[proactivesvcs]

I run two email addresses: one business, one personal. As you may imagine, the emails I get between the two are quite different. I'm using Thunderbird and always, when given the choice, opt for plain text email. I find Thunderbird does a very good job of rendering HTML email legible (easy to read) and functional (links work, etc).

Perhaps once a month, maybe less, I have to use the toolbar button "Show HTML Temp" to do a one-off rendering of an email as basic HTML. Almost always the same offenders.

I find it such a success that I recommend it to my customers - none of which are computer experts, and most are not what I'd call "computer savvy". A process has to meet a high bar for me to recommend something like this to my customers.

Shame that when I explain how it can help in improving one's security that a vanishingly-small number of customers take me up on the offer!

[alkonaut]

I think the first reason people don't care for installing e.g. Thunderbird is that they check mail on a) mobile, b) work (which is usually outlook, or at least mandated by someone else).

If I asked 100 friends "did you use email today" 99 would say yes. If I said "did you do it on a computer" then 50 would say yes (those that work at an office). If I said "was it your own computer" then maybe 1 would say yes.

I think for us that sit at our own computers regularly, it's hard to imagine just how extremely rare it is for people to actually use desktop/laptops for personal use these days.