Versions of Outlook Express in Windows 2000, XP, and Server 2003 contain a flaw that would allow malicous code to take control of their machines. Launching Outlook Express is not necessary, apparently. Luckily, only users who visit particular malicious newsgroups are vulunerable. A patch is available.
no thanks…ThunderBird is stable
I thought that was a feature of OE!
RTFA! It says you don’t need to launch OE, but that you still need some user intervention so the risk is lower.
Thunderbird is the wrigth way to go:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/
Whoever uses OE to pollute newsgroups just doesn’t deserve anything else.
use OE? With all the security problems it has, why bother? Good god! When will people learn?
Luckily, only users who do not follow recommended practice of applying vendor provided bug fixes are vulunerable.
I actually prefer Outlook Express as a mail client over Outlook, Thunderbird , the Bat and other clients I’ve tried. Used to use it for text newsgroups but switched to Microplanet Gravity. Disappointed that SP2 didn’t do much to upgrade OE. Will see if OE gets an update when IE7 is launched later this summer.
prefer OE????
what do you prefer about it compared to others?
could always use incredimail
It has to be about the worst NNTP client on the planet, short of AOL’s now-defunct newsreader. I remember using that POS back when it was split into two programs and called “Internet Mail and News” – the newsreader part of it has barely changed since then (circa IE 3.0).
like it or not, installing anything other than Outlook Express (ie. the bundled application) will take some coaxing (for the masses). So it’s up to us geeks (and system-builders) to encourage, recommend & INSTALL & configure alternatives (especially easy-to-use, more secure & free alternatives), eh guys?
Every new system I build has IE and Outlook Express “Quick Launch” and desktop shortcuts deleted.
“this is better than what you’re used to”
Enjoy the reduced support calls, too.
My preference for OE for mail is because to me it launches quicker, is more intuitive and has a nicer address book than the other clients I tried. My biggest gripe with it is that “Ctrl-F” is the shortcut for “forward message” instead of “Find” like in most other Windows apps.
I’ve used it before for text newsgroups and it wasn’t that bad for use but eventually causes performance issues with OE over time.
I tried Thunderbird but liked OE better for mail. Gravity was better for usenet. Most dedicated RSS readers do a better job than Thunderbird at RSS.
Had a look at Incredimail and it looks to be the opposite of what I want in a mail client. I hate stationary, graphics, sounds, and animations.
i was joking about incredimail
i usually just use webmail anymore….dont even bother with a email client…
But I use to use pegasus, eudora, as well as sylpheed – sylpheed has win32 ports as well as linux ports and is similar to OE, not sure about addressbook tho….
Luckily, only users who do not follow recommended practice of applying vendor provided bug fixes are vulunerable.
Which, sadly, covers maybe 98.5% of the computers users in this planet…
However I’m yet to see an average user that frequent newsgroups often (other than web based, that is) so this is kinda of a non-issue, I guess.
When I used mainly Windows, I quite enjoyed OE as a NNTP client even if I was aware of other apps that I could use (I was hardly what you would call a heavy Usenet user…). Nowadays is knode for me… All the way, baby! 🙂
>covers maybe 98.5% of the computers users
Could be less by now.
If user has no knowledge how to voluntary apply recommended patches, that user usually does not have knowledge how to refuse force-feeded patch, a Windows XP functionality enforced by Windows XP SP2 one year ago.
Two wrongs make right.:)