BAW30s

Thank you for the correction, AstroSkipper: my apologies, as you appear to be entirely right. I do distinctly remember being offered a version 7.0.0.10 or similar late last year, but whether this did exist and was "pulled", or whether I am somehow confusing DM with another program I can't say. Incidentally, although Microsoft now only recommends using its web email with Edge, Chrome and Firefox in Windows, I have tried experimenting with other browsers. It works very well with SR Iron in Windows 10. I also tried Pale Moon, and although it was rejected, I did mange to gain access through it by going through the cumbersome validation procedure. I had hoped to do this with MyPal in XP, but found PM so slow in comparison to Iron that I was discouraged. Needless to say, I was unable to validate Outlook Express.

I thought that for the record it might be helpful to report back on the situation in my experience with regard to Microsoft mail accounts (in my case Hotmail) and XP SP3 clients. EssentialPIM: couldn't complete installation. Roytam's MailNews does install and supports OAuth2, but does not yet successfully validate Microsoft accounts. He acknowledges the problem. OE Classic: works well and is being updated. I have had stability problems with it when attaching files, but touch wood it seems fine now. The three year subscription is a drawback, but I guess they have earned it! Dream Mail: installed this successfully with AstroSkipper's aforementioned loader. It also works well and is free; as it is offering updates up to the highest version 6 only, my impression is that the latest version 7 updates do not support XP. I haven't tried forwarding as in the previous post as I wonder how long this will work. Overall, my preference is for OE Classic. The interface is quite similar to Outlook Express, and thus familiar, and to me much more appealing visually than Dream Mail's, which isn't very easy on the eyes. It has some marked improvements over Outlook Express, as compacting folders, always a complex, slow, risky and rather fraught process in Outlook Express, seemed instant and easy. Messages, even in quantity, can imported and exported as .eml files, which allows them to be interchanged with Outlook Express. It can import dbx folders, but I haven't tried this as I wanted a clean start. It did successfully import my Address Book, but not groups within it. Outlook Express did seem faster, and I miss the stationery creation wizard, but am probably alone in that respect!

Well, according to the Order page the advert is definitely not in the paid version, plus if spell checking is enabled then the associated order nag will not appear. As for the settings not reverting, that is an assumption on my part, fingers crossed! Although I like the program, I have found a bit of instability when multiple attachments are being added, so I always save a draft at that stage. That was a peculiarity I had already been experiencing latterly on Outlook Express, which does make me wonder if it is a glitch in my OS and how much code the two programs have in common. As to what would happen if the sub isn't paid after three years, again that remains to be seen: that issue would not concern me overly as I only intend to use it with one account, but it could be important if you plan to create multiple identities. I was also curious to see if the mbx could be imported back into Outlook Express, but so far none of the import options I have tried work. I also tried Mail News today and found that it still doesn't support ModernAuth for MS accounts. I'm also wondering if something like the Credential Manager described here offers any possibilities for reviving older programs, but would have to leave that to the experts...

That's great! The free version does work, but the drawbacks are the advertisement it puts at the start of each message, which doesn't look too good in more formal communications, and the fact that it partly reverts to its standard settings every time you log on. Thus I was avoiding the ad that comes up when sending a message by turning off spell checking, but it comes back from the start of the next session. I am therefore thinking of paying for it, but was checking to see how Roy Tam is getting on with Mail News first.

I'm back after 3 weeks away! I have also just found that Outlook Express was no longer able to access my Hotmail messages, so I tried Dream Mail, and discovered that it installed successfully on XP but an error message told me that the ModernAuth component only works in Windows 10 and 11. I then tried OE Classic, and managed to activate ModernAuth in the way Astroskipper describes above. The old MyPal is my default browser, and it surprisingly even worked through that (I am also still accessing the Hotmail Basic Layout browser version through it for the moment, although I was expecting it to be cut off in August). I am finding that OE Classic works pretty well: it seems a bit slower than Outlook Express, but maybe that's inevitable with more complex polling. It looks wonderfully familiar: I am surprised Microsoft let them use an interface so like Outlook Express, but then imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery. Resource usage is quite low, remaining in single figures when in use even on this 22 year old rig. To answer Dave-H's question, every folder has an associated mbx file, which stores the messages, and a db database file (see image). According to https://filext.com/file-extension/MBX mbx files are Outlook Express mailbox files, but, as Dave-H, says, mine have all been dbx files. Maybe mbx was a format used in an earlier version? The free version functions effectively; by default it does a spell check when sending a message which only works in the pro version, so a message pops up linking to the payment page. This can easily be suppressed by turning off the spell check in Options, but a more irritating feature is that every message is preceded by this advertisement: "New Outlook Express and Windows Live Mail replacement - get it here: https://www.oeclassic.com/ " The paid version costs £35.60, but you only get a three year subscription, not full ownership. I'm thinking about it...

Hi, I'm just coming to this thread as I am now facing Microsoft cutting off my client's access to my Hotmail account on September 16th, and am wondering what to do. My desktop runs Windows XP, and I am still using Outlook Express after having found a way to update TLS on XP a year or two ago. Now, though, I am getting wrong password warnings about half the time as MS give notice that all is not well as they prepare to deny service to clients without Modern Auth. I'd be grateful to hear from other contributors whether any of the aforementioned programs will work with MS accounts after September. OE Classic looks like the best bet at the moment, as the program appears to be fully supported and updated. The makers state that it functions on all Windows from 2000 to 11, that it looks like Outlook Express and accepts Outlook Express message stores, and that it was upgraded with Modern Auth two years ago. It is also said to be very light on resources. I'd be glad to read any informed comments on the subject. At the time that MS was requiring the TLS upgrade, it offered a legacy server for those unable to comply. I am nurturing a faint hope that this server might continue to work with Basic Auth after the others cease to do so. It's frustrating that MS do not seem to be offering such an alternative means of access this time, particularly as some other service providers will continue to work with Basic Auth for the time being.