*VANITY* Computer, email Software Recos?

Vanity | 12/04/2020 | Chuckster

[PAR35]

I use Microsoft Mail (f/k/a Outlook Express) on Win7. I don’t think it’s available any more, but Microsoft does offer a free version of Outlook with (fewer features than Microsoft Mail) for Win10.

[PAR35]

I think I am the only one left on AOL.

All Verizon online (as opposed to wireless) are AOL, and most of Frontier is (some legacy Frontier customers, as opposed to legacy Verizon Frontier customers are Yahoo).

[minnesota_bound]

Thunderbird email program is great. You can modify it so it looks better.
You can also use the mouse wheel to zoom in to make the text bigger ans it will remember for all messages till you close the program.
Thunderbird default text size is way too small.
There are 2 solutions below to restore the look and the text size.

To bring back the more colorful toolbar and folder icons use this extension and go to Tools> Add-ons then click on the gear icon> Install add-on from file and browse to say the desktop where you saved the file.

Phoenity Icons 3.0b8
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/phoenity-icons

Install Thunderbird and add the email settings you have from the ISP you have.

To modify the text size you have to do the following:
From the top you go to Tools> Options> scroll all the way down on the right side and click on “Config Editor”

Open notepad from c:\windows and save the files as all files: userChrome.css

The email Profile is located here. You have to go to View> View Hidden files to see AppData:

C:\Users\ “your name” \AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\”Your profile name” 736m2uer.default-release\Chrome

You create a folder and call it: Chrome and copy the userChrome.css file to it.
In the search box above the list, type or paste:

userprof

Double-click the: toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets

Change preference from false to true. Close Thunderbird then re-open.
Here is the userChrome.css contents:

/*
* Do not remove the @namespace line — it’s required for correct functioning
*/
@namespace url(”http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul“);
/* set default namespace to XUL */
/* horizontal grid lines */
#threadTree treechildren::-moz-tree-row() {
border-bottom: 1px solid #7ebebe !important;
}
/* vertical grid lines */
#threadTree treechildren::-moz-tree-column() {
border-right: 1px solid #7ebebe !important;
}
/*
* Make all the default font sizes 15px:
*/
* { font-size: 15px !important; }

[minnesota_bound]

Firefox - Add Colored tabs

I had Firefox version 81 and after installing version 82 in a new install on a new hard drive, I cannot change the color of my tabs anymore. I should see white tabs for the current tab but no longer when I added my userChrome.css file. I see instead a thin blue color strip along the top of the tab and the rest is grey. This shows up without any userChrome.css file.

In Firefox address field type: about:support It shows my Profile.

vwy0y5ix.default-release I also have under the Profile folder this: jcueuz5y.default

I put the userChrome.css file here in my Chrome folder: C:\Users\David\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\vwy0y5ix.default-release

You have to do the following steps. From Firefox 69 and higher it will no longer look for this file automatically. You need to tell it to look. Here’s how:
In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter
In the search box above the list, type or paste:

userprof

Double-click on: toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets

Change preference from false to true. Close Firefox then re-open.
I now have the colored tab.

What it contains:

/* USE THIS ONE. It works in version 65
https://github.com/Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx/releases/tag/2.3.4
*/
@import “./css/tabs/tabs_below_navigation_toolbar_fx65.css”; /**/ /* <— tabs not on top - Fx65+ - Windows/Linux */

/* Colored tab */
.tab-background:not([selected]) {
background-color: #E3E0DB !important;
}

.tab-background[selected=”true”] {
background-color: white!important;
}

/*** Sidebar Color / Font Size Formatting ***/
/* 14px black text */
.sidebar-placesTree treechildren::-moz-tree-cell-text {
font-size: 14px !important;
color: #000 !important;
}
/* Pale blue background on hover or selected */
.sidebar-placesTree treechildren::-moz-tree-row(hover),
.sidebar-placesTree treechildren::-moz-tree-row(selected) {
background-color: #bdf !important;
}

/* Main Toolbar */
#nav-bar {
font-size: 14px !important;
}

[ducttape45]

For all the Thunderbird lovers out there, do you find it increasingly difficult to use because the updates won’t let you use older plugins?

[zeugma]

I used Eudora back in the day. If I recall correctly, they used the ‘mbox’ format for mail. I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a program out there that could convert it to Thunderbird or something similar. I like Thunderbird a lot. Have basically been using it (and previous iterations) since I moved from Eudora far more years ago than I am happy to contemplate.

[Poser]

Office 2013 version of Outlook. Second place: Thunderbird.

[zeugma]

I think I am the only one left on AOL.

Nope. I know one other guy. He is the salt of the earth type, and I just can't seem to get him to try something more modern.

One thing that can be helpful for folk who would like to migrate away is a mail forwarding service. There are many out there, but I use pobox.com, and have been since 1996.

I would in go out and investigate other email services. Many these days are basically webmail. I actually advise strongly against this because your email essentially exists on someone else's computers. You don't really control anything that you do not actually have in your posession. I would recommend a service that allows you to pull your mail using POP (Post Office Protocol). That way, you're pulling your mail locally and deleting the mail from the server as you download it. Some of these email services are free, or really only have fairly nominal cost. Chances you get 'free' email with whatever ISP you are using. Once you find a service that you think will be both reliable and reasonable cost, you might want to look into a forwarding service.

Why use a forwarding service, rather than just giving out your new email address? Well it is largely a matter of portability. Let's say you change ISPs, or decide you want to change email providers (for whatever reason). If you have a forwarding service, you never have to let anyone else know what your 'real' email actually is. You can change providers, then go to pobox, or whomever you set up forwarding with, and change the target for where your email should go. I've changed my underlying email address about 6 times over the past 20 or so years, yet have never had to tell anyone about it, because my pobox address has simply switched targets each time.

This portability puts you on a much more solid footing with your internet provider as well, because you don't have to worry about sending out an updated email address to your friends if you decide to switch providers due to cost/reliability/whatever.

I think pobox itself can provide email, but I've never used it, so can't testify one way or another about it. I'm happy with the forwarding serve though, and their automatic spam filtering is excellent. While this might sound like an advertisement, I don't have anything whatsoever to do with the company. I've just been using it since '96 and have found the service to be useful. I think it's something like $30/year. There may be others out there that are cheaper, but I haven't looked into it because I would seriously NOT want to have to go through the pain of having to really change emails.

[zeugma]

Get an Office 365 account.

That is not a comment I'd ever expect to see from a unix nerd. :-)

[zeugma]

For all the Thunderbird lovers out there, do you find it increasingly difficult to use because the updates won’t let you use older plugins?

Short answer: Hell yes.

[moovova]

“I like thunderbird.”

I’m sure you do! LOL.

[rdl6989]

I thought about that after I posted my comment, lol.

[miliantnutcase]

Thunderbird’s future is questionable whether or not development will ever fully resume. Look into Mailbird, eM, Outlook or even inky. I think they are all paid clients at this point and not free.

[moovova]

I thought it was very clever on your part.

[EQAndyBuzz]

I was an Outlook administrator for a few months. For work it’s Exchange. At home AOL still works.

[TChad]

Thunderbird is still in business.

https://blog.thunderbird.net/2020/01/thunderbirds-new-home/

[DUMBGRUNT]

Eudora /juːˈdɔːrə/ is an email client that was used on the classic Mac OS, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows operating systems. ... In 2018, after being years out of print, the software was open-sourced by the Computer History Museum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_(email_client)

When your software is in the Computer History Museum, it might be time to move on.

[Chuckster]

When your software is in the Computer History Museum, it might be time to move on.

That's kinda why I posted this.

[ducttape45]

I have Thunderbird on my Linux drive, but I had to stop it from updating so that my plugins would continue to work. It sucks that the more the programmers update it, the more it “doesn’t” work. Geez, sounds like MicroThief!

[daniel1212]

Thunderbird email program is great. You can modify it so it looks better.

Yes, i think Tbird is the best, and thanks for the additional tweaking instructions. I used a chrome file to tweak Firefox Quantum (portable) so that it provides multiple tab rows as does Firefox ESR 59.7 with the famous Tab Mix Plus extension. You can run both concurrently.

I would recommend Thunderbird portable though, thus you should be able to move the whole folder to a US or another PC and run it. Thank God for such. You have to edit the ThunderbirdPortable.ini in the main folder. It is in ThunderbirdPortable\Other\Source but backup that copy and then edit it the original to contain the below and copy it to the main folder.

[ThunderbirdPortable]
ThunderbirdDirectory=App\thunderbird
ThunderbirdExecutable=thunderbird.exe
AdditionalParameters=
GPGPathDirectory=App\gpg
ProfileDirectory=Data\profile
PluginsDirectory=Data\plugins
RegistryDirectory=Data\registry
SettingsDirectory=Data\settings
GPGHomeDirectory=Data\gpg
DisableSplashScreen=false
AllowMultipleInstances=true
DisableIntelligentStart=false
SkipCompregFix=false
RunLocally=false