I've been using Yahoo Mail for many years but it seems to have become unreliable, a lot of my outgoing messages are not being received by my contacts.

I would like a program that will indicate that my message has been received and read.

I attempted to download MS Outlook for it's free mail program but I couldn't create an account since I don't have a a cell phone number.

Is there a free program similar to Outlook that you can recommend please?

Don, have you looked at Gmail? I switched to that from Yahoo about ten years ago, when spam became overwhelming. Gmail is perhaps the most developed free email in terms of usage and add-ons.

+1 on Matt's comment. I also still use my old Hotmail (now Outlook) and Yahoo.

I use gmail predominantly, and interface with it both from the web interface, but also using Thunderbird as muy web client (you could use Outlook also). I don't recall seeing read receipts as a feature in the web interface (but I could have missed it), but you can certainly request them when using a desktop interface such as Thunderbird or Outlook.

I still have a couple of Yahoo accounts, but rarely use them. Of course, Yahoo now belongs to Verizon, since they bought them out.

Then Verizon email was taken over by AOL so who knows where an original Yahoo account is now. Since my primary email was Verizon for years I use AOL now as Verizon so nothing's changed. That's sounds confusing, to clarify AOL allows Verizon users to keep the Verizon address but AOL handles it. I could also create a new AOL account but I use Gmail too and that's enough accounts for me. I've not seen a "received/read" notification but maybe it's available.

As for a cell phone, Gmail asked for my number because they can sync up the phone to the PC but I don't know if it's an actual requirement to have a cell phone to use Gmail.

I decided to take my own advice and just Goggle the question "must you have a cell number for Gmail?" The answer appears yes BUT as always there are hacker workarounds which are always created by tech nerds that drive old folks crazy but the kids love it. Here's what I found and good luck:

https://techviral.net/create-gmail-without-phone-number/

Bob

Thanks, Bob.

I've switched to GMAIL and it seems to be working alright. I had hoped for an app that would show when my message had been read but a reliable email program will take the suspense out of my daily communication chores.

Being mute, email is my sole means of communication with my wife and she wasn't getting my messages.

Thanks to all who tossed out a lifeline yet again.

S-O-L-V-E-D-!

If you download an email client (such as Thunderbird) and set it up to access your GMail via IMAP - it's a choice, you don't have to know the details about it), you can then set Thunderbird to ask for read receipts and you'll get them. I've been doing that for a long time (with multiple service providers now).

Just another option.

Read receipts are common in most mail clients, though you may have to hunt for it in the settings (go spelunking as we call it at work).

There's usually a path but you may need to discover it!

/edit
OOPS!
From a search:

If you’re a current user of Gmail, you might be glad to know that there’s an option to include read notification or a Gmail read receipt on each of your emails. You can also find help on requesting or returning a read receipt.

But unfortunately, that’s about where the good news ends. You see, Gmail is plagued with a variety of problems with the read notification (or Gmail read receipt) service.

First and foremost, it’s not available in most versions of Gmail. If you have a personal account (that is, one that ends with @gmail.com as opposed to @yourcompany.com or @yourschool.edu), you don’t have the feature to receive a Gmail read receipt.

It’s simply not included unless you’re using Gmail in combination with another email service.

Be aware that the recipient can turn off the sending of a read receipt.

Well of course, which is why I hate them so much
I have to deny it not accept it .. but this seems common behavior in many email clients

I just read the instructions and they went right over me wee Irish 'ed!

Meanwhile, I sent a test message to my wife and it went through okay. That was our main goal anyway. I will sort out the advanced setup later. At least I know it's possible.

That's great Donny. I'm far from an expert on various email programs but I started using Gmail when I read they probably have the best spam filters around. And AOL for that matter seems very good too. I used to get a ton of spam with my old Yahoo account and when I say old I'm thinking 10-12 years ago.

Bob

There is a really nice free email client “eM Client” by name. It is very easy to set up and use. You can easily point it to any email server.

Reading some of the comments about read messages etc I had a chuckle about an incident some years back. The CEO of a very large company insisted that all staff have an automatic reply to indicate absence from the office. Christmas Eve he broadcast a message to all staff to wish them Merry Christmas. It seems he got about 40,000 replies which flooded the mail server.

Tony

I switched to Gmail.

It's been several years now and I love it.

Previously, I would use the ISP's email client.... the problem was, every time the company changed hands I had to redo all my emails..... nope.... done....

GMAIL.

I've been using Gmail for I think 8 years now - always worked splendid for me. Much more reliable than Yahoo, which I used previously - at least in my experience.

The advantage of a gmail is that your email address is portable, versus a dedicated mail host (for example, I had email with verizon.com for many years, but that disappeared when I moved from Virginia to Florida and Verizon isn't one of the available internet providers).

After I moved, I had to go into all the various sites for software I own and stores I shop from, etc, and change my login credentials, because I no longer had access to my previous email address (which is often needed to do things like change password and verify identity).

Anyway, everything is now registered with my Gmail address, except a handful of vendors who never responded to my change request. It's a pain to do when you have hundreds of sites at which you are registered.

What I teach folk is to have 2 or more email addresses. One that is given out for important stuff, things you really want and another you use on sites that require an address. Basically an email address that attracts the rubbish, Facebook messages, advertising etc.

I use an email client for each address. On the email client that is pointed to the “rubbish” email address you need the ability to be able to delete multiple messages. This email setup you look at once in a while check if there is anything you want and do a major delete.

On the other you use it daily or whatever and you a missing a lot of rubbish you don’t want. If there is something going to the rubbish email you consider important it is usually easy to change the address.

With a good email client you can point it to both (or more) email addresses I choose not to for ease.

My thoughts

Tony