Last week after an article detailing a likely XSRF GMail exploit (one of which had been demonstrated previously), I decided to give an e-mail client a shot.  The natural first choice is Thunderbird, from Mozilla.  After several attempts to get the program to download all my e-mail and several reinstalls later, the program ceased to run at all.


Thus I have turned to other alternatives, which brings me to the first Freeware Friday to introduce nPop.  nPop is a tiny e-mail client will the all the functionality for basic e-mail usage.  It can naturally send and receive messages on multiple accounts, check periodically and alert of new messages (all while sitting in the taskbar), maintain an address book, restrict access via a password, and transmit over SSL using the optional download of the OpenSSL .dll file.




But it's really not about features.  It has all the basics, but only those basics.  It's minimalist software at its heart, and it's minimalist software at its best.


Alternatively, a small step up is Popcorn, another lightweight e-mail client with a few more options and works with the same SSL plugin.


If your e-mail is just for communication, then these miniaturized programs are worth a look.