook blocks certain email attachments by default for email security. This includes for instance executable files. Users who do not need those extra security protection in Outlook, for instance if they are running a security software that includes an email scanner. This program can be used to remove the filter from specific file types that are otherwise blocked by the email client. [homepage]

Microsoft Outlook Attachment Extractor

Attachments take up valuable space. One trick to cope with that is to extract attachments from Outlook to free up space. This is again helpful mostly in corporate offices with email quotas, but can be handy on home PCs as well if the hard drive is not to big. You can use this program to extract attachments from Outlook emails. This moves the attachments to one of the computer’s hard drives. It is possible to link to those files in the emails so that no information are lost. [homepage]

Microsoft Outlook Mail Attachment Recovery

It can happen that you delete an email or attachment that you did not want to delete. This program tries to recover previously deleted email attachments. It uses the temporary folder that Outlook uses to store email attachments in. It the attachment is still in the folder it is recoverable. [homepage]

Did I miss a tool? Let me know in the comments.

The free software program will automatically scan the PC on startup for an installed version of Microsoft Outlook. The relevant file paths and information are displayed in the first window that is displayed to the user. It is here possible to change the paths (outlook path, roaming Outlook data, local Outlook data and temporary folder to open attachments) if necessary.

The very same menu links to tools like the Outlook inbox repair tool, account settings and the Windows Event Viewer. A Microsoft Update can also be initiated right from that window.

Lastly it is possible to minimize Outlook to the notification area and to configure Outlook to display all emails in plain text.

But that window was just the startup page. Outlook Tools comes with four additional tabs that can be used to configure startup switches, clear the MRU, configure new mail alerts and blocked attachments.

All known Microsoft Outlook startup switches are displayed on the second page. Here it is possible to select one of more than 40 different startup switches. They are all explained on the developer’s homepage and it is probably a good idea to take a look at the descriptions before tinkering with those settings.

Clear MRU will creal the most recently used lists of Outlook. This is an automatic process that can be initiated manually as well. Outlook Tools offer options to clear individual lists from selected profiles easily.

The new mail alerts page can be used to configure the desktop notifications that appear when new emails have been received. The Outlook user can change the interval from seven seconds to another value to better suite the needs of the user. The transparency of the notifications can also be changed on this page.

The last page lists the blocked attachment types in Outlook with the option to enable them individually again.

Outlook Tools is a free software program for Windows that requires the Microsoft .net Framework. It is compatible with the following systems:

Outlook 2000, Outlook 2002/XP, Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010
Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server (+R2), Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 (+R2) or Windows 7

The software program can be downloaded from the developer’s website over at How-To Outlook.

Thunderbird Quick Folders aids email users who work with multiple folders in their email client. The add-on will add a new toolbar to the Thunderbird header that can be used to drag and drop folders into it. These folders act as quick access points to the bookmarked folders. It is possible to access these email folders either by left-clicking on them or pressing the keyboard shortcut Alt 1-9 to go there.

The add-on for the email client is highly flexible and offers extended settings to change functionality and design of the add-on.

Options include changing the colors of the email bookmark tabs, displaying the mail count next to each email folder or to automatically focus on the message list when switching to another bookmarks tab. Quick Folders is available at the official Mozilla Thunderbird website. The add-on for the email client is compatible with all versions of the Thunderbird.

Thunderbird users who like to bookmark individual emails might want to take a look at the Bookmark Emails add-on which we reviewed a while ago at Ghacks.

Three checks can be performed to verify email addresses without actually sending emails to the recipients. These are syntax, domain and server level checks Syntax is probably the easiest to understand. If the format of an email address is invalid it will throw a syntax error. It’s easy to sort these invalid emails out even before connecting to the Internet.

Domain and server level checks require a connection to the Internet. They basically check if the domain name is valid and if a mail server is available to process incoming email messages.

The email verification software Realva Email Verifier can import email addresses in various ways. It supports pasting multiple email addresses in its interface but can also load a list of email addresses from a file.

It is then possible to verify all available email addresses by selecting one or all of the email verification checks. The software uses multiple threads which speeds up the process noticeably.

Another interesting aspect is that the email verification software will test the email addresses using a HTTP web server that is using a different port than 25. Port 25 is often blocked by organization, businesses or ISPs to block spam.

The verified email addresses can be sorted in various ways before they can be saved in formats such as txt, Excel, Word or csv.

The settings contain options that include changing the number of connections, using specific DNS servers or creating rules that mark emails as valid or invalid.

Realva Email Verifier is a sophisticated program for users who check email address lists regularly. It is compatible with most Microsoft operating systems.

Update: The email verification software is no longer available. The developer website returns a 404 not found error. The link has been removed as a consequence.

Delete Confirm is a Thunderbird extension that adds delete confirmations to the email client. It is possible to enable delete confirmations on a per folder basis in Thunderbird. The Trash and Send folder delete confirmations are enabled by default while they are turned off for all other folders.

A right-click on a folder and the selection of Properties will display a checkbox to enable or disable delete confirmations. The extension will display a popup if the user tries to delete an email that resides in a folder that has delete confirmations activated.

Delete Confirm is compatible with all Thunderbird 2 versions and can be downloaded right from the Mozilla website. The add-on is experimental which means that the user has to log into the Mozilla website before downloading the add-on.

Update: The Thunderbird extension has been discontinued. An alternative that is actively developed is Confirm Before Delete. The extension is compatible with all versions of the Thunderbird email client.

When we look at the requirements we see the following. An online email service requires an online connection which might not always be given, either because of the location of the user or a problem with it. It might also be that the email service itself is down and not offering services. All those cases would mean that it would be impossible to read or send emails.

A local client does not have these restrictions as it stores all emails locally which ensures access even without Internet connection. It requires on the other hand that one (or the few) computer(s) to work with.

I think it’s pretty much a matter of personal taste. I prefer to have my data close to me, as silly as it may sound. If something unforeseen happens I can still access my data providing I took care of creating backups and stuff like that.

Security is another aspect that might be worth investigating. Many email service providers like Yahoo or Google use the email accounts for various services on other parts of their sites. Google users can use Google Analytics, Adsense, Adwords, Google Talk and several other services all with that one account. This increases the chance of loosing the account due to an attack. Could be phishing, could be an exploit that makes use of the fact that you can be still logged into your Google account even if you closed the mail application. Just look at the top right of a Google search form. Do you see your email address listed there? If yes you are still logged in. Attackers have way more possibilities to attack the online accounts than local ones.

It’s on the other hand very convenient to use online accounts. Being able to log in from anywhere is a huge selling point. The question is if this feature is needed by many users. I for one use only my main computer and my laptop to check emails. If the need would arise for an online account I would still want to have all my mail on my own computer even if I would use an online service from time to time.

Which leads to the question: What about you? Are you using email clients or online email services? Let me know.