Mozilla are a non-profit organization dedicated to producing applications which aim to improve the Internet experience for people everywhere. They have several flagship programs, most notably Firefox and Thunderbird. In this article, Thunderbird is reviewed and instructions are provided to download and install this program and some of its related features.
About Thunderbird:
Mozilla Thunderbird, is firstly, free. It is downloadable to anyone with an internet connection, and usage is unlimited, with no advertisements or popups to try to sell you anything. It has been designed and developed for the purpose of offering an alternative email solution to Microsoft Outlook and Outlook 2003.
Mozilla’s products are characterized by ease of use and great functionality. There are over 170 plug-ins to enhance usage, and the core functions are handled in an easy to use, intuitive manner. For more advanced users, Thunderbird has increased functionality and ease of use in both RSS feeds and Newsgroups.
Thunderbird is a firm favourite amongs both individual users and by the industry alike, and has been rated 5/5 by softpedia.com, 5/5 by webuser.co.uk, and has been rated 4.5/5 by about.com. Links to these articles are here:
http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/linux/Mozilla-Thunderbird-Review-18246.shtml
http://email.about.com/cs/winclientreviews/gr/moz_thunderbird.htm
http://www.webuser.co.uk/products/Mozilla_Thunderbird_review_2766-500.html
Spam Filtering:
The inclusion of a spam filter within Thunderbird is the key function of its ease of use for email. With 80-85% of all email now estimated to be spam (source: MAAWG Global Spam Report), it is necessary to be able to deal with spam in an efficient and simple manner, so users can spend more time reading their actual email. Thunderbird has a learning spam filter, which learns to define spam based upon what the user tells it is spam. In this manner, if a particular style or type of spam continually reaches your inbox, it is possible to ‘teach’ Thunderbird to automatically file that message as junk mail.
Calendar Plug-in:
Another handy feature of Thunderbird is the plug-in capability. Other programs can be integrated with the mail client (or other Mozilla programs) to add functionality and ease of use. The most useful of these is the calendar plug-in. This launches from the bar at the bottom of your screen (above the taskbar), and has both calendar and ToDo functions included. You can add meetings, view upcoming appointments, and add ToDo and reminders to pop up at a certain time and date.
You can download the calendar plug-in here: http://reminderfox.mozdev.org/.
Where to Download Thunderbird:
You can download Mozilla Thunderbird at the following link: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/
Advantages:
The simple advantages to using Mozilla Thunderbird are a second level of ‘learning’ spam filtering, greater control over where you wish messages to be moved and stored (this is a process that can be automated), and you can add in whatever plug-ins you wish to enhance your own usage of the program. If you add the fact that the program is completely free, the advantages of this program speak for themselves.
How to install your email on Thunderbird:
Firstly, you will need to download the program setup file. This is downloadable from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/. Having installed the program, you will then need to set up your emails on this email client.
Then go to http://www.etailor.ie/support/email-support/thunderbird-email-setup/ for instructions on how to set up your email on Thunderbird.