Another Email Program, Mailbird

I am testing Mailbird, an email program. I setup two accounts in Mailbird, neither account receives a lot of mail.

It has a lot of nice features. it can be integrated with other apps like Twitter and other social media sites, but it has one big fault. It doesn't download my mail, at least not right away. Once email is downloaded I must hunt for it.

I get a lot of mail from Yahoo groups and filter them into folders. Filtered mail doesn't seem to show up unless I click on the folder for each group. There is nothing to indicate there are emails in the folder.

This really isn't acceptable for me. An email posted Saturday didn't show up until the following Wednesday.

Perhaps somewhere there is a setting that needs to be changed but I haven't found it.

Initially all my mail downloaded just fine. It was a bit slow, but once the mail started downloading, it all came through.

Features I like.

Folders can be customized. It is easy to add folders.



It was easy to add my G-mail account. No hassle like trying to add G-mail to Thunderbird.



Easy to change the font.



Mailbird has Add-ons as well.



Annoyances

I can't find a way to open the next email without clicking on it. No next or previous buttons seem to be there, but again maybe a setting somewhere I haven't found yet.

Sorting incoming mail. I prefer the newest to sort at the bottom, but it doesn’t sort that way.  According to the FAQs for Mailbird:

How do I sort my emails?

Mailbird does not yet support the advanced email sorting, however, you can:

    Sort by Unread by grouping unread conversations on top of the Inbox

    Sort by Sender by searching emails from a certain user

I haven’t given up on Mailbird yet, but I still can’t recommend it to anyone. Still, it might be what someone else would like, but for me it just isn’t really working yet.

Mailbird seems to have a similarity to Windows Mail app on Windows 10.

Screenshot of Windows 10 Mail:



I am not a real fan of the Mail app on windows 10.

Screenshot of Mailbird:



I am guessing that’s why I really don’t like Mailbird. Too much like the Mail app on Windows!

I will continue to test Mailbird for now. I am getting more used to Mailbird and the more I use it the better I like it.  I suspect I am too used to Thunderbird. It certainly is nothing like Thunderbird or any other email client I have ever used. Except Windows 10 Mail, and I don’t use Mail enough to know.

Internet Explorer is Turned Off and Gone

I am using Window 10 Pro with Creators Update. Today I discovered Internet Explorer is no longer available on this computer.

I have been trying to install a cool Add-in, Collins Dictionary, for Microsoft Office 365, especially for Word.

I followed the instructions.



Easy instructions, but they didn’t work for me! I got an error:



So what version of Internet Explorer is on my computer? I looked for IE, but couldn’t find it! What gives?

Wow, Internet Explorer is turned off on my computer! I am guessing Microsoft wants me to use Edge instead of IE.



No matter how many times I check the box to turn Internet Explorer on, it doesn’t save.

I looked in programs on my C drive for Internet Explorer:



No ‘iexplore.exe’! So, Internet Explorer seems to be totally gone with some remnants left behind.

There doesn’t seem to be a way to enable Internet Explorer. I haven’t used IE for a long time, but I would like to use this add-on. However, I guess I will have to forego it for now.

I haven’t given up and will keep looking for a solution. Hopefully the app creator for Collins Dictionary will update the app to allow Edge as well as Internet Explorer.

I did manage to install Collins Dictionary on Word in One Drive and now I am wondering, how did that work?

My Family Tree Maker

UPDATE

I now have my copy of Family Tree Maker 2017 installed.  After I finally found a way to contact FTM, I waited a long time but finally got a resolution. The customer service Representative had me try a different browser! And it worked! Who knew?

For those who may not know, Family tree maker is a program for genealogy tracking. It was originally offered by Ancestry.com, a subscription-based genealogy research website.

I installed this program back in 2012 and upgraded it to the 2014 version when it became available.

It always had issues with the ‘sync’ process and eventually I stopped using it when Ancestry.com stopped supporting this program as the sync issue wasn’t really working without a lot of troubleshooting.

Then Mackiev.com took over Family Tree Maker and promised to make it better. They offered an update and FTM worked pretty good for a while.

With much ballyhoo on the part of Mackiev, they announced they were working on a new version, Family Tree Maker 2017. They offered a real deal I could pre-order the new version for only $29.95. Since the new product was going to cost $79.95 this seemed like a no-brainer, I went for it. This was in March of 2017.

Fast forward to July 2017 and the new version is ready!





I followed the instructions to download my new version.



I clicked the Verify User and then I got this:



Since I save everything I had my receipt and uploaded it and now I wait.



In the meantime, I opened Family Tree Maker 2014.1 and saw there was an upgrade available and dummy me, I clicked to upgrade. Later after the so-called upgrade, when I tried to connect to Ancestry I got this:



So now I don’t have any connection with Family Tree Maker and still no Family Tree Maker 2017. My Firewall isn’t preventing Family Tree Maker from accessing the Internet.

I suspect the last ‘upgrade’ was deliberately set to have no Internet connection just to persuade users to buy the ‘new Family Tree maker’ which as of this moment I don’t have but paid for it in March.

At least I can still manually input information into the working but not connecting to the Internet, Family Tree Maker.

I am still waiting!

My Mantra: If it Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix it

I should practice this, but somehow or other I keep failing to follow my own advice.

Yesterday I failed again.

It all started with an update to CCleaner. After it downloaded and installed, I ran it. I always run CCleaner after an update. But this time I decided to clean more than usual. For Thunderbird, I chose everything and despite the warning about passwords, I went ahead with the clean. I knew the password for my G-mail account, so thought I would have no problem putting the password back.



Wrong!  Once I put the password in, I got this screen:



I clicked ‘NEXT’, nothing happened. I click More options, again nothing happened.

Now what? I couldn’t connect to my email.

I logged in to my G-mail account on line and click my icon on the top right and selected My Account. Then I selected ‘Sign in and Security’.



After clicking links and getting nowhere, I finally clicked ‘Apps connected to your account’ and got this:



I clicked Learn more:



 



Not much help there! So I clicked Google Account Help.



I clicked ‘Can’t sign in to your Google Account’:



I clicked this link < https://accounts.google.com/DisplayUnlockCaptcha>



I clicked Continue and got this:



I tried again. Now when I clicked the Next button something happened!

 



 





Now I could access my account! Or so it seemed...



It kept ‘Checking password…’ spinning and spinning.

When I finally got tired of watch that Checking password… and minimized Thunderbird, this message was on the footer.



Thunderbird finally just crashed.

I then gave up on Thunderbird. I opened Outlook and added the G-mail account. In Outlook, all I had to do was add my user name and password and the mail started appearing in Outlook.

I came to the conclusion G-mail thinks Thunderbird is not secure. The next time I will think twice before removing passwords from something.  Once again I need to remember, "If it Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix it".

Some Folders in Outlook 365 Do Not Show the Bar with From, Subject, Received, Date, Etc.

The header bar was blank in my Outlook.  I took me a while to find out how to fix this, it was blank because I had increased the font size of the column and Rows. (So I could read it!)



'Use compact layout in widths smaller' than 125 ' is checked by default.



I unchecked the 'Use compact layout box and now I can see the Header bar populated.



I didn’t realize Microsoft had named this bar the Header bar, but it does make sense as it is the head of all the emails.

I confused Header bar with headers which is an entirely different thing.

Why does Microsoft have to make tweaking Outlook easier for me to read so difficult? I just use eM Client as my default email program now.

How I Setup a New Computer

Until I got Windows 10, the first thing I would have done is install a virus scanner. Now I just install Malwarebytes Pro and use Windows Defender. (If you would feel more comfortable using a different virus scanner, try BitDefender.)

I need to clarify something. Unless you are using the pro version of Malwarebytes, you should know it won’t protect you in real time.

Next, I download and install CCleaner and Revo Uninstaller.

Then I check to see what is installed. (Programs and Features) Hint: open Revo Uninstaller and uninstall programs here as Revo Uninstaller will cleanup stuff the unwanted programs may leave behind. CCleaner can also uninstall programs, but Revo cleans up better.

Anything by Adobe I uninstall, including Adobe pdf reader. I like PDF-Xchange Viewer but there are other options like Foxit Reader. Get Foxit Reader Free. On the downloads page, scroll down to Foxit Reader and click the Free Download button.

If Java is installed, that will go away as well. Uninstall Java Tool. Many newer computers may not come with Java.

Big hint! Some programs that might be installed on a new computer are better uninstalled using that program’s uninstaller that can be accessed on the program’s website. An example of this is for Norton’s antivirus. There is also a tool to remove McAfee. Antivirus scanners can be harder to uninstall than other types of programs.

I am not a fan of Edge, the new browser that comes with Windows 10. I download and install the latest 64-bit versions of Chrome and Firefox. After they are installed I install my favorite extensions to make them more user friendly for me.

Firefox Add-ons:



There are several of other programs I install, like Snagit.  Snagit isn’t free, but I think I need it.

I can read my email online, but I prefer to download email as it seems more convenient for me. So I download and install my new favorite email program, eM Client. (I really like eM Client!) Since I am an email pack rat, I get MailStore Home and use a backup to import all my old emails into MailStore Home.



As you can see from the image above, I have emails archived from 2007! I really am an email hoarder!

I also download the latest 64-bit version of Microsoft Office. I ‘could’ get LibreOffice, but I share my Office subscription with other family members so it is not expensive and I really like Word, Excel and OneNote. I used to like Outlook, but it just got too bloated and hard to set up the way I like. I still use Outlook, but only for a few accounts, just so I can keep up with what the softies are doing to Outlook.

I get SyncbackFree to keep my files backed up to external media and Macrium Reflect Free to back up my system.

After I get my programs I tweak and tweak until everything is just the way I want it.

Windows 10 is super cool. A lot of the older stuff that came with earlier versions of Windows are no longer there, but I have learned most of them are really not needed. If you think you still want these older programs check out this site:

Apps and Services You Need to Stop Using in 2017

To remove a lot of junk PC makers put on new computers, Get The PC Decrapifier. It does what the name implies.