When I came to work at Computer Help NZ there was so much to learn! There was SSDs, logic boards, RAM, Apples (which I knew next to nothing about being a “PC” girl), Bananas (no, just kidding) and in amongst the new terms was “Thunderbird”.
When I heard this my first thought was “Thunderbirds are Go!” with Lady Penelope from the Thunderbird cartoon puppet TV series that dated back to when I was a lot younger than I am now. I was quickly told, to my amusement, that it was actually an email programme.
For those of you who are Outlook or Mail (for Macs) fans Thunderbird is an alternative way to send, receive and view your emails. It belongs to the Firefox family (which includes Mozilla the web browser amongst other things). The best thing about Thunderbird is it is FREE to use.
Since I had never heard of it, I had never used it, so thought I should have a bash since a lot of our customers are using it, and it would help if I was familiar with it. So for the past couple of months I have been trialling it to see how it works.
We usually recommend it for those people that have to upgrade their computer from Windows Live Mail, who don’t use Outlook and don’t want to get their emails straight from their providers on the Web. It is a good way to manage your emails. It works on desktops and laptops alike.
For those of you who don’t know, it isn’t too dissimilar to other email programmes, it has the inbox with all your folders listed on the left, the messages display on the right. You click on a box “write” to write new emails, and you can sort your emails in date order or by the sender, and your contacts sit in an “Address Book”.
There is a choice between how you view your emails, you can have the folders on the left showing (or not), you can have a preview pane either at the bottom or at the top, you can turn the toolbars on at the top, and choose which ones you have or don’t.
If you ever find things go missing try right-clicking on the blank bar at the top, this reveals some menus that can be inadvertently turned off by clicking, here is where you can turn them back on. The other place to look is under the Tools/Options tab (right at the top left if you have those options turned on).
Deleting is easy, you can either right click on the email you want to delete or hit the “delete” button on your keyboard, or click the “trash can” in the email itself. If you want to delete multiple emails that are next to each other, highlight the ones you want to delete and then press the delete button. Easy!
The best way to find out where things are is to have a play around, you won’t break anything, and if you can’t fix it or find it you can always call us!
We also offer tuition, so if you need some help you can come in and spend some time with our very knowledgeable technicians! Ask about this service at reception.
All in all, it is a very easy email programme to use, once you get used to the layout and where everything is.
Sandie
Receptionist
Computer Help NZ