Well gents, I gave Thunderbird a second go. And I can tell you without a moments hesitation that Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, Techzonez Mail, and my own providers mail all work with it:

First download thunderbird:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/

Second, install it.

Third, visit the following sites:

For GMAIL:
http://email.about.com/od/mozillathu...t/et121604.htm
Note you may have to change a few default port numbers for the server 587 I think it is.

Works wonderfull well if you follow the site to the letter.

For Yahoo and Hotmail:

First go to this site.

http://webmail.mozdev.org/installation.html

Right click on all three of the download .XPI files and download them to your desktop or something.

Then in Thunderbird, under tools, Extensions, click the install button.

Navigate to the WEBMAIL XPI, install it.

Navigate to both the YAHOO and Hotmail extensions and install their XPIs as well.

Now test that it's working by closing thunderbird, reopening it, and then click tools, and extensions, then double click the webmail icon.

You should see 3 items under the server tab. Make sure they are green and NOT BLACK! If any of them are black click the ports button and change it to a value above 1024!!!

Next, go to the following site:

http://webmail.mozdev.org/setup.html
And follow those instructions TWICE, once for hotmail using your hotmail information, and once for yahoo using your yahoo information (if you want both)

When you finished you're all setup!



The fruits of my labor above. (screw Outlook!)