Incredimail... It ain't just a pretty face. There are quite a few security options in Incredimail that, when added to all the eye candy options, can give you more than one very good reason to ditch Outlook Express.
Advanced email account access ...
This feature is part of the Premium version of Incredimail, but added to all the other nifty features makes your purchase more than worth while. Wheck out your email on the server before it ever makes it to your inbox. This is a good place to delete suspicious emails. When you are ready to do a normal Send/Receive, you will only get the good stuff. This is a wonderful security tool and time saver. Advanced email account access is as easy as clicking the button in the toolbar. A new window will appear, and your email headers (only) will show in the window. Click the ones you don't want and hit the Delete button. When you are finished clearing the crap, highlight the rest of your messages and click the Get Msg button.
Images are not displayed automatically ...
Sad to say, but the most innocent looking images in an email from someone you don't know can cause your computer to send out a flag identifying your email address as a valid sucker, just begging for more junk and otherwise obnoxious emails. It is not an all or nothing choice in Incredimail. When you receive an email with images embedded, they are by default turned off to protect you from hidden cooties, identifying cookies and various web bugs. If the email is from a trusted source however, you don't need to do ten Hail Marys under a full moon to see what is there. Click the little text link to view the images in the email. To get to your security settings, click the word Tools, then Options. When the Options dialog box opens, click the Security tab to see your choices. If you have Disable scripts and IFrames when loading messages checked, images will be automatically blocked unless you give specific permission.
Bouncing Messaages ...
This is a great Incredimail feature when used properly. A junk mail sender sends you unsolicited email. You certainly don't want to respond to it, because that will only confirm your email address as valid and encourage them even more. With Incredimail, you can right click any email from the header area and choose Bounce to Sender. This will fake an Inactive Account reply to the unsolicited email, causing the spammer to believe the email account is inactive. They might remove your email address from their mailing list and there is a good chance you will no longer receive junk mail from that specific spammer. Incredimail does recommend you don't do this more than once on the same email message. You would just be defeating your purpose and validating your email address as active after all. A little Bouncing can go a long way, but a lot might make things worse. Try to find a happy medium. I'll have to admit, bouncing the occasional email back to the clowns who sent it can be an uplifting experience!
So...
If you have been looking for a practical reason to give Incredimail a try, this is it. Of course the FUN side of Incredimail is an added option. You don't have to enjoy all those nifty backgrounds and sounds. Incredimail really is a great way to have fun with your email and be a lot safer at the same time.
You can pick up the FREE version of Incredimail and read more about it at their website. Give it a whirl and let me know what you think!
Incredimail Security
Sad to say, but the most innocent looking images in an email from someone you don't know can cause your computer to send 
out a flag identifying your email address as a valid sucker, just begging for more junk and otherwise obnoxious emails. It is not an all or nothing choice in Incredimail. When you receive an email with images embedded, they are by default turned off to protect you from hidden cooties, identifying cookies and various web bugs. If the email is from a trusted source however, you don't need to do ten Hail Marys under a full moon to see what is there. Click the little text link to view the images in the email. To get to your security settings, click the word Tools, then Options. When the Options dialog box opens, click the Security tab to see your choices. If you have Disable scripts and IFrames when loading messages checked, images will be automatically blocked unless you give specific permission.
This is a great Incredimail feature when used properly. A junk mail sender sends you unsolicited email. You certainly don't want to respond to it, because that will only confirm your email address as valid and encourage them even more. With Incredimail, you can right click any email from the header area and choose Bounce to Sender. This will fake an Inactive Account reply to the unsolicited email, causing the spammer to believe the email account is inactive. They might remove your email address from their mailing list and there is a good chance you will no longer receive junk mail from that specific spammer. Incredimail does recommend you don't do this more than once on the same email message. You would just be defeating your purpose and validating your email address as active after all. A little Bouncing can go a long way, but a lot might make things worse. Try to find a happy medium. I'll have to admit, bouncing the occasional email back to the clowns who sent it can be an uplifting experience!