Mozilla Thunderbird 17 Review

Setting up Thunderbird and connecting email accounts is all very automated.

Note the conversation grouping, and the column with the flame icon for suspected junk mail.

Thunderbird's inbox looks like most email clients, but note the tabs for different program features. This view also shows a different theme from the default applied.

All the font choices you'd expect, along with a spell checker and security options are available in the Compose window.

FileLink lets you attach large files using a web service such as YouSendIt.

The Address book lets you add lots of info about each contact, even a photo, though it doesn't import these from social networks like Outlook can.

The Options dialog lets you do things like specify HTML or plain text, encryption, and Autosave interval.

You can create a "vanity" email address through Thunderbird using a third-party service like Hover.com and gandi.net.

You can instant message inside Thunderbird.

The Lightning extension also adds a Tasks feature.

You can subscribe to an internet calendar in Thunderbird's Lightning calendar extension.