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Turns out the most popular, and arguably most important, use of the Internet is not the World Wide Web, but rather email. When you figure the sheer volume of email messages sent and received—even if you factor out all the junk and spam—it's just a huge number. We're always looking for a better email client. "If only it would just do 'x', then I'd be so happy…"

eMailaya may be the tool you're looking for. A Windows application, it's a small email client with a ton of features. Sure, you can send and receive email, but there's more going on than just that. First, it's small enough and so self-contained that there is no installer. That means you don't clutter your system up with a bunch of extra junk, with DLLs shoved into obscure directories, changes written to the Registry, and all that. It also means you can install it on a USB drive, for example, and carry the tool along with you.

You can compose both plain-text and HTML-formatted messages. It supports both POP and IMAP email systems, with multiple accounts, so you don't need to have different tools for different accounts. Each account is individually configurable, so you can check for new messages at different intervals. It also incorporates an RSS reader, so you can cut down on the number of apps you need to have running at any time.

eMailaya is a free download.

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Koma-Mail is a compact email client, small enough to run from a removable drive. It doesn't require an installer, so you can put it on a USB device and not have to worry about sacrificing disk capacity.

It works with both POP and IMAP email systems, and includes a built-in RSS reader. You can read both text- and HTML-formatted messages, and it includes an HTML editor so that you can send formatted emails as well. Sending and receiving of attachments is supported, automatically zipping them to save space. It supports multiple user accounts, and each user can have multiple mail accounts as well.

For safety's sake, Koma-Mail includes two types of spam filters, and it won't run scripts or ActiveX components in your emails.

Koma-Mail is a free download. It's a Windows application and requires Windows 98 or later.

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How many email accounts do you have? Home, work, clubs. POP accounts, webmail accounts like Yahoo and Gmail. The list goes on and on. How can you possibly keep track of all this?

POP Peeper is a tool that sits in your Windows System Tray and helps you keep track of all your comings and goings in the land of email. Sitting unobtrusively in your task bar, it'll let you know when new messages come in for your accounts. It's compatible with POP3, IMAP, and most webmail services.

An account creation wizard makes it easy to configure POP Peeper for your accounts. You can enter account information manually, or import it from your current email client.

You can configure it to play a sound for new arrivals with your choice of either one sound for all new messages, or select a different sound for each account. Once new email has arrived, you can choose to read it and respond through POP Peeper, or it can open your regular email client for you.

POP Peeper is a Windows application and should run on most systems.

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Did you ever want to text yourself? You're headed out the door to some place you've never been before, so you dutifully looked-up the address and driving directions on Google Maps. It would be handy to send yourself a text message with that info in it, so that you don't have to drag along that printout of the directions.

Google Send To Phone is a Firefox extension that allows you to send SMS messages (text messages) to your mobile phone from within your web browser. Copy and paste whatever content you want from your page into the "text to send" field. If you're going long, the tool will automatically split your text into multiple messages.

Not only is this useful for texting yourself, but if you need to dash off a quick note to somebody else, you can do so as well. All you need is the phone number and carrier for your recipient.

Google Send To Phone is compatible with any system running Firefox version 1 or later. Sending messages through this extension is free, but charges may apply to receiving them; check with your carrier for details. Most major carriers are included in the list for sending.

Download Google Send To Phone

Do you run a website? Do your customers need to communicate with you? Is email too slow for your needs? How about adding Live Chat to your site?

ChatStat lets you chat with your visitors—soon to be your customers—in real time as they work through your website. Not only can yo chat with visitors through your site, but since it supports the major IM clients (AOL, ICQ, Yahoo, MSN, GoogleTalk, and Skype), you can chat with virtually anybody. This free version supports two operator seats, so you don't have to be tied to your desk all the time.

For the ultimate in security, ChatStat supports 128-bit encryption. This means not only are all your sessions private, but you can put chat buttons on secure pages without getting the dreaded "there are secure and non-secure items on this page" message.

ChatStat is a Windows application and requires that you be running Windows 2000 or later. You must also have the .NET 2.0 Framework.

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How many different IM accounts do you have? AIM, ICQ, MSN–the list does go on. Each of these has their own proprietary client, so keeping track of all of them can become a real nightmare. It'd be nice if one size would fit all.

Enter Pidgin, the free, multi-protocol instant messaging client that allows you to access all of your accounts at once. Chat with all your buddies at once, without having to run half a dozen apps on your desktop at a time. Along with allowing you to exchange garden variety instant messages, Pidgin also supports file transfer, away messages, and many other features of their respective networks.

Pidgin runs on Linux (and other *NIX systems), as well as Windows. Mac users will want to check out Adium for similar functionality for their OS X machines.

Download Pidgin

Who can live without email? We all use it multiple times a day. If you're looking for something beyond what you're currently using, you may want to give i.Scribe a spin.

i.Scribe is a lightweight email client that combines email functionality with an integrated contact database, as well as a calendar. It doesn't require an installer (one is included for user convenience), so it can be dropped wherever you want it to live, including USB drives, making it super easy to bring along with you.

It starts up fast, requiring only a second or two to get up to speed. It may be one of the safer email clients out there, since it supports HTML email but not embedded scripts, so you won't have to dread opening emails like in Outlook. It features a Bayesean spam filter, so it will learn what you consider spam and react accordingly, getting smarter and more efficient over time.

i.Scribe supports only a single account (they have a paid version that supports multiple accounts), so it may not be the most flexible tool you own, but you can't beat the price.

i.Scribe is available as a free download. It runs under Windows (most features run under 98/ME, more under 2k/XP), Linux, and a beta-level version for Mac OS X.

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RSS has made everybody's life easier. Rather than having to run around the Web to see what's going on out there in the world, you can let the world come to you. Whether it's news and politics, social networking, or the musings in the blogosphere, the world literally beats a path to your door through RSS syndication of content.

RSSOwl is a free newsreader that lets you read news the way you want to. Along with the expected subscribe and read functionality, there are extras that deserve a good look. Enhanced search capability allows you to find just the posts you are interested in.

You can also search for newsfeeds you haven't discovered yet, helping you to cover your interests even better. Once you find a site you like, RSSOwl will scour the site, looking for every feed that they feature.

There's an internal browser, so HTML content will be rendered correctly for your viewing pleasure.

You can minimize the app to the System Tray, keeping it out of the way until it detects new unread items. It lets you new when you have new stories to look at, keeping you right on top of things.

A new Version 2 is currently under development. It promises to add Usenet capability, allowing you to go old school and keep track of Newsgroups as well.

RSSOwl is a Java application, and is available for Linux, Macintosh, and Windows systems.

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VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) is one of the bigger deals out there for taking advantage of the Internet. Instead of using the phone company and its network of wires and switches, you use the Internet as the conduit for your phone calls to travel from here to there. Commercial services like Vonage allow you to make calls this way, although you still get to pay for the privilege. Free providers like Skype are out there, allowing you to call other members for free, while paying to call numbers that aren't part of the network.

The Gizmo Project is another free VoIP service. Like Skype, you can call other members for free, or for an additional fee you can call and receive calls from phones that aren't part of their network. There are differences, however, between Gizmo and Skype.

Based on the open SIP standard, Gizmo allows you to also talk with Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, and Windows Live users, as well as IM your AIM and MSN buddies. file sharing is available through the IM window. Free voicemail and conference calling further enhance your options.

If it's time to tell the telco to take a hike, you may want to hike over to Gizmo and take it for a spin.

Gizmo is available for Linux, OS X, and Windows, so just about everybody can use it.

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It started as a Monty Python sketch. It ended as the scourge of the Internet. Everybody hates spam, but it's a fact of life. Anything that helps to cut down on the amount of junk clogging out inboxes is a good thing.

Junkanoo runs on your desktop and keeps the spam away, while allowing the important stuff to pass through. Using a combination of filters, content recognition (most spam has a link to a website, for example), and other techniques, the publisher claims they can keep 98% of all junk mail out of your inbox and can kill it on the server before you ever download it. You can create your own filters, as well as maintaining a whitelist, to make sure that your mom's messages always get through.

You can check any number of POP3 email accounts, so you can keep things tidy both at home and at work.

Junkanoo is a Windows application and runs on any 32-bit Windows system, from Win95 up through XP.

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