There's a lot of virus like programs being passed around that says due to a computer virus, you have to delete some files and restart your computer, DON'T DO IT!!! These are malicious prank emails that spread like a virus that automatically sends emails to everyone in your address book "Written by you". Deleting these files usually makes your system so unstable that you have to format your hard drive and reload windows. Check at the Symantec-Norton web site for hoax info on their web site here: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html There are fake "Microsoft emails" that come with a file as an attachment that says to have to install it, DON'T! We don't send those types of emails. Instead, tech support will tell you where you can get the files and then you can download them. On very rare occasions, WITH YOUR APPROVAL, we could send a file but you would have "control #" and you would be advised on the phone about it.
Some of you have asked us how to stop saving your "sent messages". Here’s how to do it, BUT that means you’ll no longer be able to see or re-read what you sent. We do recommend that you delete your sent emails and then delete the deleted ones at least once a month to keep your email program fit and trim. Microsoft Outlook (MO). Open MO and then click on the TOOLS tab, then chose OPTIONS tab. Then, on the PRESENCES tab, click on the EMAIL OPTIONS tab. UNCHECK the save copies of sent messages box. Then click APPLY and OK. Close MO and this change will start the next time you use MO. Microsoft Outlook Express (OE). Open OE and choose the TOOLS tab then OPTIONS. On the SEND tab, uncheck the box to save the sent messages. Click APPLY and OK and close OE. This change will apply the next time you open OE.
Here’s a trick to help keep you online longer if you are using a dial-up connection. Most Internet providers disconnect your dial-up connection after 15-20 minutes of no activity from or to your computer. (DSL or Cable Modems, or Wireless connections don’t need this to stay connected but you’ll receive your emails faster). With MO, click on the TOOLS tab then OPTIONS. Click on the MAIL SETUP tab then make sure there’s NOT a check in the SEND IMMEDIATELY box. Then click on the SEND-RECEIVE tab. Change it time to send receive email WHILE ON LINE to 5 minutes. Then click CLOSE, APPLY & OK. Close MO and this will apply the next time you open MO. For OE, Click on the TOOLS tab and on the GENERAL tab, change it to check for new messages every 5 minutes. Make sure there’s a check in the box to send receive messages at start up. Close OE and this change will apply the next time you open OE.
For those of you who are using Microsoft Outlook Express 6 email program and have found that, either you can’t download or open attachments, here’s a fix. Open OE 6 and click on "Tools" then "Options" then "Security" and uncheck the box that say not to allow attachments. Click apply and ok. Then close and reopen OE 6 for the change to take effect.
Do you have several email addresses, one for each person in your home, one for your personal email, and one for your business, or even if you created one just to give out on the web to get info, and you want to keep them separate in your in-box, try this:
First in all programs you have to create another in-box folder with that person's or business' name. In Outlook Express 6, you have to highlight that email in the in-box and then select "Message, create rule from message" just select the boxes as needed to forward an incoming email that’s addressed to "XYZ" into folder called "XYZ". This way all incoming emails are automatically sorted out based on the rules you create. If you can’t get off someone’s email list, then choose "Message" and then "Block Sender" Not sure how many blocked senders you can store on the list so use the "Opt-out" link that usually on the bottom of the emails. This way you don’t have to create "Identities" in the Outlook Express program.
Click on an email message in your Inbox that's from someone who's important to you. Now click on the Tools menu and click the Organize command.
In the line that says "Create a rule to move new messages", select the from option. In the box to the right of this, you'll see the name of the person whose email messages you want to organize. Just to the right of this, click the down arrow to put the message into the folder you created for this person's email.
Click the Create button. All the mail from that person will be moved to the new folder. You can create additional rules to put mail from other people in the same folder, or you can create separate folders for each sender. Note that if you belong to mailing lists and want to sort list mail into folders this way, you'll probably need to filter by the "to" field instead of the "from" field. It takes just a few days to get the folders and email rules you need to get almost all your important mail organized into folder. Try it out and see.
Do you send out a lot of emails, and you want to have a way to take charge of your address book? Try this. Create "Groups" such as: Family, Friends, Clients, etc. In Outlook Express, open your address book, then select "New" then "New Group" and give the group a name such as Family, Friends, Clients, etc. Then select the members to add to this group. In Microsoft Outlook, open your address book, select "New Distribution List" then ok. Give this group a name as above. Then click on "Select Members" to add them. Put new ones in using the "Add New" button. The original email list will still be there, just when you want to send an email to a group of people, just sent it to that group at one shot, rather than addressing it to each person individually.
Have you noticed people listed in your address book that you don't know? Click on tools, then options. Select the "Send" tab and "uncheck" the box that says, "Automatically put people I reply to in my address book". If you're going to send an email to a lot of people and you don't want everyone to see the other email addresses, and then use "Blind Carbon Copy". On the email you're going to send, click on the "TO" button. Select one person in the "TO" box and place the rest of them in the "BCC" box.
Would you like to change your out-going emails to a different style of lettering and font size? How about adding a background photo to it? Try this: In Outlook Express, click on "Tools" then "Options" and then "Compose". Set your lettering and font size and apply it. Create your wallpaper by checking the "Mail" box in the stationery section and then select it. In Outlook 2002, click on "Tools", then" Options", then "Mail Format". Make changes in "Stationery and Fonts" and apply it. Add wallpaper by using the "Stationery Picker button" and apply it. You can also import your own photo if you want to. REMEMBER by adding color, wallpaper photos and sounds you're making your emails larger in size to transmit and receive. Some email accounts have maximum file sizes and if yours exceeded the amount allowed, they'll be rejected and set back to you.
Do you forward emails to others and hate seeing all of the other email address above it? SO does 99.9% of us! When you forward an email, forward on what you want to send out NOT the original email. Ever notice that you get an attachment that has 3 or more icons to open? After you select to forward the email, left click your mouse and hold down the button and drag it over the email addresses etc that you want to delete or edit out, then hit the delete key on your keyboard. This will make the new email smaller in size and faster to send and receive.
Would you like to subscribe to "News Groups" but your ISP doesn't offer a newsgroup server? Try using "msnews.microsoft.com" with out the quotation marks by adding it to your email program accounts.
Would you like to know how to get rid of those right-pointing "arrows" when forwarding messages in Outlook Express? Here's the secret:
If you are having trouble receiving your emails then try this: Send your self a test email. If you can send and receive it, then the problem is not with your computer its your ISP email server. I would then call your ISP and ask them to check your email account. Some ISP's have a maximum amount of emails or mb in size that can be received. If you have one or more that exceeds that amount, your email stops. They can delete one or all of your emails. Another way to check is, to log onto this web site and you can see and delete the emails you don't want. The ones you don't delete will be available to download as usual. NOTE: this might not work with "Web Based Email Programs" such as AOL, Hotmail, MSN, Juno, Yahoo, etc. Go to: www.mail2web.com . If that doesn't do the trick, then open your Outlook or Outlook express email program and delete your email account(s). Close the program and re-open it and then recreate your account(s). And try it again. If you don't know the correct settings to insert, contact your ISP Tech Support for help. Sometimes this "script file" gets corrupted.
Are you receiving emails with web page address or links in your Outlook Express that you can't open? Check out this Microsoft article for help.
Is your Outlook Express having trouble showing the "HTML" windows in your emails? (White box with a red X in the corner). Check Microsoft's fix here. For Outlook, click here.
Are you receiving emails with attachments similar to "love notes.eml" that your Outlook Express 5.5 or 6 can't open? Try this fix from Microsoft. Click here. Or download the new Internet Explorer off Micososft's windows update page.
Does your Outlook Express 5, 5.5, 6.0 in Windows 2000 and XP fail to save your email password? Click here.
If you use Microsoft Outlook as your email program, make sure it’s not set to respond to spam request. There are some spam email that has an auto reply feature in it so when it comes to a good or current email address, it tells the sender.
Every email address must contain the @ symbol, so you can use that to create a rule for messages with no address in From or To.
Under Conditions, select "where the From line contains people" and "where the To line contains people".
Warning! If a message is sent to you with your address in the BCC field, it is quite possible that the TO line will be blank, and so this rule would remove that message. If you frequently receive such mail, you should not filter on "Where the To line does not contain".
Email viruses are created to use the “auto open” feature in Outlook or Outlook Express. This way you don’t have to open the email to release the viruses. Last year Microsoft announced that they identified a way that someone could hid a virus inside of a jpeg picture you’ll receive in an email. (That just gave people something new to try that they probably never though of). Here’s how to turn of the “Preview Pane” in Outlook and Outlook Express and the “Reading Pane” in Outlook 2003:
Click the apply and ok buttons. (Whenever there is an apply button, you should click on that first before the ok button).
When you want to be able to only receive email from specific people, it's called "white listing." You can create a white list in Outlook Express by using its Message Rules function. Here's how:
Add the people from your address book that you wish to allow to send you mail, then click OK to close the address book.
Now under "Select the Actions for your rule," either check the box that says "Delete it" or, if you want to be more cautious, create a folder called Quarantine and check "Move it to the specified folder." That way, you can check the messages to be deleted in case there is mail there that you want to get.
Even with leading spam detection, there is no foolproof way to prevent spam. There are a few steps you can take to avoid spam:
1. Avoid posting your e-mail address in a public place (if you need to provide you can always use the "dot " instead of the actual "."
2. Read privacy information carefully when completing online forms that request your e-mail address, and exercise your choice Use multiple e-mail addresses
3. Do not open or reply to e-mails from unknown addresses and never open attachments unless you the person who sent it
Never click on a link from within a spam e-mail message, even to request “removal” from their mailing list, as this verifies your e-mail address as valid and will increase the amount of spam you receive
4. Turn off your e-mail program's ability to “preview” e-mail messages – spam e-mail messages often have links embedded that report back to a Web server as soon as you preview the message. Turn off this preview pane which is described above. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
A patch released April 11 can literally destroy your Outlook Express address book. This one is documented in security bulletin MS06-016. We've heard reports that installing the patch causes the address book to be completely removed. So if you use OE and you've updated your system since April 11, you should check to see if you still have an address book. The good news is that if you uninstall the patch, the address book magically reappears. The bad news is that if you use automatic updates, Windows will just download and reinstall the patch again. The solution is to set your update properties to ask you before installing anything. It's a little more trouble, but it can save you a world of grief. For info, click here.
This is a simple fix, but we get this question from readers every week: they've installed Service Pack 2 and now when they open email messages in OE, they get a red X placeholder instead of images that were embedded in the message. This happens because of a security setting that SP2 turns on by default. You can easily turn it back off. Here's how:
Email is, for many people, the most used Internet application - but there's plenty that can go wrong. If you use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express as your mail client, you may sometimes receive error messages that are difficult to figure out. KB article 813514 covers some of the most common error messages and provides tips on how to resolve or work around the problems: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/813514/en-us
If you use Microsoft Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003 and you rreceive an error message similar to: "This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator" then check out this Microsoft article for help: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310049/en-us
What happened to the option to make pictures smaller?Once upon a time, when I would attach a picture to email in Outlook Express, a dialog box would pop up, offering to make them smaller. I almost always said "no" - but somewhere along the way I stopped getting asked and recently I did have some photos taken at very high resolution that I wanted to make smaller before sending. Do you know how I can get this option back?
The lack of the "make pictures smaller" dialog box usually means a DLL has become corrupted or unregistered. To fix the problem, try registering the DDL. Here's how:
Unlike anti-virus programs, multiple spam filters can play nicely together and provide you with better protection against unwanted email. It doesn't take the place of a good commercial spam filter like iHateSpam, but if you use Microsoft Office, you can add another layer of spam catching with the built-in junk mail filters. And now you can make those filters more efficient by reporting any spam that still gets through to Microsoft. Doing so is a one-click operation when you download and install the Junk E-mail Reporting Tool at:
When you send photos via email, Windows gives you the option to make them smaller so as to require less bandwidth when recipients download them. This is especially useful if you're sending someone with a slow dialup connection. If you don't see this option, it may be because the shimgvw.dll file is not registered. To find out how to register the file and resolve the problem, see KB article 555547 at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555547/en-us