IT Queries: Computer problems answered

Hi. I moved from Optus broadband to Iprimus broadband. Every time I want to send an email on a site I still get the Optus verson of Outlook Express which of course doesn’t work.

How can I get the screen to go to Iprimus email, please?

I have tried looking up the instructions on the web, but I never seem to have the right boxes needed to activate things.

I am a novice in all this and would really appreciate your (very simple) instructions.

Kind regards.
Sylvia.

Hi Sylvia,

There’s a couple points here. First, across the top of your Outlook Express screen you’ll see the Optus name and possibly their logo. Ignore these as they are only for decoration and don’t affect your email.

To receive your email, you’ll need to change your mail server settings. A mail server is a like a post box. Your email gets delivered to that post box and Outlook Express collects the mail from there.

Currently Outlook Express is going to the old Optus mail box. You have to tell it where the new iPrimus mail box is.

This is something you’ll need to ask the ISP. From Primus’ website their settings are pop.iprimus.com.au for the incoming mail and smtp.iprimus.com.au for sending mail.

The Internet is a dangerous neighbourhood so your Internet Service Provider protects your mailbox with a lock and key, known as a username and password. You’ll need those to get the contents of your mailbox.

Finally, you need your email address. This the address people need to send you email. Just like your street address, no-one can send you mail if they don’t know your address.

Once you have those four settings, you’ll need to enter them into your Outlook Express.

Open Outlook Express, click the Tools menu and click Accounts and then click the Mail tab.

Under mail, highlight the account that’s currently there, this is the old Optus account and press the Remove button. This gets rid of the old account.

Next, click the Add button, click Mail and the setup wizard for a new email account will start.

The first question will be your Display Name. This is the name at will appear on your emails, this is NOT your email address. Use the name people know you by.

Click Next and you will be asked for your email address, make sure you enter this correctly or people will send replies to the wrong address.

After you click Next again, you’ll be asked for the mail server accounts; the account type is POP, the incoming mail server is pop.iprimus.com.au and the outgoing is smtp.iprimus.com.au.

Once again click Next and you’ll be asked for your username and password. Make sure your username is correct, for Iprimus it’s the email address but for other providers it might just be the part before the @ symbol.

Then click Finish.

That’s it, done! If you’ve made a mistake you’ll get an error message. We’ll look at what Outlook Express error messages mean in another ITQueries post.

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