My, my.  What a compendium of mis-steps and disappointments!

 It seems as though the biggest problem you encountered was trying to download several thousand emails, and failing to set the all-important switch in Pegasus to "download only unread emails".  That is why it started to download all of them a second time.  A common error -- I even forget to set this occasionally when setting Pegasus up on a new system.

All in all, you really set yourself up for disappointment with *any* email client the way you went about it.  Your past attempts with others should have given you a clue that small steps are better than big ones when venturing into unfamiliar (to you) territory.  But you just dove into the pool without checking how deep the water was.

 Happy landings, wherever you email quest takes you.
 

Having run Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Earthlink Mailbox (web & desktop), Eudora, Thunderbird, Opera & Outlook/Express - and becoming frustrated with all of them, for one reason or another - decided it was time to Try Something New. There are "no end" of options - even if ALL of them seem to have significant shortcomings (even those that Cost Real Money) - but finally decided to give Pegasus a try.

This a "brief" outline of my experience, and is not intended to be "nasty" - nor, alas Technical, as I had a Goal in mind: GET a SINGLE working e-mail application up & running in order to replace the piecemeal Eudora / Thunderbird / Opera mess I have been running for past several months.

Unfortunately that goal is still unfulfilled:

Downloaded and installed Pegasus Mail Ver 4.41 (Win 32). System is Athlon 64 X2, 2 GB RAM, Win XP SP2.

Erred in first install attempt by designating Multiple Users, when what I really wanted was Multiple Identities - but before discovering that found out that Pegasus would not let me start the program as (paraphrase here) "The User you are trying to "Become" (nnn) does not exist."  Regardless of which of the 3 user names tried. Even though I could peek inside a Pegasus file (think it was PMAIL.USR) and SEE all three User Names there.

Gave up after several attempts. Uninstall. Reinstall. Same problem.  Uninstall. Reinstall. Same problem.  LIGHT BULB: Uninstall. DELETE all Pegasus files. Reinstall, WITHOUT designating any Users up front.

OK: Looks good. Different interface than used to, but let's try it: Rummage around a bit; scan Help / User Guide; Set up User; Set up an Account (Let's Try ONE first...); FINALLY find "Leave Mail On Server" Option (Hey, it is a Different Interface than used to...); Download messages. Still looking good.

Hmm: Taking a LONG time... Did I turn on something about Content Filtering - or was that a Default Option? Hmm - taking a L O N G time: let's check & see: Move cursor up to Menu, click on... OH-OH: Window has gone BLANK. PM is NOT happy. Frozen, or Merely Hiding?

Quit. Quit. ...it Finally Quits. ReStart: some message about Being Interrupted, are you certain you want to continue / recover? (Perhaps a Question about whether or not Anyone Else is using file...?)  Sure, let me in:  Mostly blank window, obviously not happy. Quit and Try Again; Reboot and Try Again....

Uninstall & Reinstall. Remember to Remove All Files.

OK: Lesson is: DO NOT "TOUCH" THE PROGRAM WHEN DOWNLOADING MAIL.....

Do it ALL over again. Persistence can be either a blessing or a curse.  Check Content / Anti-Spam options: Make certain everything is OFF. Re-establish account; Leave Messages On Server; Download Mail.... HEY: Working MUCH faster now. Impressive - seems faster than most recent install of Thunderbird.  But a LOT of messages - need to find out how to set up Directories (Mailboxes) & Filtering.

Oh: Better NOT touch (Click) that HELP button: don't want to take chance on app freezing again....

Mail down. Appreciate "warning" about remote images, although it IS a pain...  Messages from Passat group are "garbled": the "fixed" screen info is overlaid on top of the Individual message.  Finally figured out how to read actual message...   Read up on Trays, Mailboxes, Filtering....

Called away for a bit....

Return: Couple of hours. Should check to see if any new mail.... Downloading Message 1 of 2800... OOPS: it is DOWNLOADING ALL OF THE MESSAGES AGAIN...

Quit & restart, just in case PM doesn't like to left "ON" for extended periods of time. But it still insists that it needs to download ALL of the messages again  (and again and again and again???).

Patience - & Persistence - have finally ran out.

The EASY THING would be to simply let it lie. I don't have in "Investment" in Pegasus: no Legacy of collected mail or of long time usage - and, frankly, no Funds involved either.  And we already know that EVERY other e-mail app tried has shortcomings of one form or another.

But, still, Pegasus Mail SEEMED like such a Competent Program - based upon considerable Reading / Reviews, time in service, and stated Features - that it seemed to shame to find SO MANY Glitches involved in the (supposedly...) Simple act of Installing, Creating an Account, and Downloading Mail.

It may be that only a Minority of users experience any of these glitches; but experience suggests that a Fair Number of (Potential) users DO. For example, found many references to "User you are trying to Become does not exist" glitch.  (Just as -  ALAS - have found numerous postings about Thunderbird's unfortunate habit of Corrupting one or more of its mailbox files - on a fairly regular basis.)

Those that do NOT experience these Glitches simply cannot understand HOW they come about - and since it is, after all, only a Minority that HAVE the problem(s) - why become too bothered by them?

So, in the end, this is a Rant I guess. But please understand that this posting is here simply because Pegasus looked so promising in advance, AND failed so Completely so Early in it's Installation / Usage.... I know that there are others who have had a similar experience and simply have not bothered to report it;  but I also know that - if it were an app I had worked on - I would WANT to know about such Start Up / Early Usage issues.  You cannot fix a problem that you do not know exists.

 Understand from reading that a New Version of Pegasus is in the works (Ver 5?). I hope that works out well, and finds Great Success: we NEED Options, even if too few of us are willing to Contribute toward making them available / viable. But Alternative Programs are only Real Options if they are Competent & Trustworthy: simply Costing Less is not enough.

Dierk / SE MI 

If your problems were typical, I wouldn't still be around after seventeen years of doing this.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not in any kind of denial here. Few understand better than I how difficult it is to predict every possible variation of every possible environment, especially in these days where there are so many intrusive variables to consider (firewalls, antivirus scanners, malware blockers and so much more). I would be a fool if I thought that there weren't going to be some people who had problems with my work - the best I can hope for is that the majority won't, and that is the way my design processes work. I try very hard to produce robust, reliable code; when I become aware of problems I can fix, I do my best to fix them: when I become aware of problems in other vendors' code that affect me, I do my best to publicize them. But in the end, I simply can't please everyone, no matter how hard I might try.

I'm sorry you had problems, and I quite understand that you have given up on the program: hell, I myself have very little patience with things that take too much effort to get working, even if they're from big vendors. I wish you all the best with whatever direction you end up taking.

Cheers!

-- David --