15-Minute Reviews :: Reach-A-Mail Pro v3.3

Hello all and welcome to another 15-Minute Review! Today’s application is Reach-A-Mail Pro version 3.3 by Smart PC Solutions, Inc – A portable email client for use from a USB or external hard drive.

Software Description

As Giveaway of the Day states:

“Reach-a-Mail is a USB based portable email client. From now on, your e-mail will always be with you no matter where you are. All you need is a USB drive to receive and send e-mail from any computer without the need to install any software.

You save a lot of time thanks to Reach-a-Mail, as well as keep your e-mail correspondence private leaving nothing in a computer. You will be impressed by the easiness and simplicity of user’s interface. Reach-a-Mail is a USB based portable email client for active and mobile people!

installs easily on a light and compact USB flash memory stick, allowing you to store your address book and any important correspondence you might need for your day-to-day tasks on this portable stick. While on the go, you just plug the stick into a Windows PC and have immediate access to your email and address book with no installation required. The new Reach-a-Mail Pro has a better functionality and speed.”

Quick Pros

• Looks nice – Not hard to run
• Does give each account its own folder
• Password protect the launching of the application

Quick Cons

• Two-step message downloading process tedious unless you alter settings
• Securing application with password does not encrypt or protect messages
• Lacks most full-featured email client functions
• Annoying shutdown nag screens (Can be disabled at least)
• Generic installer not greatly friendly to installing to USB drive
• Misleading “Awards” page on product information site – Awards are for all of their products

Expansion

Upon your first launch of the application, you will quickly see what looks like a common email client layout; 4 panes plus a button bar. The panes are mail folders (top left), inbox (top right), address book (bottom left), and message contents (Bottom right); Much laid out like most other email clients. There is no menu within this application; Everything to run this application is constrained to the 8 buttons along the top. Overall the application isn’t hard to navigate or use, mostly because it is a stripped-back email client.

It isn’t too hard to get this application running. There is a wizard to add new email accounts, but for most you will want to touch the account settings anyways; Options such as ‘Enable SSL,’ ‘Check for new messages on startup,’ and signatures are all in the options which aren’t touched in the initial wizard. Running this application for basic functions is very straightforward, except downloading messages. Downloading messages can be a two-step process; First downloading headers, then either downloading a message at a time, or by right-clicking a message and clicking Download All. For most people who are working on high-speed internet or don’t expect sizable attachments each time, you will definitely want to turn on ‘Automatically download messages’ option on all your accounts in the ‘Account Settings’ -> ‘Incoming’ area.

Other than altering your email account settings, there is only one option on the settings page, and that is the ability to secure the application with a password. This would be definitely handy if you do not want your emails to fall into the wrong hands, and does make the safe usage of this application in a network situation, if it were truly safe. In actuality, there is actually real protection at all. Each email is in its own file (A potential bloat issue in itself) which is in plaintext, even with the password protection on. A simple file contents search or simple opening each email in Notepad will reveal the contents.

While the application does offer basic email functionality, there is really only limited functionality within it. The settings are very minimal; There is no junk mail functionality at all (And being a portable version of an email client – it would essentially ensure you would have to use a server-side option instead, which can be quite ugly); The address book does offer grouping, but all you can add to a contact is name and email address; No printing functionality at all and so forth.

One concern was the pesky pop-up windows. During start-up, you get a pop-up to start the Quick Start Guide, which isn’t bad for startup; During shutdown however, you get a total of three – a dialog confirming you want to exit, an advertisement window for Smart PC (Which appears that paying customers even get), and finally a screen asking you to give feedback on the application itself. While they can be dismissed by clicking the ‘Don’t show this window again.’ checkbox, the fact that you’re put through these on a registered version is irritating at best.

While generally not within the context of the reviews, the installer is a generic installer, and is not vastly friendly to those who want to install to their USB drive. It appears the default install location is your account’s Document and Settings folder; You have to browse to the location you’d like to install, whether it be a USB drive, network location, or otherwise. There should have been a custom installer used here for simplicity’s sake that would have displayed all the attached USB storage devices and allowed the selection via that process, or allow the choice to choose an install location manually for advanced users.

As mentioned in the comments of Smart Data Recovery’s Giveaway, the awards page is very misleading of the product – It implies that this title itself has won all these awards, where in actuality it has not (In reality it may not have won any awards), and as BuBBy added with a link, many of these awards are likely honorary at best.

Final Verdict

While the application looks nice and doesn’t run too badly when you get it set up, in the end it falls flat on its face with features, security and overall usability. For free, this application may not be for most people, but it could be helpful for your grandparents who may struggle with some of the current clients being overwhelming. As for paying $29.95 for this title, I likely really wouldn’t suggest this application to most people – It isn’t ‘Pro’ as the application name insinuates. If you’re looking for a top-notch email client, there is always Thunderbird or if you want a portable email client, there is Portable Thunderbird.

Posted by BladedThoth on Monday, February 11, 2008