# Thunderbird email application



## Son_of_Perdition (Feb 25, 2016)

One of the apps you can install on a Linux distro is called 'Thunderbird' I have used it several times with different installs.  Sometimes I forget it & simply use the browser access.  I don't know enough about 'Outlook' to make any comparisons.  I have 3 email addresses, 2 with gmail & 1 elsewhere.  TB controls all three with a continually updated screen showing all in/out/folder boxes of the three.  Does 'Outlook' have that feature?  Once I open the icon it establishes connection to the accounts, you can have up to 16 individual workstations/screens on the Linux distro I use, I use 4 & have one set aside strictly for TB.  

Why I'm posting this is I had not been aware of the clean ad free environment & security afforded with TB, my passwords & userids are maintained behind my firewall making them almost impossible to capture & avoid using the browser to log in.  Generally on my gmail accounts I filter out most of the ads but some slip through along with suggestions for email buddies.  I never use the other services like Docs, Drive, eBlog,,,etc.  I don't enough faith & trust in the security of the 'Cloud' & refuse to load personal information or docs.


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## tnthomas (Feb 25, 2016)

When I was using my POP email account  as my primary for personal and business I used Evolution mail client;  I liked that I could backup settings, mail, contacts, tasks, memos and calendars  in a   gzip-compressed tar archive file.  But when Evolution moved from mbox to Maildir format mail folders I grew tired of having to manually  copy the files from .cache and .local, so I did migrate to Thunderbird mail for a bit. 

    Nowadays I just am using Gmail for all my needs; my Android devices contact list is synced through Gmail, and changes I make therein propagate near instantly. 

I limit my Cloud exposure, and don't integrate into the many Google owned properties like they would like me to.   As a matter of fact, I would prefer to someday carry a more non-commercial Linux phone, as opposed to Androids.


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## Son_of_Perdition (Feb 26, 2016)

My 3 accts, 1st - gmail for important budget, banking & medical correspondence, 2nd - gmail for all other correspondence or account alerts that I filter & move the important entries to the 1st.  The 3rd - is used like a prepaid card, anytime a site needs an email to join it gets that, mostly throwaway mail.  I don't even delete entries just let the internals trash them.  

'Evoluotion' is still offered on openSUSE, I never tried it.  My laptop through TB, tablet & my newly acquired Android smart phone are all synced to the more open gmail (2).  The gmail accts are the only ones connected to TB which give me a central point to manage them without logging in/logging out numerous times a day.  I also disable bluetooth on the laptop on startup trying to avoid any connections I don't want.  My tablet & phone connect but I isolate & encrypt passwords, account ids & personal correspondence behind my laptop firewall.  I send all docs to a jump drive that is backed up nightly, removed & stored.


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## tnthomas (Feb 26, 2016)

Speaking of storing and encrypting passwords, I've heard that KeePassX is an excellent tool for doing that and much more.



> Just in case you do not know what KeePassX is, here is a short description… KeePassX is an application for people with extremly high demands on  secure personal data management. It has a light interface, is cross  platform and published under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
> KeePassX saves many different information e.g. user names, passwords,  urls, attachments and comments in one single database. For a better  management user-defined titles and icons can be specified for each  single entry. Furthermore the entries are sorted in groups, which are  customizable as well. The integrated search function allows to search in  a single group or the complete database.
> KeePassX offers a little utility for secure password generation. The  password generator is very customizable, fast and easy to use.  Especially someone who generates passwords frequently will appreciate  this feature.
> The complete database is always encrypted either with AES (alias  Rijndael) or Twofish encryption algorithm using a 256 bit key. Therefore  the saved information can be considered as quite safe. KeePassX uses a  database format that is compatible with KeePass Password Safe. This  makes the use of that application even more favourable.



https://www.keepassx.org/


I need to try KeePassX, it's just one of those "getting a round tuit" situations where i have to sit down and take some quality time....


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## SifuPhil (Feb 26, 2016)

I tried TB once, a while back, because I figured hey, I have FireFox, why not?

I was less than impressed and went back to my ancient AOL email.


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## Rainee (Feb 28, 2016)

Not sure about why I have Thunderbird but I find it ok .. I think I had trouble with the new microsoft outlook as not had microsoft office which is a nuisance as 
its one application I need but too expensive.. anyway getting back to Thunderbird I find it excellent.. no trouble with it at all it was just different to my outlook express which I had on windows vista.. but windows 10 a new ballgame but am learning a log lol .. i might try that Keeppassx as that is what i have trouble remembering so many different ones..


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