IT Queries: Computer problems answered

We are receiving smutty emails from unknown sources. We have installed the optus spam filter, however we are getting emails send to our email address.
We are concerned that these emails may have a virus, we have been deleting from system upon reciept and we would like to know how to stop them. Do we need to obtain a new email address to stop this.

You are right to be concerned, but there is little you can do about it. Even if you change your email address, there is a reasonable chance the spammers will find it one way or another.

We’d suggest contacting Optus to see what they can do about tightening their spam filter. At your end you can install a further spam filter on your computer and setup email rules in your mail program to filter out mail not specifically addressed to you.

Unfortunately, spam is hazard for most computer users and once you are on the spammers lists it can be very difficult to get away from them.

IE cannot open my MSN Premium Mail now. I get this message: Windows cannot find “C:\Program Files\MSN\MSNCoreFiles\MSN.EXE”. Make sure you typed, etc.

Clicking on the MSN Installer [desktop] shortcut, I get a Runtime error.

The problem is the MSN.EXE file is not where the computer thinks it should be and your installer program is not working properly.

This sounds like an anti-virus or spyware detection program has identified MSN as being suspicious and has tried to remove it.

The first step is to download a new version of MSN. As a premium member you should be able to access http://membercenter.msn.com/. If you cannot access the site you’ll have to contact MSN Premium support for instructions.

Once you have downloaded it, disconnect from the Internet and disable your anti-virus software. The run the installer.

When the installer has finished, turn off the computer, reconnect the Internet and restart the system.

If the anti-virus or spyware program warns you about MSN.EXE then choose “allow” or “trust” or whichever the instruction is that tells the anti-virus program that MSN.EXE is trusted.

It may be that you have some spyware or a damaged hard drive. If that’s the case, you’ll have to contact your nearest computer tech.

The last two questions have asked about problems with email formats. We like to keep things simple and use plain text for emails. The problem with that is most people like some sort of formatting and, like Andrew in this query, may need advanced features.

Microsoft Outlook has a number a quirks in this respect and it’s best to turn them off to avoid problems with sending mail.

Open Outlook and click on Tools, then choose Options. In the email options box, choose Mail Format.

Under the Message Format heading, choose HTML in the box next to “Compose in this message format”.

Below that box, there will be tick boxes for using Word to edit email messages. Take the tick box off each box.

Save the changes and restart Outlook.

I have Windows XP Media Center Edition.
Am trying to type in Mandarin Chinese Characters.
Used \”Text Services and Input Languages Services\” pop-up under \”settings\” of \”language bar\” to install.
Chinese PRC Handwriting Recognition and Keyboard (Microsoft IME 3.0) are installed and typing in Chinese is possible, however, when it is sent as an e-mail, no character encoding recognises the characters typed.
In the past this was not a problem when I had IME under Windows ME operating system.

It sounds like formatting problem in your email program. If you are sending in plain text or Rich Text, it’s unlikely the characters will translate properly.

The solution is to send the email in HTML format. If you are using Microsoft Outlook it’s important also to turn off using Word as an email editor. We’ve found Word has a habit of slowing Outlook and mangling emails in this sort of situation.

I use the Blind Carbon Copy in Yahoo web mail to send Word documents to around 30 addressees. One of the recipients receives the attachment as a .dat extension (in lieu of a .doc file) and cannot open it. If I send the attachment as a one off to that person it is received as a .doc file and can be opened without problem.

The recipient’s son suggests I use Plain Text in lieu of Rich Text. The only reason I use Rich Text is because Yahoo generally defaults to it. I wouldn’t have thought that Rich Text would be the cause.

The problem is Rich Text and it’s a long standing issue. Emails created in Rich Text store their formatting information in the DAT file. Most email readers will read the DAT file and apply the formatting to the mail message.

Some email programs can’t handle the Rich Text format so just show the raw text in the body and the DAT file as a separate attachment.

The recipient’s son is quite right, the only way to overcome this problem is to turn off Rich Text. We find HTML is the best way to format email messages and we’d also recommend sending Microsoft Word attachments as a PDF file to overcome similar problems with Word.

When I try to open outlook express a box comes up which reads outlook express could not be started because MOSE.DLL could not be initialized

Are you sure the file is MOSE.DLL or MSOE.DLL?  We’ll work on the assumption it could be either.

The first step is to re-register these dll files.

Click Start, then Run and type regsvr32 msoe.dll.  Then click okay and a confirmation box should appear. Repeat this process for mose.dll.

Reboot your computer.

You might find the Outlook Express files are damaged. If this is the case, refer to our fixing Windows installation files tip.

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.

I have some emails that I saved and now want to read but when I click on them the wrong program opens and all I see is gobbledygook. How do I get my email program to open them?

What’s happened is your computer is associating the wrong program with the files. When Windows tries to open a file, it looks for three letters at the end of the file which are known the file extension.

Windows keeps a list of programs that open with each file extension. For instance, Microsoft Word documents open with doc while Notepad opens files with the txt extension.

For Outlook, the message are saved with an .msg extension, Outlook Express uses .eml

On your computer, the wrong program is associated with one of those file extensions. To change it do the following.

Right-click on one of the files that won’t open, a menu will appear and select “Open With“. Select “choose program” then find the program you want to use for this type of file, tick the box that says “always use this program to open files of this kind of file” and click “Okay”.

If the program isn’t listed, you’ll have to click “browse” and search the hard drive for the program you want. Most programs are kept in the c:\Program Files folder.

Losing file associations is a nuisance and this is why it’s important to read all messages and notes when installing new software or making changes to your computer.

I use MSN Mail and I’m worried about backing up my email files

Your MSN Mail is hidden away deep in the program settings. To find it, click on start and then either run (Windows XP) or Search (Windows Vista) and type the following:

C:\Documents and Settings\

You’ll get a list of users on the computer. One of those will be your profile name. If you aren’t sure which one it is then note all of them.

Again, click run or search and type. “your_user_name” will be what you found in the previous step. If you aren’t sure which one it was, use each one until it works.

C:\Documents and Settings\your_user_name\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\MSN\

When it does work, you’ll see a folder called “DB” which contains your email. Copy it to a flash drive, removable hard drive or anther computer.

When I start my MSN Premium email, it starts and then just hangs with the butterfly flapping its wings.

We’ve also encountered this when sending and receiving email in MSN. It appears to be a problem with the upgrade to version 9.5.

To fix this, you need to download a patch that repairs the problem.

Go the following website in MSN, if you can’t open MSN then use Internet Explorer.

http://autoupdate.msn.com/fix95upgrade.hta

Click on the box that says “Click here to fix MSN 9.5 Upgrade Issue”.

You might receive a security message asking you if you want to allow this program to run. Click Yes or Ok as the case may be.

You will receive a message informing you that the problem has been fixed.

Restart the computer.