Windows Vista Security: Praxisorientierte Sicherheit für Profis

556

|

Chapter 16: Using Windows Mail, Calendars, and Contacts

Getting to Know Windows Mail

To start Windows Mail, click Start, click All Programs, and then click Windows

Mail. As Figure 16-1 shows, Windows Mail has an interface similar to earlier ver-

sions of Outlook Express. From the deceptively similar interface, you might think

Windows Mail is essentially Outlook Express with a face-lift. The truth is, however,

that Windows Mail is dramatically different from Outlook Express.

While Outlook Express stores all email messages in a database, Windows Mail stores

email messages as separate Email Message (.eml) files. The .eml file format is a raw

email message file format that includes the routing information for the message. This

is the same email message file format used by email servers, such as Exchange Server

2007. Storing your email in individual message files should provide improved stabil-

ity and help to resolve those problems of corruption and lost email we experienced

occasionally with Outlook Express.

If you browse your personal folders, you’ll find the folders Windows Mail uses under

AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Local Folders. The available folders are:

Inbox

Stores individual .eml files for email you’ve received from other people

Outbox

Stores individual .eml files for email you are sending while it is waiting to be

delivered

Sent Items

Stores individual .eml files for email you’ve sent to other people

Figure 16-1. Creating and managing your email

Using Windows Mail

|

557

Deleted Items

Stores your deleted email messages as individual .eml files until you empty the

Deleted Items folder

Drafts

Stores individual .eml files for messages you’ve drafted but have not sent

Junk E-mail

Stores junk email you’ve received as individual .eml files

AppData and all the folders and files it contains are stored on your

computer as hidden folders and files. See the “File Attributes” section

of Chapter 11 for details on displaying hidden files.

Within these folders, you’ll find a Winmail.fol file. This file tracks the folder location

and the email items within the folder. Windows Mail uses this file to help manage

your email. Because of how .fol and .eml files work, at a very basic level Windows

Mail is really just an organizer and viewer for your email. Whether you are working

with the Search Results window or the individual Windows Mail folder, you can:

• Open an email by double-clicking it.

• Forward an email to someone else by right-clicking it and selecting Forward.

• Reply to an email by right-clicking it and selecting Reply or Reply All as

appropriate.

Not only is this a new and exciting way to work with your email, but it’s also a great

timesaver.

In the left pane of Windows Mail, you’ll find the same folder structure, starting with

a Local Folders node that includes subnodes for Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items, Deleted

Items, Drafts, and Junk E-mail. In Windows Mail, you can search your email by

selecting the starting folder and typing your search text into the Search box pro-

vided. If you select the Local Folders node, you can search all of the email folders at

once.

Even more exciting is that you can search your email and read email returned in

search results without ever having to open Windows Mail. You can do so by follow-

ing these steps:

1. Click Start and then click Search.

2. In the Search Results window, select Email as the Show Only option.

3. In the Search box, type the text you want to search for within your email. In the

search results, you’ll see a list of emails that match your search text by the

sender’s email address and message subject.

4. When you click an email that you want to view, you’ll see the complete text of

the email in the Preview Pane.