Many of you may have gotten a new PC or Laptop over the holiday season and more than likely it came with Window 7 installed.  With the many new features and improved performance that comes with Windows 7, you may have noticed that Outlook Express was not included. 

I have been asked many times about installing Outlook Express on Windows 7.  It is not being supported anymore by Microsoft, meaning there will not be any security fixes for it.  There may be a way to get it to run in Windows 7. 

Although there are many different email programs available, Microsoft "changed" Outlook Express and it is now called Windows Live Mail. It is available with Windows Live Essentials 2011 which can be downloaded through Windows Updates. 

Some other email programs that work well with Windows 7 are:

• Mozila's Thunderbird (Made by the same company that makes the Firefox Browser), 
• online web mail sites like Gmail and Hotmail. 
• the business and pro version of Office include the full Outlook program

The only way I have been able to get Outlook Express back into Windows 7, is to install the XP Mode functionality.  Outlook Express was part of Internet Explorer.  It was dropped with Internet Explorer 7 (around the time Vista came out). 

Installing the XP Mode functionality, installs a version of Windows XP with Internet Explorer 6, which included Outlook Express.  If Outlook Express is the only reason to install XP Mode, I would recommend looking at the other email clients as an alternative.  As with most things new, there might be a little learning curve to a new program, but there will be more functionality and better security.  New software can usually import all of your old mail and contacts.

If you have any system questions or concerns, contact the CCS Retail Systems Support Department at 425-672-4806 or email_us.

-Bryan