-
CNET editors' rating:
2.5 stars
OK
Detailed editors' rating -
Average user rating:
Write your own review
Product summary
The good: Great Outlook plug-in; easy to set up and create signatures and keys; inexpensive.
The bad: Poorly designed Web site; not compatible with other mail encryption services; technical support is unresponsive.
The bottom line: ZixMail is a great idea and is even easy to set up. Unfortunately, ZixMail falls short when compared to other products, so it's not the best service for most users.
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 11/28/2001
Many features, at a price
With ZixMail, you can send and receive secure e-mail for $24 per year (after a free 30-day trial), which is less expensive than many other programs. In the ZixMail package, you get a plug-in for either Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes, a separate ZixMail e-mail client, and access to the ZixMail Web site, from which you can send and receive secure e-mail, even from a computer that doesn't have the ZixMail software installed. Unfortunately, these three pieces, much like those in QuantaMail, add up to a complicated product that's tough to figure out.
To install and set up ZixMail, you must muddle through a bunch of options. Nonetheless, the process is the easiest we've seen so far. Download the installer from the ZixMail Web site, and you're taken step-by-step through the installation and setup process. Especially pleasing is how easy ZixMail has made the usually painful process of creating and activating passwords. ZixMail splits your signature phrase--a case-sensitive password of up to 128 characters that may contain spaces and any characters--into two files, one private (kept on your PC) and one public (kept on the ZixMail servers). ZixMail lets you back up your private signature phrase in case you forget it or lose the one stored on your computer.
Of plug-ins, mail clients, and the Web
To send an encrypted message using the plug-in, compose a message in Outlook or Notes, hit the red Z button, and enter your signature phrase. Receiving mail is just as easy. When you receive an encrypted message, hit the Z button, enter your signature phrase, and voilà! To receive a ZixMail message, users of ZixMail just type in their own signature phrase. Nonusers must go to the ZixMail Web site to receive their mail and create their own signature phrase, as they do with CertifiedMail.
Pitfalls we discovered
There's more to ZixMail than a tidy plug-in. It also throws in a separate mail client and a poorly designed Web site, which foul up the process. The standalone e-mail client can be used to send and read encrypted mail when you can't use the plug-in, say, if you run Eudora instead of Outlook or Notes.
The ZixMail Web site can send messages to recipients who don't subscribe to the ZixMail service. Via the site, the recipient can securely receive and reply to your message. However, you also have to go to the ZixMail Web site to read any replies you receive; they won't come to your regular e-mail client. You can use the ZixMail Web site to read your secure e-mail, but only if the sender has specifically chosen to send the message to the Web site instead of to your usual e-mail address. Continue reading
User reviews
Write your own review Be the first one to review ZixMail and share your experience with the CNET community!
