Why I'm Still Using A Software Email Client
The question why I'm still using an email client came up recently in an article about adding Gmail properly to a software email client. That's actually a pretty good question; Online email services have evolved in the last years. They provide so much storage space that most users would never be able to fill that space in their entire life. They have introduced features and filters to make the email client more secure but still lack a few that are essential for some users.
When we look at the requirements we see the following. An online email service requires an online connection which might not always be a 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 personal data close to me, as silly as it may sound. If something unforeseen happens I can still access my data provided I took care of creating backups and stuff like that.
If the online provider decides to shut down, gets hacked, or god beware, ban you, you may lose access to all of your emails and contacts if you have not created regular backups.
You may also be able to use additional tools and programs in combination with your email client which you may not be able to use when you are using web mail.
Security is another aspect that may be worth investigating. Many email service providers like Yahoo or Google use the email account as verification 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 losing 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.
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You said that Outlook isn’t your main email client, so which is your main one?
I think its thunderbird
It is Mozilla Thunderbird.
Awesome! This actually solved my problem… what a stupid bug.
If this is the same bug that I’ve encountered, there may be another fix: (1) hover over open Outlook item in Taskbar, cursor up to hover over Outlook window item, and right-click; (2) this should give you Restore / Move / Size / Minimize / Maximize — choose Move or Size; (3) use your cursor keys, going arbitrarily N/S/E/W, to try to move or size the Outlook window back into view. Basically, the app behaves as though it were open in a 0x0 window, or at a location that’s offscreen, and this will frequently work to resize and/or move the window. Don’t forget to close while resized/moved, so that Outlook remembers the size/position for next time.
THANK YOU Claude!!! I could get the main window to launch but could not get any other message window to show on the desktop. You are my hero!!!!
Solved my issue! 6 years later and this is still problem…
Fantastic. Thank you. Size did the trick.
This solved my Outlook problem, too. Thank you. :)
Thank you so much, this started happening to me today and was causing big problems. You are a life saver, I hope I can help you in some way some day.
You are a god – thank you!
thanks a lot…. work like charm.. :-)
Yah…thanks Claude. I’ve been having the same problem and tried all the suggestions…your solution was the answer. It had resized itself to a 0/0 box. Cheers
Excellent post. This had me baffled even trying to accurately describe the problem. This fixed it for me.
Thank you
Thanks a lot for the article. Don’t know why it happenend, don’t know how it got fixed, but it was really annoying and now it works :-)
Thanks a lot. I was facing this issue from past 3 week. I tried everything but no resolution. The issue was happening intermittently and mainly when I was changing the display of screen ( as i use 2 monitors). The only option i had was to do system restore. But thanks to you.
I’ve been tried to sole this problem for 12hours. Your comment about changing the display of screen helped me a lot!! Thanks!!
Thank you…don’t know why this happened but your instructions helped me fix it. Running Windows 10 and office pro 2007
Great tip! Thanks!
Worked for me, too – thank you!!!
It’s Worked for me, too
thank you very much!
I had a similar issue with Outlook 2013 on Windows 10 and this helped me to fix it. Thank you very much!
Thank you so much. Solved!
Considering you published this in 2012, incredible not been debugged by Microsoft.
Thank you again. M
This problem was faced by only one user logging to TS 2008 r2 using outlook 2010.The issue was resolved.
Thanks.
Great tip. Thank you!!!! If it helps, I had to use the Control Key and the arrow keys at the same time to bring my window back into view. Worked like a charm.
Thank you, this worked !!!!
Man, you are a fucking god. Thanks a lot, what an annoying bug!!
Awesome, this post solved the issue. Many thanks!