[mitchsc]

I apologize in advance for this fairly long post, but feel the background is necessary to explain my dilemma.

I've been happily using Outlook Express for years. What I am unhappy with is my ISP, Roadrunner (Time Warner).

Roadrunner only allows 10MB of email memory on their server, so one large attachment, or a few hours of not downloading email to Outlook Express, and I hit their "high water mark". Makes it nearly impossible to travel.

What has pushed me over the edge is their total lack of spam filtering. I get about 50-100 spams per day, and that's growing. I've not had much luck with 3rd party programs. But that's another topic.

I recently heard about the great spam filtering that Gmail offers, as well as more than 7GB of free email memory on their servers, so I thought I'd try it.

Their user interface is quite different that Outlook Express, but I figured I can get used to it. I thought that if I just used their web based email, it would really simplify my life. Travel is no longer a problem. No need to back up address books or anything else. And the same user interface everywhere I go.

So I've been using Gmail in lieu of Outlook Express for 4 days now, trying to get used to it. A few minor drawbacks. No read receipt available. No Priority send. Can't add folders. And worst of all for me, no way to reduce the size of photo images for emailing (that I am aware of). This is built in to O.E. and I use it all the time to email photos. It's automatic and very easy. Plus, Gmail's layout is a bit weird. Buttons are not grouped. They are spread around the display. I find that I must keep searching for buttons. Some are hidden in drop-down menus.

I forwarded my Roadrunner email to Gmail, and it's unbelievable. Virtually no spam!

So I've decided to switch my email from Roadrunner to Gmail based on the spam and memory capacity issues. That's a done deal. I read some reviews online that say Gmail has the best spam filtering, the most free memory, and is the fastest of the major players.

But I just can't decide whether to try and stick with the web based Gmail interface, or use Outlook Express as my mail client at home (thru Gmail - POP?? ), and just use Gmail web for travel. I realize this is a personal choice, but I was hoping someone with more experience could share their opinion on this.

I really like the consistency of using the Gmail web interface and not worrying about backups, but O.E. seems so much easier to use, and does a few things that Gmail can't.

Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks...

[KISS]

Just configure gmail to work with OE. You have to enable the option and get the name of the incoming and outgoing servers from google's help pages.

You can also use Roadrunner for outgoing mail and gmail for incoming mail. Nothing wrong with that option either.

[aung2bo]

You can download the emails from Gmail by using POP3 Setting. Check on the Gmail Setting , Gmail have POP3 setting and turn on it .

You configure the gmail account in your OE with gmail username , password and pop3 and smtp.

Regards,
ABB