What is my account name?
Your account name is usually your full e-mail address, for example, user@yourisp.com. The server recognizes the full e-mail address, and in some cases, just the first part of the e-mail address
Cannot find POP server...
This message is generated when Outlook Express is unable to connect to the mail servers. Check the server settings to be sure you have specified the correct servers. Sometimes, this occurs when you are not online. Make sure you are connected to the Internet. If you are indeed online, the problem could be caused by the fact that Dial Up Networking has established a sub-par connection. Try disconnecting and check your mail again after making a new connection.
Relaying Denied...
When sending e-mail through a server for which you are not supported as a user, you may receive the 'relaying denied' error message. Simply change your outgoing (SMTP) mail server name to the outgoing (SMTP) server name of your Internet provider. Even if the mail is not coming from your Internet provider, you still must specify the outgoing server from your ISP. For example, if my e-mail is being received at pop.mydomain.com, but I have to connect to the Internet using [Your ISP] then you must specify the outgoing mail server in order to send mail properly. Most ISP's employ mail.[yourisp].com as it's outgoing mail server.
Mail messages do not download
Most commonly, this is the result of a large or damaged message "clogging" your others from downloading. Typically, e-mail is sent in plain text format and is less than 5 kilobytes in size. Although you may routinely receive larger messages, messages with attachments, or messages in different formats, there will come a time when the mail servers will have difficulty downloading a particular e-mail. One way to alleviate this when it occurs is to access your e-mail via the web by going to your ISP's home page and log in with your username and deleting the offending message, and then continue your download in Outlook Express.
Continuously prompted for username and/or password
Usually, this is because the username and/or password entered into the account settings are incorrect. Simply re-type them both and try again. If you continue to get this error, delete the entire account and recreate it. This will re-build those files that store the account information. If you still have a problem, search your hard drive for any .pwl files. These are the files that hold the password information within your computer. Delete them and check your mail once more. Note that you will be prompted for the password one last time, since you deleted the files that store the passwords.
No Transport Provider...
This message is generated when Outlook cannot find the account information necessary to send an e-mail to its destination. More often than not, the account that the e-mail message is to be sent from doesn't exist anymore, or the settings are not correct. Check the settings or create a new account within Tools > Accounts and try again. Other causes could be a damaged address book entry, or a bad file within Outlook's program files. To see Microsoft's solution, click here.
Why am I disconnected every time I open my email?
If you are using Microsoft Outlook Express, it can be a common problem, to be disconnected every time you check your email. If you are experiencing this problem, it is usually related to a setting that has been enabled under the TOOLS -> OPTIONS section of Outlook Express. By clicking on TOOLS and then OPTIONS you will be brought to the Options menu of Outlook Express. Under this menu, if you click on the CONNECTION tab, you will notice two options available for selection in this menu. The first, which is Ask Before Switching Dial-Up Connections, should always be checked. The second option, Hang Up After Sending / Receiving, should be unchecked. If this option is checked then you will be disconnected every time you open Outlook Express and check your email. Sometimes people prefer to utilize this option to disconnect after they get their e-mail, but often times it is enabled accidentally and can cause frustration with constant disconnections.
Why do I download the same messages over and over again?
When receiving the same messages over and over again you may notice it stops on a particular message number and you will be disconnected from the mail server. When you go back to check your email a second time (third time, etc.) you get the same messages again. This can be caused by either an email with a large file attachment or an email that has become corrupted.
Occasionally when people send you file attachments, either the email is too large to pull down from the server or it may have become corrupted during the sending process. The same problem can occur with a regular email that may have HTML or some sort of scripting built into it; the file cannot be downloaded since the mail client cannot accurately display the contents of it. This sometimes happens if you are running a virus scanner and it picks up a virus embedded or attached to an incoming email.
To resolve this problem, you can go to several, free, web based mail services to take a look at your email on the server.
Why do I have to delete my emails twice?
Most email clients require you to actually delete your messages twice to get rid of them. Email generally comes into the Inbox and from there, when deleted, goes to the Deleted Items folder. This is in place to provide for instances of accidental deletion of emails, etc. Once you delete something it is usually still available until the Deleted Items folder has been cleared. The same goes for your Sent items folder. When you send an email, it goes to the Outbox, which is basically a queue of emails to be sent out, and then copied to your Sent box after it has been sent. These emails, once deleted from the Sent items box have to be actually cleared from the Deleted Items folder before they are gone. This is in place for people who need to keep a copy of their sent items for business issues, etc.
How do I create a signature line?
A signature is a file or piece of text that is appended to the end of each email. If you need to append each email with your business name, website information, phone number, email address, etc., this is the easy way to do it.
In Outlook Express you click on TOOLS then OPTIONS menu and then on the SIGNATURES tab. You can create the signature in this window with the tool provided or if you require a different layout you can edit the signature in a different program and configure the email client to append it here. There are different options that can be selected or unselected based on your preferences regarding the signature in this window.
In Microsoft Outlook you click on the TOOLS then OPTIONS menu; then the MAIL FORMAT tab and then the SIGNATURE PICKER button at the bottom of the window. All editing and configuring of the signature is done in this window
Why can't I open some attachments?
Sometimes you may not be able to open some types of attachments that come with your email. Usually when this happens it is because your computer does not have an application associated with the file type for the attachment you received. This simply means that your computer has no way to read the file. For instance, if you receive a file with a .PPT extension on the end of the file, but don't have Microsoft Power Point installed, you will not be able to view the file.
Is there a reason I have to re-enter my username and password every time I check my email?
Several different things can cause this. If you have not elected to save your password for email, you will be prompted for it every time you check your email. If you have entered your username or password incorrectly for the mail server, you may also be prompted to re-enter the information until you have entered it correctly.
The last problem is specific to Outlook Express and can be caused by the account entry for your email becoming corrupted. Since Outlook Express is a 'thin' mail client, it is mostly dependent upon the configuration files as to how it works. In Outlook Express, the mail accounts frequently become corrupted. This can be caused by your computer crashing while checking email, restarting the machine while checking email, Outlook Express being closed while in the process of checking email, etc. These are just a few things that could cause a corrupted account in Outlook Express; there are many others. The easiest thing to do if you believe this has happened is to remove the mail account and read it.
When I send email it says that relaying is denied.
Relaying denied means that you are sending, 'relaying', your message to a server that doesn't support you for sending. This can happen if you are connected to one ISP and using another's outgoing mail server. The outgoing mail server, SMTP server, is where all outbound mail is 'relayed' by your mail client.
How do I block senders?
It can become necessary at some point to block certain people from sending you email. In Outlook Express you click on Tools, Message Rules, and then Blocked Senders List. From here you can click on the Add button to add whomever you wish to the list. In Microsoft Outlook you will need to create a rule to permanently delete all email coming from the sender you wish to block.
What can I do about all of the Spam email I get?
Spam email is an interesting and often very irritating phenomenon. To prevent yourself from being subject to Spam, there are some very simple rules to follow. First of all, never reply to any Spam email sent to you. This shows the spammer that the email address is active and checked and they will continue to send mail to it. Second of all, refrain from posting your email address on the Internet. There are several articles online that say that posting your email address on newsgroups, bulletin boards, guest books, etc. are the biggest attracters of Spam email. People spend time combing through entries on these different services to collect email address to add to their lists for spamming purposes. Many services that you sign up for online as free services will also sell the information you submit to spammers since active email addresses sell for top dollar. It is important to read user agreements to make sure you may not be unknowingly signing yourself up for junk mail.
Why do I have problems sending file attachments?
Often times when sending large file attachments you may have to send the email several times before it actually goes through. This is because the email servers that are widely used on the Internet (POP3 / SMTP) are designed for the sending of primarily plain text messages. This is not to say that you absolutely cannot send file attachments or messages in HTML format, but keep in mind, the system was not designed for this. Sending large file attachments can and will take up a large amount of bandwidth and can cause problems with your connection to the mail server. This is why it is recommended that you keep the size of your file attachments around 1 MB in size or less. When you send file attachments larger than 1 MB, if you, or the party receiving the email is on a slow connection (56K connection or slower) than you will have a lot of problems getting the message sent back and forth. This again is because the POP3 / SMTP protocols are not designed to send huge files. FTP (file transfer protocol) is designed for this
Every time I open my email I get the message, "This Program has performed an illegal operation."
"This Program has performed an illegal operation" basically means that the program has crashed. If you are frequently getting this message, your best bet is to go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and upgrade your Internet Explorer if you're using Outlook Express, or to reload Microsoft Office if you're using Outlook.
What do POP3 and SMTP stand for?
A POP3 mail server is a Post Office Protocol 3 server, which simply is the type of mail server from which you retrieve your email.
A SMTP mail server is a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol server, which is the type of mail server you are sending your email through.
