Microsoft Outlook is a combination e-mail client and organizer with a nice interface and many features that allow you to make daily appointments and manage tasks in addition to creating, sending and organizing e-mail messages. When used with a Microsoft Exchange server (usually in a workplace setting), the Outlook organizer can be used to set group meetings, compare schedules, and more. It also has effective spam filtering and supports S/MIME message encryption. On the down side, it's expensive and known for security problems - in part because it's a target for many viruses. Read more about [ http://sils.unc.edu/itrc/its/faq.php?id=4590 ] using Outlook 2003.

Mulberry is a robust, scalable, graphical e-mail client. It supports multiple IMAP and POP3 accounts for reading e-mail. It also offers full support for SSL and PGP security and full standards compliance with all the internet protocols it uses. The most recent version has a three-pane look that will be familiar to Netscape and Outlook users. It is available free for UNC students, faculty and staff from https://shareware.unc.edu/software.html. However, it lacks support for encrypted messages.

Pine, which stands for Program for Internet News and E-mail, is a solid and flexible client that works well with IMAP accounts and Unix environments, but not as well directly with PCs and POP accounts. It's easy to use once you get used to the interface - and its Pico text editor is useful for composing well-formatted messages. Unfortunately, Pine lacks S/MIME and OpenPGP security support and support for encrypted messages.

Mozilla's Thunderbird is a free, open-source and cross-platform mail client for most operating systems, including Windows, Linux and Macintosh. It is similar to some other e-mail clients, such as Outlook Express, but it has the advantage of junk-mail classification. For security, it provides S/MIME, digital signing, message encryption and support for certificates and security devices. You can download Thunderbird from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/all.html.

Eudora is a solid e-mail client. Its many features are flexible, fast and easy to use. It can handle multiple POP and IMAP accounts and features a powerful e-mail search engine. It supports secure TLS/SSL connections for message delivery and retrieval. It's available free with advertisements at http://www.eudora.com/download/ - but without the spam filtering feature. The paid version with SpamWatch is no longer available.

Webmail is an easy and convenient way to log into your UNC e-mail from anywhere, provided you have an Internet connection and a browser. Simply log on to http://webmail.unc.edu and enter your Onyen and password. Webmail is intended as a supplement to - and not a replacement for - your desktop e-mail application. It can be used when you don't have access to your regular client, such as when you are traveling or using a lab computer. Webmail has a limit of 5 MB on attachments and can only be used with the UNC Isis email system.