We haven't tested this month's tool ourselves, so consider this something you might want to look into as opposed to an official Net Listings' endorsement. Remember that futuristic email program used by Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible? Well, the program didn't actually exist, so the folks at IncrediMail Ltd. decided to create one.

Not surprisingly, their program is called IncrediMail, and they are promoting it as the next best thing to come along in email communicating. Basically, it's email that's highly customizable, including multimedia features such as 3D effects, emoticons, animations, sound effects, and a series of "notifiers" to let you know "you've got mail."

We've received several emails from people who were obviously using the free version of the program. How did we know? Because IncrediMail is advertised as a 100% free download, and indeed it is. But, many of the special features from their extensive content Gallery are only available if you pay for them. Whichever way it goes, the folks at IncrediMail have a pretty clever win-win marketing strategy. If you decide to pay their fee ($-$) then their logo and link are no longer displayed, and the emails look like they were created by you. But, they've got your money, which is always a good thing on the Internet. On the other hand, if you stick to the free download and send out a bunch of emails, you're doing some viral marketing for IncrediMail-almost as good as converting users to buyers for a new online venture.

And the emails are fun to send or receive, if you're in that kind of a mood. Even for standard letter writing, they have a wide variety of backgrounds from which to choose, adding a personal touch. And speaking of personal touches, there's a feature that allows you to incorporate your handwritten signature into your emails, as well as a feature for adding your own voice, assuming that's something you'd ever feel the need to do.

You do not need to have IncrediMail in order to receive IncrediMail emails; there's no special download or plug-ins involved. And, you can still send good old boring but functional standard emails when accuracy and speed are your only concerns, or whenever a plain text email would seem to be more appropriate.

For a far more detailed description of all the IncrediMail features just click here to go to their site. Watch the demo, and decide for yourself.