Similarities:

1.Both OE and MSO are very similar to their mail receiving and filing function. 2.Both OE and MSO do offer backgrounds through "new mail using…" menu. 3.Preview pane could be kept shut when inbox is opened in both OE and MSO 4.Configuring accounts is very similar. 5.Both programs can disable automatic download of emails. 6.Both can have multiple accounts in same user or identity.

OE is better for: 1.Multiple users using same computer. 2.For news from newsgroups on news server.

MSO is better for: 1.Large volume of emails to be saved in text format for easy accessibility. 2.For sending emails in MS OFFICE formats.

Tips for configuring both OE and MSO to block viruses 1.Switch off preview panel in INBOX. This prevents any virus getting into your system by automatic opening. 2.Switch off "include this account when receiving mail or synchronizing" for every account you have. You can do this by disabling (no tick mark) on this feature, which you will find by menu chain: Tools, Accounts, account-name, properties, General. This will ensure that mail is not flowing-in automatically. 3.Before downloading mail, access mail on net. Most of these webmail sites show size of files, which unfortunately is not a feature with either OE or MSO. Any mail over 100KB is suspect should be deleted. Also delete any junk mail. Only download and receive mail that you want to save on your computer. 4.To download and receive mail, don't click on Send/Receive on mail Tool Bar, but go into Tools, and move curser on "Send/Receive" and move right to get a sub-menu where you select precise account, with which you want to send or receive. 5.Send by clicking on small arrow next to "Send", and selecting precise account by which to send. The mail will wait in Outbox till you send through Tools, Send/Receive menu as given in 3 above.