Trying to figure out a stream in banning one email client or another is no easy job. As soon as somebody rises up saying Outlook is bad, somebody else comes saying it's good and the other one is bad. And the story goes on and on.

On one hand, email clients like Outlook Express and (even more) MS Outlook do a really good job when it comes to user friendliness. What email client allows you to use more options on the agenda, bell ringers, flag wavers and contact managing tips than MS Outlook?

The ease of use perfectly molds on human indolence. That means I would never question about Microsoft Outlook being or not a good email client if it comes together with my Office pack that comes together with Windows that comes together with my computer.

Here is another red flag: MS Outlook is not free as long as I'm paying for my Windows license. This should count when choosing an email client.

Moreover, everything is so easy to install with those cute wizards, and installing sessions are ready within minutes.

Until... well, until I spend enough time online, using email, starting to receive viruses, worms and other creatures that do bad things to computers. If you ever had to do one of the following when using Outlook or Outlook Express:

• try very hard not to click on a message subject that looked suspicious; anyway, not without using a small trick (that used to work for me): pressing Shift, selecting the suspicious messages and then hitting Del,
• try hard not to select some very good and very important messages together with the suspicious ones,
• accept phone calls from extremely upset clients accusing you of infecting their computers with God knows what worm (personally got in trouble with BugBear),
• working on an extremely low system because an efficient AV is doing its job scanning, updating, warning, locking etc.
• delete all your Outlook contacts in order not to become infectious for friends and clients in case your computer somehow got infected,

...then you know what it's like. Both Outlook and Outlook Express, while different applications, with no related history, have security as their weakest link. And that's why some people switch to other email clients that are said to be more secure.

It is true that most worms are today Outlook dedicated because Outlook has both more users and more security holes. It is also true that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates set security as a top priority back on 17^th January 2002 (it's been almost two years by now). While I don't mean to ban Outlook or Outlook Express, I'd like to choose the best for me, and the best doesn't seem one of the fore mentioned, at the moment.