Outlook is full-featured, but complicated and difficult to learn. Outlook Express is a stripped-down version without much oomph.

With the popularity of e-mail today, it may be worth your while to look at an alternative e-mail program: Eudora.

Eudora is a robust e-mail program that can handle almost any mail-related task. It has been my e-mail program of choice for about 10 years, and that’s really a long time for an e-mail program!

Even with years and years of e-mail stored in the program, Eudora functions efficiently and effectively.

Eudora is robust enough to handle multiple e-mail accounts (POP3 servers), has an intuitive interface, and is extraordinarily customizable. In addition, most viruses use the Windows address book that is used by Outlook and Outlook Express to spread their viruses. Since Eudora does not use the Windows address book, it is a slightly safer choice.

Every new Eudora version adds some new features and Eudora 6 is no different.

The interface has a new updated look. There is a new format painter like the one in Word, which copies the formatting of text easily. There is also a new content concentrator, which aggregates the content from long e-mail threads, making the content easier to view.

My favorite new feature is the ability to drag attachments right onto the Windows desktop or into Windows folders. Corporate users will like the addition of Eudora File Sharing Protocol that allows you to choose the files you want to share with others.

The biggest change in Eudora is the addition of an automatic spam filter called Spam Watch. Like other processes in Eudora, the filter is easy to customize, but you can also just start off with the default settings.

Eudora rates junk mail based on a scale of 0 to 100. Higher-scoring mail is more likely junk, while lower-scoring mail is more likely valid e-mail. The default setting is 50. You can, however, change the setting to suit your needs.

Before an e-mail reaches the in-box, it is automatically scrutinized by the Spam Watch. Anything judged to be spam will be put into a “junk” mailbox. This allows the computer user to skim the junk mail to make sure that no legitimate mail was junked.

If a valid e-mail is found in the junk, the user simply right-clicks the message and marks it as “Not Junk.” Eudora then automatically moves the message into the in-box. If a junk mail appears in the in-box, the same method can be used to mark it as junk and move it to the junk box.

At first, I found a fair amount of junk in the in-box and vice versa. The beauty of the Eudora filter is that as you mark the errant mail, Spam Watch learns from your input. So after a few days of training, the filters became much more accurate.

This evaluation process will be a little time consuming, especially when the program is new. Yet it is far superior to some other spam filters that allow you only to block or permit e-mail from specific senders.

Eudora’s method of rating the junk mail by a numerical value is also quite useful. Junk mail can be sorted by this value.

Most junk labeled between 60 and 100 is accurately labeled as junk so you can eliminate it quite quickly. Then you can take a little more time to go through the mail that has mid-range numbers where there might possibly be a valid e-mail.

Another nice feature is that mail from any person in your address book is considered valid. So if you expect an important e-mail, you can simply add the recipient’s name to your address book and be sure their mail will appear in your in-box.

If you don’t want to be bothered with the junk mail box, you can simply set Eudora to delete the junk mail after a certain number of days.

As in previous versions, Eudora’s menus and settings are easily customizable. You can add floating toolbars and drag and drop icons to customize the toolbars.

There is a color labeling system for sorting mail and the user can create multiple personalities with different names and information. Eudora also supports customizable stationery, signatures, group mailing, and most other normal e-mail functions.

The Options menu is filled with items that you can customize. The average user can simply accept the default settings, while the power e-mail user will rejoice in this system’s customizability.

The latest version of Eudora, 6.2, even has a ScamWatch to combat phishing schemes that use deceptive addresses to gather personal information.

There are three modes of Eudora to choose from: light, paid and sponsored. Skip the light mode. It has fewer features. The SpamWatch and ScamWatch are available only in the paid version.

If you are plagued by spam, as I am, the paid version ($50) is worth the price. If you are not bothered by spam, save yourself some money and try the sponsored mode. There are ads, but they are not terribly bothersome and the program is more than worthwhile.