Eudora Pro 3.0

Richard Price

Enough is enough. For the third day in a row I have downloaded my e-mail messages to see that most of them are nothing more then unsolicited e-junk.

Where are these companies getting my address from, and more importantly why do they think I am interested in what they are trying to sell?

No doubt, these questions will never be answered, but who cares. This time I am fighting back and the weapon of my choice is Eudora Pro 3.0.

Anyone familiar with the Internet would have probably heard of Eudora. I used to use it until I switched to Netscape 3.0 and foolishly decided that the built-in mail program was quite adequate for my needs. Little did I realise that over the years my e-mail address would be collected by every snake-oil salesman who ever touched a mouse.

Installing Eudora was as easy as a double click on the setup.exe button. A quick test message to myself established that it was working properly and then it was off to the Filters menu.

Most of the everyday e-mail tasks can be managed automatically in Eudora Pro. Replying to messages or transferring messages into various folders can all be controlled with Eudora Pro's mail management filters. As the trash can is nothing more than a folder it was simply a matter of setting the correct options in the filters window.

Now any more of those e-junk messages in my inbox that have something like "to be removed from this list..." in the body of the message will be automatically replied to and dumped into the trash can.

The only thing I was a bit apprehensive about was my address book. Having used Netscape for so long I had built up quiet a collection of e-mail addresses myself. I didn't want to loose them and I didn't want to waste time recreating them all over again in Eudora Pro. A quick visit to www.eudora.com solved the problem in about 5 minutes. There are a number of programs that automatically convert your address books for you. I used Interguru's Netscape to Eudora Address Conversion at www.interguru.com/netseudo.htm.

The conversion process was quite painless, and the instructions simple enough. All I had to do was tell Interguru the location of my Netscape address book and in minutes the file was converted. Using the "save as" function in Netscape I saved the file to my Eudora directory and I was back in business.

Whether or not Eudora really is the world's most powerful e-mail software is a matter of opinion. It is however popular, and if you are serious about e-mail it makes sense to use a dedicated program rather than something that is tacked onto a browser.

The powerful management tools in Eudora Pro certainly help make you more productive regardless of how much e-mail you get. Although it is not the most intuitive interface I have ever seen, and the manual is not that easy to understand. Still, beginners should find the software easy to use once it is installed, while net-savvy geekpeople will be more than impressed with the power of the program.

Besides the built-in spell checker, you get a customisable interface, drag and drop capabilities and the ability to format text with bold or coloured fonts. You can also attach any data file including graphics, video clips and sound bites.

Eudora Pro also supports multiple e-mail accounts which allows you to send and receive e-mail from different accounts. Although you cannot do a mail-merge, you can easily set up templates for outgoing messages which you can use in your automated responses.

So, if any of you out there should start getting unsolicited e-mail from me, well, I am sorry. I can't help myself. With Eudora Pro it is just so easy to send out bulk messages.

With a recommended retail price of AU$110.00 it's certainly not cheap, but still worth looking at. As far as system requirements go, if you are running Windows 3.x, 95 or NT with an Internet connection and access to a mail account via a modem you should be able to run Eudora Pro.

By Richard Price, Editor, EnergyME.com

For information on getting a product reviewed email richard@energyme.com