Email remains one of the most popular forms of communication in the world, currently fending off the unwanted attentions of Twitter, Facebook and Skype after effortlessly swatting away the threat of SMS and the printed letter. Yet we’re increasingly happy to entrust our email to the cloud, accessing through a web browser whenever we want to stay in touch.

Whether or not your email is with a cloud-based provider like Gmail or Hotmail, there’s always room for a decent email client. And if you want something that’s simple, elegant and feature-packed, we suggest you take a closer look at eM Client 5.0.

From the moment installation finishes, you see how helpful and simple eM Client wants to be. From offering you a choice of three minimalist skins to detecting existing programs and importing messages, contacts and other online information (including calendars and chat histories), the program bends over backwards to make migration as simple a process as possible.

Get a feature-rich email experience with the sleek, perfectly formed eM Client 5.0.

Before you know it, you’re up and running, contacts paired and messages synchronising in the background. Everything you expect from a fully formed email client is here, from support for encrypted messages to signatures and templates, email rules and both global and search folders. We especially like the right-hand sidebar, where extra information about a selected email’s sender is displayed, including all past messages from that person.

But eM Client is more than just a client for email – it handles contacts, calendars, tasks and even chat, with support for Facebook, Skype, ICQ, Yahoo! And Google support. Throw in customizable and RSS widgets, and you’re looking at one fully featured mail client. You can even back up and restore your accounts and messages from within the program.

There is one downside to all this functionality: the Free version is limited to non-commercial use and two email accounts. If you need more, then you’ll have to upgrade to the Pro version for the princely sum of $49.95. But you get 30 days to decide which is for you before choosing which license to go for.

eM Client 5.0 is available now as a free download for PCs running Windows XP or later.