Download and install the Thunderbird email program by Mozilla.
And If you haven't tried FireFox as your browser ...download it too, and I think you'll like both of those better than the Microsoft products.
main page for both -
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/
Firefox info-
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/features/
I have used open office instead of MS Office for years now also.