Discover These Lesser-Known Web and E-Mail Tools

Fed up with Firefox? Is your Outlook uncertain? We review 15 great Web and e-mail programs many people have never heard of.

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Introduction
Life on the Internet keeps getting better thanks to constant innovation in the two most indispensable kinds of online tools: Web browsers and e-mail programs. The Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser continues to gradually win converts from the hordes of Internet Explorer users, spurring Microsoft to issue its long-awaited IE 7 last year. Although they may be popular, these top two browsers weren't the first to offer many of their key features (such as tabbed, multiwindow browsing; support for RSS newsfeeds; and pop-up blocking), and they're not always perfect performers.
When it comes to alternatives, you could opt for another stand-alone Web browser, but two products here combine Web and e-mail into a single convenient suite. Two other great browsers are really shells that enhance Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Plus, there's a portable version of Firefox that you can take with you on your USB thumb drive.
I also looked for tools to take your Web experience beyond mere browsing. I picked graphical HTML editors that let you design and publish your own sites without having to be an expert in markup language. And for fun, I found a nifty Web video player that consolidates your online viewing and offers a way out of the YouTube rut.
Microsoft Outlook is a great e-mail client and personal information manager, but it doesn't come cheap--the newest version comes as part of Microsoft's Office 2007. Fortunately, you can get many of its features in other excellent programs, most of them free. All of the e-mail applications I list here offer the basic tools you need to keep up with the daily deluge of e-mail, including address books, folders, and support for the main mail server protocols, POP3 and IMAP. The best also offer spam detection, spelling checking, and encryption. And a few come with unique features, such as stationery, virus-checking, and the ability to run from a USB drive.
If you have some strong opinions on browsers or e-mail programs, we'd like to hear them. Look for the Post a Comment link below, or go to our Forums (scroll down to the Web Browsing and E-Mail forum).
Complete List of Web and E-Mail Tools in This Article
Web Browsers
Of these five browsers, the first two also do e-mail, while the others offer their own interesting features and advantages.


Opera
The Opera browser is free, filled with features, and fast. Opera combines tabbed browsing and e-mail in one surprisingly clean, yet highly customizable interface.
Like IE and Firefox, Opera's browser blocks pop-ups, accepts plug-ins, remembers your online passwords, and lets you subscribe to RSS newsfeeds and easily download .torrent files using the program's built-in support for the BitTorrent protocol. The latest version adds a welcome antiphishing tool, but you'll need to turn it on (look for Enable Fraud Protection in the Security section on the Advanced tab in Preferences).
Opera's e-mail interface supports POP3 and IMAP servers, lets you create incoming message rules and assign Gmail-like labels, and finds and filters spam. I particularly like the way Opera puts the most commonly-accessed settings (like pop-up blocking) in a Quick Preferences menu, and the way everything--Web pages, e-mail, RSS feeds, and BitTorrent transfers--lives in its own tabbed page. The latest version even bundles desktop widgets--including BitTorrent search, clocks, games, and news and weather tickers--that appear on your desktop as long as Opera is running. About the only thing Opera lacks in order to replace both your browser and your PIM is a calendar module.


SeaMonkey
SeaMonkey has an interesting pedigree--it's descended from one of the very first Internet suites.
Back in the day, Netscape Communicator ruled the Web with its handily integrated browser, e-mail, and HTML authoring tools. Then Internet Explorer took over, and Netscape withered away, becoming an America Online brand. (Find a version with integrated mail and Web authoring, Netscape 7.2, in our Downloads library. Note that the current Netscape 8.1.2 omits the mail reader and HTML authoring; AOL plans to include them once again in its upcoming Netscape 9.)
The open-source Mozilla Foundation handed off development of the old Netscape suite to a group of volunteers, who continue to produce updated versions under the SeaMonkey name. The latest one uses the same HTML rendering engine as Firefox 2.0, blocks pop-ups, fills in Web forms, and remembers passwords.
SeaMonkey's mail program likewise shares many features with the latest version of Mozilla's Thunderbird e-mail program, including Gmail-like tags and antiphishing features. Plus, you get the WYSIWYG HTML editor, Composer, all bundled into an old-school package guaranteed to take you back to 1997. I love the way SeaMonkey combines the familiar Netscape browser and mail interface with updated features like tabbed browsing and automatic updates.


Firefox Portable
Firefox Portable is the browser for nomads.
If you compute nomadically--that is, you work in multiple offices, dual-boot, or just can't figure out which system on your desk is your main computer--then you undoubtedly miss having all of your bookmarks, saved passwords, and history everywhere you go. One slick way to bring your browsing environment with you is to use a portable version of Firefox that runs from a USB drive. Thanks to the determined efforts of developer John Haller, you can download and install a free, customized version of Firefox 2, and install it on your thumb drive with a couple of clicks.
Some limitations apply--not every extension or plug-in will install or work correctly with Firefox Portable, and Java not at all. Firefox Portable developer John T. Haller explains this on his Web site, where he offers a whole suite of portable applications, including the Mozilla Foundation's Thunderbird e-mail program (see the E-Mail Programs page

Avant Browser
Avant Browser enhances your copy of Internet Explorer--even if the version you use is IE 7.
Back when Internet Explorer was languishing without a major update, a few enterprising developers figured out how to build a tabbed interface and other missing amenities around IE's basic Web-page engine. Even today, Avant Browser is a boon to IE 6 users, adding much-needed tabbed browsing and newsfeed support. And the program improves on IE 7 with ad blocking, a flash animation filter, mouse gestures, and skins.
The program also lets you store your bookmarks, saved passwords, newsfeeds, and other configuration data online, allowing you to synchronize your browsing experience among multiple locations. I like the handy URL Alias feature that lets you launch frequently visited sites by typing short codes (like pcw) into the address field.


Maxthon
Like Avant Browser, Maxthon borrows Internet Explorer's basic features, while grafting on tabbed browsing and newsfeed support (for IE 6 users) and ad blocking, mouse gestures, and skins.
Maxthon also prepopulates the browser with handy newsfeeds and site- and content-specific plug-ins. (If you make a donation to Maxthon International, you can also enable a bookmark upload service.)
At the time of writing, the company had released a beta of version 2, featuring a cleaner program layout, a more customizable interface, and multiple user profiles. Maxthon includes a handy Flash Save utility that lets you download or block flash animations (such as YouTube videos) that are embedded in Web pages.
Tools
Here are programs for doing your Web pages, site development, and video aggregation.


Nvu
Nvu is an application that lets you design Web pages without having to master hypertext markup language (HTML).


1st Page 2006
1st Page 2006 is the latest version of a popular, professional-level Web development tool.
If your Web design needs and skills exceed what simpler tools like Composer and Nvu can handle, try Evrsoft's perennial favorite, 1st Page 2006 (which replaces the previous version, 1st Page 2000). The program offers four user modes: Easy, Normal, Expert, and--for Web geniuses--Hardcore. But even the Easy mode offers an amazing array of prefab DHTML, Javascript, and PHP scripts that add menus, buttons, animation, calendars, pop-ups, and other effects to your pages.
Novice users may also want to grab this program if only for its Web Photo Gallery Generator, which builds an indexed, thumbnailed Web photo gallery from a folder full of digital images in a click. Though the WYSIWYG design mode is nice, I like writing HTML directly in the program's basic three-pane display, which shows the source code, a preview, and a handy reference list of HTML tags.


Democracy Player
Democracy Player is a video feed aggregator and recorder that also lets you search the major video sites--all from one program.
Video is the most interesting thing on the Web these days, but it's easy to get stuck on YouTube looking for the diamonds among the lip-synching teenagers and inebriated video camera abusers. The Participatory Culture Foundation offers this program--a video feed aggregator cum personal video recorder--as part of its larger goal of jump-starting a grassroots Internet TV model.
Democracy Player lets you browse and subscribe to a variety of video channels, including Seed Magazine's science clips, Comedy Central, Adult Swim, music video channels, and Democracy Now. You can also search the major video Web sites without leaving the player. Just like your TiVo box, Democracy Player expires and deletes older videos automatically to keep your hard disk from filling up. The best thing about this personal video recorder is that it aggregates video content you won't find on your cable box or YouTube, and it does all the downloading for you.
E-Mail Programs
More tools for your online arsenal: three e-mail programs (including one you can take on the road) and a sophisticated spam filter.


Eudora
Eudora--a venerable but first-rate e-mail client--is about to go open-source.
Eudora has long offered a terrific set of e-mail features, including POP3 and IMAP support, incoming mail filters, HTML messages, stationery, spelling checking, Gmail-like labels, and a spam filter, in both paid and free (ad-supported) versions. I've particularly liked its multiwindow display that lets me look at my inbox, sent mail, and other folders side-by-side. Now its developer is cutting the program loose: Qualcomm will release Eudora as an open-source program sometime later in 2007.
You'll start to see the benefits of this transition before the open-source version appears, however. Advertising will gradually disappear from the ad-supported Eudora starting in February 2007 so, you can use the full version without being pestered by ads.
For $20, you can be one of the last paying Eudora customers and see no ads at all; get the SpamWatch, BossWatch, and Ultra-Fast Search features; and be allowed three tech-support calls in the bargain. But you have to have Eudora 7.1 if you want to use Sponsored mode after March 31, 2007. Earlier versions will automatically revert to Light mode (which omits certain features such as spelling checking, multiple identities, stationery, and signatures) after that date.


Thunderbird
Firefox's less-famous sibling, Thunderbird, offers key e-mail features like POP3 and IMAP support, HTML mail, mail rules, spelling checking, and spam filtering, and also includes RSS newsfeed support and protection against phishing attacks.
Naturally, this Mozilla.org program is utterly free and open-source. Like Firefox, Thunderbird also benefits from an array of add-ons, including ad blockers and spelling-check dictionaries. Due for imminent release, version 2 adds several welcome new features, including tags (think Gmail labels), and various interface improvements. I like Thunderbird's clean interface, as well as the fact that I can run it on multiple machines and operating systems.


Thunderbird Portable
Thunderbird Portable is a version of the Thunderbird e-mail application that has been customized for portability.
Maintaining a single e-mail inbox--whether online or off, at home or at large--requires a portable e-mail application. Just like Firefox Portable, Thunderbird Portable lets you take your e-mail program with you on a USB drive wherever you go--simply plug the drive into a Windows PC. Its features are identical to the nonportable version, and include POP3 and IMAP support, HTML mail, mail rules, spelling checking, spam filtering, RSS newsfeed support, and protection against phishing attacks. I keep it installed on my USB drive alongside Firefox Portable, so I can check both my Web-based and POP3 mail accounts from anywhere.


SpamBayes
SpamBayes is an absolutely free, open-source spam filter that works with Outlook or any other e-mail client software that uses the POP3 or IMAP protocols.
Like many commercial antispam utilities, SpamBayes uses Bayesian statistics, rather than lists of keywords, to sort the good mail from the bad, resulting in high rates of spam detection and very low numbers of false positives (good messages mistaken for spam). The only thing that seems to slip by SpamBayes with any consistency is the new generation of image-based spam. The program's volunteer authors may address that in a forthcoming 1.1 version.
You can use SpamBayes as a proxy with any mail program (including Thunderbird and Eudora), but it also includes an Outlook plug-in that adds a couple of buttons to Outlook's toolbar. If SpamBayes misses a spam, just select it and click on Delete as Spam. On the rare occasion that a nonspam message ends up in Spambayes' Junk Suspects folder, just select it and click on Recover From Spam. That's probably all you'll ever need to do.
More E-Mail Programs
Here we look at a PIM/e-mail combo, a free Outlook substitute, and a powerful e-mail client with a funny name.


i.Scribe
i.Scribe is a small, fast, free, and feature-filled personal information manager that includes e-mail, spam detection, and a calendar.
This compact program packs a lot of PIM and e-mail power into a small, free package. It's hard to believe that i.Scribe's 803KB download includes POP3 and IMAP e-mail, rules for filtering incoming mail, Bayesian spam filtering, and a calendar module. i.Scribe supports plug-ins (maker MemeCode Software offers a handful, including spelling checking, on its Web site), lets you preview mail on the server before downloading, and runs without modification from removable drives.
A $20 commercial version, called InScribe, adds support for unlimited send and receive accounts (i.Scribe is limited to just one), expanded message filtering, and the ability to synchronize your mailbox with Outlook's. But the great thing about iScribe (besides the fact that it's free) is its small size--I run it on an older laptop where I need to use as little memory as possible.


Evolution
So far, no single program beats Microsoft Outlook's combination of e-mail features, calendaring, and contacts. But one program--Novell's free, open-source Evolution--comes close.
Evolution has been enjoyed mostly by Linux users as part of the Gnome window manager included with many distributions. Now Novell and some kind-hearted Evolution fans have created a Windows version as well.
Evolution is no Outlook clone, but it offers the same general PIM landscape, including mail, contact, calendar, note-making, and task modules. Features include must-haves like rule-based filtering and spam detection, HTML-format messages, and PGP signing and encryption, plus the ability to share calendars with others via the Web. For the most part, Evolution replicates my Outlook experience, and it lets me use the same free PIM program under both Linux and Windows.


The Bat!
The Bat! is a stand-alone e-mail client that lets you configure and customize your inbox.
Who knows what they were thinking at RITLabs when they were picking a name for their industrial-strength shareware e-mail client (the program costs $35)? Regardless, The Bat! gives power e-mailers not only basic e-mail features like filtering rules and POP3 and IMAP support, but also a highly customizable interface for sorting and viewing messages and managing multiple mail accounts.
Spelling dictionaries and antispam and antivirus plug-ins are all available as free downloads from the company's Web site. The Bat! will spell-check your outgoing messages for you automatically, and digitally sign and encrypt them with the included OpenPGP security module.
I like the program's clean interface and easy-to-understand icons, but I also like the tremendously detailed options lurking under the surface. The Sorting Office filtering dialog box, for example, gives you lots of control over how incoming messages are routed. A floating ticker widget that displays new mail is a slick and useful touch as well.
Complete List of Web and E-Mail Tools in This Article
Programs are listed in the order in which they appeared.


Web Browsers
OperaSeaMonkeyFirefox PortableAvant BrowserMaxthon

Tools
Nvu1st Page 2006Democracy Player

E-Mail Programs
EudoraThunderbirdThunderbird PortableSpamBayes

More E-Mail Programs
i.ScribeEvolutionThe Bat!


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