Free email programs for Windows 7
Windows 7 ships without email program: while some PC makers will pre-install an email application on your computer, you are in essence not guaranteed to having an email client with Windows 7. This tutorial gives you alternatives to choose from, with pros and cons, to choose from. The majority of the ones covered here are free email programs you can download for Windows 7, without strings attached. Where costs are involved, we will indicate it clearly, and include the average price of the email application featured. Let's start with free email programs.
Choosing an email program for Windows 7
Windows Vista dropped Outlook Express in favor of Windows Mail, and Windows 7 dropped Windows Mail without clear replacement. The following are free email programs you can download and install on Windows 7.
Windows Live Mail for Windows 7
As discussed in our Windows Mail for XP and Windows Mail for Vista tutorials, Windows 7 actually does not include any email program "out of the box". But some computer manufacturers like Dell, for example, will pre-install some software for you, from the Windows Live team (a group at Microsoft who produces a free email program among other freeware).
The best email program for Windows 7, especially for anyone who used in the past either Outlook Express or Windows Mail, is going to be Windows Live Mail. While Windows Live Mail has been available in for download for Windows XP and Windows Vista users for a while, most people remained with the email client that shipped bundled with Windows (Outlook Express for Windows XP, and Windows Mail for Windows Vista). Windows Live Mail is also an email application created by Microsoft (namely their "Windows Live" team, who is also responsible for the maintenance and upgrades to
Learn more about this free, and full-featured email client with our Windows Live Mail tutorial, including a tutorial dedicated to downloading and installing Windows Live Mail (on Windows 7 or previous versions of Windows - same process).
Mozilla Thunderbird for Windows 7
Mozilla, the same organization that brings you Firefox, also creates an email program which works on Windows 7: it is called "Thunderbird", and is absolutely free. Windows Live Mail is freeware (what is freeware?), while Thunderbird is "open source". As far as you are concerned, there is no difference: Thunderbird is free, and like Windows Live Mail, it includes an RSS reader (what is RSS?)
From a usability standpoint, former users of Outlook Express or Windows Mail will feel more at home with Windows Live Mail, but as far as functionality goes, Windows Live Mail and Thunderbird are "neck and neck". Since both are free, we recommend that you download both and give them each a try - we are flawlessly running both on Windows 7.
Mozilla also creates an "Internet Suite" that includes, besides the web browser, a user-friendly email client that will look familiar to anyone who has used Thunderbird, Outlook Express, or Windows Mail. You may know it as "Mozilla Mail", and it has since be re-baptized "SeaMonkey Mail" - please find more information in our Mozilla Mail tutorial / SeaMonkey Mail tutorial. Like Thunderbird, SeaMonkey Mail works like a charm on Windows 7.
Opera Mail for Windows 7
The private company that creates the Opera web browser also includes an email application ("Opera Mail", or "M2"), that tightly integrates with the web browser and the included RSS reader. Unlike traditional email programs like Windows Live Mail or Thunderbird, Opera Mail works exclusively with "virtual email folders", or "tags" - much like Gmail does. Opera used to be shareware (what is shareware?), but has now been absolutely free for a few years. Opera is a little known gem, and well worth a try if only for the constantly innovating web browser.
See our Opera Mail tutorial for more information on obtaining your free copy of Opera Mail, and installing it on Windows 7.
Shareware email clients for Windows 7
The four email programs for Windows 7 (and previous versions of Windows) we just mentioned are free. But in that case, you really do not "get what you pay for", and these are very strong contender to other email and personal productivity software like Microsoft Outlook (~US $100 MSRP), WordPerfect Mail (~$70), or The Bat! (~$40).
Going the webmail route on Windows 7
In addition to "desktop email clients" that run from your computer, you of course have the ability to use a "webmail client", or online email program, like Hotmail.com - for a comparison with other email services, please see our Hotmail Yahoo! or our Hotmail Gmail tutorials.
So: even if Windows 7 ships without an integrated email program, you can tell by now that you have plenty of choice, many of which will not cost you anything!
For more information, please see our Windows 7 tutorial.