Microsoft’s Outlook and Outlook Express e-mail programs have a lot going for them.

They come free with Microsoft Office or bundled with your operating system. They’re familiar and comfortable to workers who toil on corporate networks. Generally, they perform tasks with dexterity.

Unfortunately, they are also a security nightmare.

Like the recent Sobig.f worm, most computer viruses and worms invade home computers through e-mail tricks designed to attack the world’s two most popular e-mail programs.

Currently, more than 90 e-mail programs are available at Download.com. Over the years, some obvious alternatives have emerged.

Even so, the most popular of these programs – Qualcomm’s Eudora (www.eudora.com) – has penetrated a mere 5 percent of the market.

Eudora and the Bat have cultlike followings. Both come with import wizards that make migrating from Outlook carefree.

Most Eudora converts believe it is the most malleable and efficient of the e-mail options. They cherish its ability to filter, redirect and forward mail automatically. Message styles can be as complicated and snazzy as any Outlook template, and the interface can be rearranged to the user’s taste.

The Bat, the “natural e-mail system,” lets users create message templates that run the gamut. Searching, sorting and managing e-mail is equally flexible. It will feel comfortable to those who like the three-pane Outlook view.

Neither Eudora nor the Bat make use of the Windows address book, which has become a convenient way for virus writers to access new victims.

For bare-bones e-mail, there is Pegasus, reputed to be the oldest e-mail program on the Internet.

Born in 1990, Pegasus is well-designed for network use and supports multiple identities, filtering, mail merge and powerful encryption.

Incredimail is positively wacky.

It comes with dozens of funky templates, greeting cards, animations, text and sound effects. But with so many bells and whistles, messages quickly grow to irritating sizes.

PocoMail is powerful, fast and secure. Because it doesn’t copy a lot of extraneous driver files into the nooks and crannies of an operating system,

PocoMail is easy to maintain. Outlook Express users will find it familiar, and the ability to change the interface “skins” is refreshing.

Last, Bloomba is the newest application on the alt e-mail scene. Free while in beta testing, Bloomba is gaining notice for its quick search capabilities.

By late September, the final release will cost about $40.

(c) 2003, The Dallas Morning News.

Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com/

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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ILLUSTRATION (from KRT Illustration Bank, 202-383-6064):

NOOUTLOOK

AP-NY-09-03-03 0623EDT