Windows Live Mail - Password Protected / Downloading Question

With Windows Live Mail, can it be password protected?

Are messages downloaded to your computer like Outlook Express, or is Windows Live Mail web based as in, saved on the internet?

Kinda confused.
Sincerly...
Addicted to OE6
:-o

 

Yes, your post helped clear things up for me.
Thank you very much!

 

You can deselect the option to save your account login password, requiring you to re-enter it each time you use it. See pic below.

You can use it just as DomLuc says, or you can configure your account as an IMAP account. With an IMAP account your computer's mail folders are always kept in sync with those on the server, so your mail is available in both places. This is a big plus if you regularly deal with your mail from more than one computer.

 

That's perfectly true, but when I last tried Thunderbird it simply couldn't handle IMAP correctly. That was a year or three back, so has it now been sorted? If it has, and if it has either a web-based or IMAP style calendar I might give it another go.

 

I have it up and running - see how it goes. After a long problem free run with WLM I've been suffering disconnections from the IMAP server for the last month or so, but I also get them with Windows Mail, so it's probably a server problem. No one else is complaining to Tiscali though, so it isn't getting any attention. But maybe it won't happen with Thunderbird (prayer icon) :major

 

I've heard good reports of O2 too, but I guess I'm one of the lucky ones at Tiscali - unlimited download usually around 7mbps, zero disconnections (apart from this recent IMAP annoyance), free local and national calls 24/7, and line rental all for £17.60. I don't think anything can beat that.

However the question of the day is what TalkTalk will do if/when they complete the acquisition.

 

Well that looks a good out if it all goes pear shaped at Tiscali. Perhaps we'd better end this hijack though :-o

 

DomLuc:

Maybe you can save me some searching here. With TBird installed on PC and laptop I managed to get a version of my WLM address book into one of them using csv, but cannot find a way to sync that with the other machine. I need both either to have access to the same address book, WLM like, or for their address books to be automatically, or at least easily synchronised.

Similar considerations will apply to Lightning when installed - it will need to be either synchronised automatically or be a single database addressable by both machines.

If this isn't going to be possible then TBird isn't going to meet my needs, which would be a shame because so far at least it hasn't dropped its connection to the server.

 

On a quick look-see that might solve it - but it's lawncutting this morning.

Thanks

 

DomLuc:

So far so good.

Using your link, I moved the Thunderbird profile from its default location to a shared network drive, and told the other comp to use that instead of its default profile. Result is both comps now show the same accounts, mail, and address books. It's a big step forward.

The only remaining question is what will happen when I install the calendar app, Lightning. I'll let you know.

 

Verdict:

Well it all works, Lightning included, but it is just far too slow to be a practical proposition. By the time Tbird has found its profile on a shared network drive, synced with the IMAP server, and passed it all back to TBird, nearly a minute has elapsed. This compares with just a few secs when using Windows Live Mail.

A further problem arises if the 'other' comp has TBird already running when you try to start it on the second comp, as the profile gets locked by the first instance. This doesn't happen with WLM.

So TBird does seem to be a capable and secure email client, but only for single users as I see it, and they don't need IMAP.

Thanks for the info though DomLuc, it has been quite an interesting project even though eventually not the answer to my needs.

 

Amazing what a night's sleep can do

Instead of sharing a profile on a network drive I reverted to each installation having its own profile, stored locally, and using SyncBack to keep the two profiles in sync. TBird IMAP then works fine on both machines irrespective of what the other may be doing.

It's still a little clumsy, in that Syncback can't complete if both TBird's are running. However as I'm using IMAP, which syncs my mail automatically, it's only address book and calendar items that are affected by this.

I'll keep it running now and see whether it really is practical, or whether WLM will win the day.