Another plug for Thunderbird. Now that version 1 is out, there is nothing I would caution users to consider before installing it. When I first installed it (version .7, I believe), I had all sorts of gripes with it, the biggest being the way it handles multiple accounts. It would only let you completely seperate each account so that you had a different inbox, sent items, deleted items, and other folders. It's hard to explain now that they changed it. Regardless, they've now given you the option to combine any or all accounts (I prefer this, so I can apply rules to sort the mail and there's less clutter on my folder list).

The second major problem I had had with the program was that the spam filter simply did not work. It's that simple, it didn't do anything, except for always marking emails from a listserve I had specifically told it not to. Very frustrating. Well, since version 1 I've had no problems, and it works like a charm. I don't even check for false positives anymore.

Lastly, importing is a breeze. I had 6 years of emails that converted just fine. I actually went from Outlook Express to Outlook to Thunderbird in only a few months, and all the transitions were fine. Like I've said before, the single feature I used in Outlook Express that isn't in any other email program I've seen, is a mail filter that will check the messages before taking them from the servers, and leave them based on whatever criteria I choose. Still, I really like Thunderbird and highly recommend the switch.