Outlook, Outlook Express & E-mail Issues

The vast majority of software from Internet Service Providers comes with the Outlook Express E-mail software. CompuServe, AOL and Netscape use their own e-mail client and Outlook is also widely used in businesses where email is often linked to an email distribution program such as Microsoft Exchange or Mailgate.

Outlook provides a number of advantages over Outlook Express including the facility for arranging meetings over the office Intranet, as well as a powerful Journal feature enabling the user to track all previous emails from the same sender.

Outlook updates can be downloaded from the Internet in the form of service packs from Microsoft’s website. Service packs contain security enhancements and program updates in order to resolve a number of issues that Microsoft have become aware of since the program’s initial release. Outlook Express free upgrades are also normally available from Microsoft’s Website, included with Internet Explorer 6.

In order to use Outlook or Outlook Express for retrieving e-mail the program needs to have specific information from the company providing the e-mail service. With companies such as Wanadoo this information is provided at the time of installation, although often the User Account, POP3 & SMTP settings need to be setup manually from the Tools menu and Accounts option. This information is usually available from the Internet service provider’s website or from their technical support department. Several different email accounts can normally be configured to work with any Internet Service Provider, although the SMTP setting will need to reflect that of the current Internet Service Provider and not the email account provider!

The big advantage of email programs such as Outlook or Outlook Express is that they enable all e-mails to be composed off-line and then sent together by using the send and receive button. All emails are then sent, any new messages checked for, received and then finally the computer will disconnect from the Internet ( providing the disconnect when finished box is ticked ), all in a matter of seconds. Outlook and Outlook Express can cope with several different e-mail accounts and check all of them one after another ( see Tools menu and Accounts ). Most e-mail providers allow on-line email access, enabling email to be viewed and sent from, any computer around the world.

One of the main reasons that small businesses are opposed to e-mail is the amount of ‘spam’ mail that can end up in your Inbox. Outlook 2003 currently has an excellent junk mail filter built in although, although care needs to be taken with any junk mail filter option, to ensure that some valid emails and not being removed. Also both Outlook and Outlook Express have a ‘message rules’ feature ( under the Tools menu ) that enables messages received to be filtered into a particular folder or even deleted on arrival. This can be very useful when companies persistently send unwanted information. Alternatively a senders e-mail address can be blocked, to stop any e-mail being received at all from that person or company. To do this highlight an e-mail received from the person or company concerned, go to the Message menu and select Block Sender.

Both Outlook and Outlook Express have various security enhancements build in, although often these can adversely effect legitimate incoming emails if not re-configured. In both programs the security settings are located under the Tools menu, Options and the Security tab. Utilities are also available such as McAfee’s and Symantec’s AntiSpam that filter and delete suspect emails before they are received. Properly configured, up to date Anti-Virus software, is also essential to combat the large number of email viruses in circulation today.

In Tools menu and Options there are a large number of configurable settings including options to tell Outlook and Outlook Express what to do on start-up, to check mail every hour and to create message rules. Also with a permanent ADSL Internet connection it is a simple process to be notified of new email messages the moment they arrive and Outlook 2003 in particular offers an unobtrusive way of briefly displaying the headings of new incoming messages.

In the View menu messages can be displayed in a variety of orders. Displaying messages received in alphabetical or date order is very useful to work out which messages to delete. Normally the number of messages stored keeps growing over the weeks and months and so it is important to have a regular clear out or to create new folders for each type of mail received ( File menu, new and folder ) and then move them out of the Inbox. Outlook also includes an ‘auto archive’ option to move old emails to a separate storage file, normally called archive.pst.

For Microsoft Exchange remote users a .ost file is created in order to provide off-line functionality, although with Exchange 2003 ‘Outlook Web Access’ is available, offering complete remote access to email, calendars and shared folders through Internet Explorer.

File attachments are an area that can cause problems: Firstly before sending a file attachment to somebody ensure that they have the necessary software installed on their computer before sending a file of that type. Most programs offer the option to save files in a different format to their own, which means for instance a Word XP file can be saved in Lotus Wordpro 97 or MS Works 2000 format etc. for a person who does not have Word XP. It is also worth noting that file viewers are often available free on the Internet for someone who needs to view a file, but does not have the software.

Also always ensure that the size of any file being sent is not too large. Nobody wants to receive high-resolution photos by E-mail if they are so large that they take an hour to retrieve. This is especially relevant when the sender has a fast 500K or 1MB Internet connection and the receiver has only a 56K modem. Also be careful if an attachment has been sent to you and you want to use the forward button to send it on to someone else. In some email clients this only sends the message and not the attachment. To overcome this open the attachment and save it on your hard disk, then ensure the file attachment is not open and finally attach the file to your email.

Please email support@ITCroydon.co.uk for questions or support on email issues.