Thana Ana, very wise words. As I say, it really is/was something for me to consider but I have always been happy with 2007 and it's not let me down.
I personally have always found using Office Outlook the quick & easy way of managing my various email accounts (@virgin.net, @virginmedia.com and @gmail.com) so I doubt I'd bother to change that after all these years.
I'm really starting to think that I should be wasting my time on something else rather than look for problems that don't exist.
thanks again