Wondering who folks on here are using. I used Outlook for years but its not supported any longer and was not on my new machine. Not a fan of windows live mail, can't believe they dropped outlook for that.

Should have said software, thanks for the catch Defron

I've just used Gmail for years.

email service or email software? the two are very different things.

For email services I primarily use gmail and Google Apps Business email and their webmail interfaces

Occasionally I use Thunderbird. I also have a script written in python for mass personalized emailing

BTW: Outlook has and continues to be included in MS Office (except the home and student version). There was a similar program included in Windows 98-XP called Outlook Express, which may be what you are thinking of.

i've been using yahoo long enough, since before i joined these forums. they've been pestering me for my phone number for a while. im considering getting my own domain for email however that is done, as i don't want to give my phone number away to people i know are going to sell it to advertisers.

Been with Gmail for a long time

Don't know if they are good or not but not had any issues

I use outlook at work because Exchange. I use the "gapps" mail app on my mobile devices...for everything else I just use the web mail client that comes with the respective e-mail account I'm using. The only other mail client I use is a downloader that I use to archive messages.

been using Yahoo since the late 90s

I really neex to switch all my email to gmail.

Outlook Express was discontinued/rebranded Windows Live Mail.

Unless you have multiple email account and/or use Exchange, Outlook is too expensive. 109USD stand-alone.

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Mozilla Thunderbird, is similar to Outlook Express. And is free. Installed it on my parents' computer, it seemed ok.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/

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I use Outlook 2010 version, I bought Office. *shrugs*

Gmail.

I've been using Yahoo for..many years. I see no reason to change.

I use my own: mail.vometia.com is lurking noisily under my desk in my study. I'm not sure if it's entirely sensible from the point of view of making work for myself, but I like having more control over it than a third party solution gives me. Not all peers will talk to a host behind a residential address (even though I've asked my ISP to ensure I'm not on any of the bl databases) so some outbound mail needs to go via my ISP du jour, but not much.

I've been using http://www.mail.com/#.7518-header-logo1-1 since 2003. I like it for two reasons. One, I can check my email using my browser. Two, it gave me a choice of email addresses. I was able to get @mindless.com, which is the best email address ever.

how complicated is it to set that up for one self?

domain registration: $10-20/yr

non-RBL IP address: varies. Some ISPs will demand you switch to their business-class internet, others wont.

static IP address: $5-20/mo on top of regular Internet fees (differs)

Server costs for electricity: Anywhere from $5/yr to a few hundred depending on energy efficiency

server costs: ranges from free (using an old PC) to a couple hundred

Software cost: ranges from free (using Linux + PostFix + Dovecot or a similar setup) to a thousand or so (Windows server + Exchange)

time costs: Have to set up your own spam filters which can be quite time consuming and will need to secure the MTA, which will involve a decent amount of learning. Don't forget to set up valid certificates (which for an individual you can get for free from some places)

Of course the satisfaction can be priceless.

A lot of the costs can also be saved by instead using a virtual private server, which you can get for $5/month or even less. Going this route you're looking at a cost of $70/yr or so.

In all cases though, it's not as easy as flipping a switch. You'll need to invest quite a few hours into research and setup before you get it working. However, if all you're after is custom domain email, you can get away with just the cost of the domain (so $10/yr) and a provider like http://www.zoho.com/mail/zohomail-pricing.html. You no longer have to set up your own spam filters or maintain the server, but you will be limited on the number of emails you can send per day (btw: gmail, outlook, and yahoo all limit then number of emails you can send per day too) as well as be much more limited on storage. I personally use Google Apps for this, which, while not free, I find to be a reasonable price for what I get (Google's spam filter alone is worth the price)

In terms of the basic stuff to get it going, not too bad as long as you have an agreeable ISP who'll allow incoming and outgoing SMTP connections and a static IP address. Knowing your way around DNS helps, at least inasmuch as setting up the relevant MX records for your domain.

Software seems to be more a case of finding something that works for you. As popular as sendmail is, it's just one of those things I could never quite get to grips with for reasons that always eluded me, so I use Postfix as my main mail transport system, with Amavis and SpamAssassin to do filtering, MySQL for the tables and stuff and Cyrus for mail storage and IMAP/Pop access. There's a few other bits and pieces thrown in but that's the main backbone of my mail system. None of it is massively complicated but there can be frustration here and there (Cyrus' authentication system never seems to work quite as documented, for instance).

In short, it's worth doing if you like tinkering or if you just can't stand that few minutes between polling your ISP for new messages (both of which are true for me!) but if you can't be faffed with all that, just go with a more standard solution!

Gmail, and I'm waiting for protonmail accounts.