setting up e-mail - Outlook Express

When we open Outlook Express (usually Start>Programs>Outlook Express), we will get the program window. If you have never opened the program before, it will ask for the information first-thing, before you even see the program shown here. The screenshots shown here are for adding an e-mail account from within the program.

 

NOTE: If you get the setup screens first, you can press Cancel, and open the program, then enter the information as follows.

1. When the program is open, look for Tools in the menu. Click Tools, then Accounts.

 

2. Select the Mail tab, then Add, and Mail, then Next.

3. You will be asked for your Display Name. This is the name that others will see when they receive your e-mail. So if you want others to read that they got an e-mail from Uncle Wiggly, that's what you would enter in this line. Maybe to be a little less scary, you could just put your regular name here. Click Next.

 

4. The next item will be to enter the address for this e-mail account. The purpose of this is so that if your friends want to reply to your e-mail, the reply will go to this address. Click Next.

 

5. Here's the mail server part. You will need to enter the server names for the incoming and outgoing e-mail .

 

• Note that the dialog asks what kind of mail server you are using. Unless you hear otherwise from your ISP, you will be using a POP3 server.

• Type in the server addresses accurately for each server.

• Click Next.

 

6. Here's where you enter your user name and password.

• Your username will usually be the name before the "@" symbol in the address. Note that with some ISPs, the username may be the entire address, so if your address is me@myisp.com, you would enter that entire address as the user name. If you enter just your user name, and you get an error back later saying your user name or password are invalid, try entering the entire address.

• The password will be entered next. It's important to note that the password is case-sensitive, so if your password is "PassWord", you will need to enter it as such, with the capital letters. I always check the box to Remember Password, since you will be driven nuts having to enter the password every time your e-mail client looks for new e-mail. If you're in a sensitive location where such lax security will be a problem, feel free to enter your password every time. But if you're only at home, well...

Click Next.

You're finished! Click Finish.

You will come back to this dialog, which shows the mail account listed. You can click Close, or if you have other e-mail accounts that are being checked by this program, you would enter them now.

 

I also like to rename the accounts (I have several) so it's easier to keep track in this window and elsewhere in the e-mail program. To do this, you can try double-clicking the account name you want to change, or select it and choose Properties. You will get a window with several tabs. The account name is usually highlighted in the first tab. You can name the account whatever is easiest for you. If it's just a home address, you can name it Home, or name it Uncle Wiggly...

When you're back in the main program window, test the settings by hitting Send/Receive. If you get no error messages, your settings are good.

Later e-mail programs like Outlook and Windows Mail (in Vista/Windows7) will allow you to check the settings during the account setup. All this does is send a message to yourself through the account. It will alert you if there is a problem.

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