The context for this piece is the prospect of Windows
XP coming to the end of its supported life in April 2014. I know that may seem some
time away, but it seems to me that increasing numbers of people are currently considering
moving away from XP to another Microsoft operating system, currently Windows 7,
well in advance of the April 2014 cut-off date. (Windows 8 is about to arrive –
but that’s another story!)
Windows XP came with a free email program (or “email
client” as it is known) called Outlook Express. Some versions of Microsoft
Office come with an email client called Outlook. Confused? You are not the only
one. They are very different, and use very different file formats for emails.
Even more confusingly, Microsoft has decided to
re-brand Hotmail, its very successful free email service, and call it –wait for
it! – Outlook. Incredible!
To add to the confusion, Outlook Express (OE) is not
available in Windows 7; it has been replaced by a choice of two free email
clients: Windows Mail, and Windows Live Mail.
Even more confused? I don’t blame you.
The problems arise when moving emails from OE to a
computer running Windows 7. OE seems to move to Windows Mail and Windows Live
Mail quite easily. However, at this point, I do want to issue a word of
caution: moving emails from one program to another, from one operating system
to another, can be fraught.
Before you do it, always back up your emails, just in
case. (If you do not know how to back up your emails, please put your question
into Google; you will get good advice. Or engage the services of a computer
engineer/technician.)
To transfer OE emails to Outlook means:
first moving OE emails and folders to Windows Live
Mail;
then from Windows Live Mail to Outlook.
I hope you can appreciate that such a double transfer
invites problems. Not always, but I’ve had them!
So, what’s to do? Here are my recommendations for how
to proceed, and not only preserve your emails, but also your sanity!
1. Tidy up your current emails. How many of us have
dozens of emails in our Inbox? I am also constantly amazed that some people use
their emails to store important documents and information. What is even more
scary is the fact that while some people regularly back up their important
documents, photos, music collections, etc., most people rarely back up their
emails.
2. Seriously consider using a different email client for
each active email account (assuming you have more than one.) For example, I use
Outlook for my business email, and Mozilla Thunderbird for my personal account.
3. Seriously consider using webmail instead of an email
client. Webmail means you go to a website to get your emails (e.g., Hotmail,
Gmail). The advantages are that your emails are stored on a big computer somewhere
that is going to be more secure, more maintained, and more backed up than
yours. And you can access your emails from wherever in the world you can get an
internet connection. If you change your computer, accessing your emails on your
new PC is so much easier – you just load your web browser, go to your email
website, log in with email address and password, and there they are! All major
Internet Service Providers (e.g., BT, Virgin Media, Sky) provide a webmail
service.
For some of us,
the above recommendations represent major changes in how we deal with our
emails. What I am recommending is some preparation for the time when emails
have to move, and they will have to move if you use an email client when you
change PC or upgrade to Windows 7 from XP.
If you ask me which
one of the above is the most important recommendation, I’d say immediately that
moving to webmail is the key piece of advice.
If any of the
above make you go cold at the very thought of it, please consult a reputable
computer technician/engineer. I happen to know one …!!
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