Email Helpdesk

Outlook has the advantage of being an integrated program which includes tasks and calendar as well as mail.

However it can be prone to crash or run slowly.  Sometimes it's more than you need.  It's not readily accessible through the internet, for example when you are travelling.  So a web-mail account may be sufficient.  Horde and Squirrel Mail are just two examples.

An alternative is Windows Live Mail which has succeeded Outlook Express and does include a calendar function as well as being accessible through the web.  You can configure Live Mail to download your Hotmail messages, for example.

Google for Live Mail will lead you to the download site.  The program is free.