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Pegasus Email 

Pegasus is a free Email client program 

First Impression 

December 10, 2001. Pegasus version 4.01.  I was looking for a Windows email program to use on a very old computer (Pentium 90, Windows 95, 24 meg of ram). Pegasus requires very little ram and hard disk space so I gave it a try. 

The computer in question is a laptop with a 640 by 480 display. Not until I downloaded and started to install the program did it mention that this screen resolution is "just barely supported". What this means exactly is left to your imagination. It does run on the machine in question but the toolbars are cut off on the right hand side and they are not horizontally scrollable. 

At the start of the installation procedure you are asked where to put the Pegasus mail program files. There is no default location. You can click on the NEXT button and move on to the next option without entering any directory/folder. What it does in that case I don't know as I went back and typed in a standard Windows location in the "Program Files" directory.  

At the end of the installation, there are two links to help files. One is called the "Pegasus mail online help". This is not an online file at all, it is a standard Windows help file that resides on your computer. 

The program was sluggish compared to Netscape Messenger which has been used on the same computer for a long time (Pentium 200 with 96 meg of ram).  

The default location for mailbox files is C:\PMAIL\MAIL. Had I known this when prompted for a location for the program files during install time, I would have put the program files in the C:\PMAIL directory. Why is there a default location for one thing and not the other? Why doesn't the second thing (the mailbox files) default to the same location where the program files are? 

When configuring the program during the first usage you can omit critical information such as the POP3 and SMTP server name which the program must have to function. 

I found the multiple windows interface confusing (I am a Netscape Messenger user). Also, while the outermost window would open up maximized when Pegasus was started, the innermost window never did. 

When multiple users share a single copy of Netscape Messenger 4.x, each is initially presented with a drop-down list box of all the defined Messenger users. When multiple users share a single copy of Pegasus, each is prompted to enter their Pegasus userid. No list of defined Pegasus users is presented. This puts a burden on the Pegasus user to remember their Pegasus userid. This may seem at first to be more secure, but a knowledgeable user can just look at the Pegasus mail folder and see the Pegasus user names. It puts an unnecessary burden on the novice or part-time user. 

When you forward a message with Messenger the new subject is composed of the subject of the original message prefixed it with "Fwd:". When you forward a message with Pegasus, the new subject is blank. I prefer the Messenger way. 

When composing a new message the subject is not called "subject", but is instead abbreviated as "Subj" which seems unnecessary (screen resolution was 8000x600). 

The first time I went to send a message I was logged on to the Internet. Instead of actually sending the message, Pegasus queued it for later sending. Netscape Messenger changes its Send button as appropriate to either "Send now" or "Send later" which is less confusing than having the "Send" button result in queuing. 

Where is the queued message? It's not obvious. With Netscape Messenger there is a mailbox for "Unsent Messages". With Pegasus, the closest I could find was a mailbox called "copies to self". There was no mailbox for queued messages.

Messages in the Pegasus inbox are always new even after viewing them. In contrast Netscape Messenger considers a message no longer new after its been read. Messages in the Pegasus inbox are sometimes accompanied by small symbols. The column where the symbols are displayed has no column heading and hovering the cursor over the symbols produces no pop-up tool-tip help. 

The date format defaults to DD MMM YY. If you are not in the USA, this is normal, but I am in the USA. Also, isn't it time for four digit years? Especially since a month, a day and a year can all have "01" values? 

A message from an AOL v6 user was marked as "maybe" having an attachment. It did not have an attachment. These messages come in both plain text format and HTML format. Netscape Messenger displays the HTML version of the message and is smart enough to know that there is no attachment. 

FYI: This is not a program for beginners in my opinion. There are too many on-screen options and too many windows. Also, the user interface is not as intuitive as Netscape Messenger.