Opera Web Browser email Client

I've always had a soft spot for the Opera browser ever since it came out at the end of 1996, and the email client is one of the many reason the Opera web browser should be one of the free applications in your tool box. I'm using three browsers now, and I use them for different functions, oh and Internet explorer isn't one of them. I've used Opera on and off over the years because it always seems to have something that I wanted to use. Usually when I needed to down load a file with a BitTorrent. But I think the email client alone is a huge reason to use it

First off Opera has a fantastic email client. I decided to look at it today after getting another request from my spouse to fix her Mozilla Thunderbird email client. I had to reinstall it recently for her, and it seemed to be working fine on her Vista running desktop, but it's on the Fritz again, and frankly I'm getting tired of fixing it. I'm using Thunderbird for Linux on my laptop with no problems at all but I find Thunderbird a bit cumbersome for the average user. If I find it cumbersome then I know that Joe Blow on the street is going to find it difficult to set up. You can use Opera with just about any of the online email services that are out there but I use Yahoo mail and Gmail exclusively myself. Gmail is a snap to set up on any email client, by simply telling Opera what your email address and passwords are and that you want to use imap, bang, you're in business. With Yahoo there are a few more steps. Here are the setting that you need to enter to use imap with Opera email client. These also work for Thunderbird by the way.

Outgoing mail needs to be set to:

• smtp.mail.yahoo.com
• port 465 (SSL/TLS)

Incoming imap server needs to be set to:

• imap.mail.yahoo.com
• port 993 (SSL/TLS)

In case you have a problem with the above settings then here are some alternative settings for accessing imap:

• smtp.mobile.mail.yahoo.com port 465
• imap.n.mail.yahoo.com port 143

or

• android.smtp.mail.yahoo.com port 465 (SSL/TLS)
• android.imap.mail.yahoo.com port 993 (SSL/TLS)

Other important settings for Yahoo mail that need to be set.

• Click on the wrench next to your email address
• Then click on properties.
• Next click on IMAP to tell it to map the Sent, Trash, and Bulk mail folders. There are drop downs to select.
• Click on “OK” Then you should be all set.

The reason you have to go through so many extra steps is because Yahoo wants to charge you to use their email on your email client, and their premium email service has access to their POP account that allows it to talk to Outlook, Thunderbird, and Opera mail. They don't charge you to use Yahoo mail on your Android, or iPhone. We just used their settings for mobile devices that work just fine on an email client.

Now I had a hard time finding how to add another account, you can add as many as you want and it's not hard to set up them up once you get to the right place, but it's tricky finding the spot to add a new email account.

• First you have to move your mouse on the email address you already have set up, then click on the wrench next to it.
• Click on IMAP folders and when the “Subscribe IMAP folders” box pops up then click on “Account.”
• You can then click on new account to set one up.

I actually like the look and feel of the email client that is built into Opera over Thunderbird. It seems more polished and friendly. And it's sort of nice having email to my left in my browser as I'm doing other things on the web. It's one less thing I have to switch between.

One other unique feature of Opera is the fact that it has a BitTorrent built right in. I don't use this much but every once and a while I need to download a large file and my only option is a bit torrent. Having BitTorrent software built in makes it more of a one step process to get the files that you are after. Just download the small torrent file and Opera starts the process of getting the actual file you want.

Opera is the fastest browser out there, so if you don't like waiting for pages to load then this is the browser for you. Opera also hosts blogs somewhat like Google does. Opera makes a great browser for your cell phone that use use on my Android exclusively.

It would be nice to be able to read Kindle book on Opera, but that's why I have Google Chrome. With so many different applications available for web browsers they themselves have turned into their own operating systems. For the most part what operating system you use doesn't matter too terribly much anymore unless you have an application that you just have to run on Windows for instance. Of course that's another story.

How To Manage Your Email With Thunderbird For Free

Mozilla Thunderbird email Client puts all of your email accounts in one manageable spot, and doesn't cost a cent.

It makes sense to use an email provider that doesn't care about your internet provider, and moves with you. Gmail, Yahoo mail, and Hotmail are examples of free email providers that give you the freedom to keep your email address for years. You could use the email service that your internet provider gave you, but a lot of the time they just plain stink, and what do you do if you get fed up with Comcast for instance, and decide to use another internet provider? You loose your email address.

Most of us end up using more than one email address because it makes sense to have an email address for our blogs, ebay, our web page, school, etc. But you soon find yourself logging in and out off different email accounts all day, and email becomes a big nuisance. That is where a desktop email client like Thunderbird comes in handy.

You may be familiar with Outlook because you've used it at work, or you may have payed a tidy sum for it along with Microsoft Office. Thunderbird is a lot like Outlook mail but costs nothing, and is hands down the best Free email client for Windows, Mac, or Linux. Sure there are others that you may prefer, but I've tried most of them, and keep coming back to Thunderbird.

Now here's the deal, with Thunderbird, as with Outlook, you can add as many email accounts as you like. You can create, receive, and respond to all of your email in one place. You simply add a new account and the software sets it up for you. The only email provider that's a little tricky is Yahoo.

Yahoo for as long as I can remember has charged people for the privilege of being able to communicate with an email client, Pop3 is still part of their premium service. But what Yahoo has done is add IMAP for free so that devices like cell phones, and iPods can use their email service. The nice thing about that is that you can use IMAP in Thunderbird also, but you need to know the settings. The automatic setup in Thunderbird for Yahoo tries to set up Pop3 communication, and that's fine if you are paying for Yahoo's premium service, but it won't work if you use Yahoo's free service. Most of us didn't pay for Yahoo mail so here is how you set it in Thunderbird:

When you are going through the setup do this:

• Change the default Pop3 to IMAP with the pulldown.

• Set the Outgoing Server to: smtp.mail.yahoo.com
• Server Name: imap.n.mail.yahoo.com
• User name: Your user name@yahoo.com
• Security: STARTTLS

Your Yahoo, or other email accounts will appear on the left on the main Thunderbird screen. You simply click on the account that you want to use, select the write button at the top, and send an email message from that account. Your incoming email messages will also show up on the left in the inbox of the respective account.

If you've had your email account for a long time, and haven't emptied your inbox for years then be patient the first time you use an account, Thunderbird needs to load all of that email onto your computer for the first time. It can take a while, but after that it's a piece of cake.

Here's one more trick for managing you email. Gmail gives you the flexibility of being able to forward your email with it's free service. The advantage of forwarding is that you could forward all of your Gmail accounts to one, and get all of your email in one place. This works well with email addresses that get very little mail, but you still need to monitor them. My Thunderbird email client is only showing one Gmail, and One Yahoo account by doing this.

I hope this helps you get your arms around your email, once you do it makes your life just a little bit less complicated.