My ten year old laptop got permanently knocked out of use recently by a catastrophic malware attack. The new laptop is running Windows 11. I copied across the PMAIL folder and contents to the C:\ drive, fired up C:\Pmail\Programs\winpm-32.exe and was delighted to see my old friend burst into life. I created a shortcut etc. to make it easier to start, and everything is working fine as far as I can see.

A few questions have come to mind:

1. I haven't actually installed the program so it does not get listed as an app. Does Windows know about it? I do know that the program is using Appdata\Local\Temp for environment variables. Does it matter that the program hasn't actually been installed?
2. I am currently running Version 4.70 (win32), Feb 27 2014, build 546 which is waaaay out of date but does everything I want. I believe that I should be able to install the current (beta) version over the top of it to bring it up-to-date. Is there any particular reason why I should do this, given that I don't have any issues with 4.70? I'm getting old and work along the lines of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
3. Is there anything I can do to move the program into the Program Files (x86) folder? I'm not keen putting stuff at the C:\ level. I know that I cannot just move the PMAIL folder and contents there because the configuration file will still point to C:\paths so the program will not be able to find what it needs. Would installing the up-to-date version somehow give me the option of getting stuff in the right place?

I have been using Pegasus mail for over 25 years and am still hooked on it. Many thanks to David and everyone else involved in producing and supporting this wonderful piece of software!
Thanks,
Nigel

Windows does not know about it. That matters in that it can not be set as the default email program and that MAILTO: and SENDTO: links will not work. Running the installer as an upgrade will fix that.

This site shows what is new in v4.80 and the v4.81 beta. v4.74 brought significant improvements as well. For the most part, all of these improvements are behind the scenes with the exception of the improved display for high resolution monitors. Only you can decide whether to upgrade. I recommend the v4.81 beta. You can backup your current installation, upgrade and test, and then restore the original if you don't like it. There is a way to start Pegasus Mail in offline mode which would allow you to test it without any new mail coming into the test version. My suspicion though is that you would be happy with v4.81. I hope that you are updating IERenderer on a regular basis to take advantage of regular improvements to HTML rendering.

NO! (emphasis on purpose). Starting in Win7 and then more so in Win10 and Win11, Microsoft started protecting some system directories. The Program Files directories are included in that protection. As such, Pegasus Mail can not function if located in the Program Files (x86) folder because it is prevented from modifying its files, a normal process during its startup and shutdown.