IT Queries: Computer problems answered

Many thanks for answering my previous questions June 12th.  One answer didn’t help at all so perhaps I will reword the question.  When I open Outlook express it opens in a full screen. However when I open individual emails they open in a very small screen 2″ x 2″.  How can I make them open full screen at a default?  I know that I can make them full screen by using the square BUT I want to avoid doing this for every email.  Even if I go down the list the second and third one go back to the small size. I would just like to praise Bordernet ever since  I changed  from Bigpond I haven’t hadone spam! -Helen  Good to hear Bordernet have worked for you. It’s probably more a function of changing email addresses than anything else.In respect to your Outlook Express problem, the answer is you can’t. The best you can do is follow our instructions from the earlier tip and make the message as big as possible.

Windows Mail is printing in a much smaller font than the original and different font sizes (such as on a letterhead with a large name, small address etc) are not being picked up at all. How can I fix this?

Fonts in Windows Mail are a bit of a problem, like Outlook Express it uses Internet Explorer to handle tasks like font sizing and printing. So there’s two potential programs causing the problem.

First, change the font sizes in Windows Mail. In Windows Mail, select tools, options, click the fonts button and select the medium option under Font size. Click OK to to exit and restart Windows Mail.

If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to change the settings in Internet Explorer. Open IE and press the ALT key then click View, Text Size and click medium.

Also since my computer crashed when opening an e-mail in Outlook Express it opens to a small screen size instead of full size. Is it possible to set the default to full screen?

It certainly is. Open Outlook Express then resize the screen while holding down the Ctrl key. Close it and reopen and that will fix the problem.

My Internet provider has told me my mail box is full and messages will be rejected. How do I fix this?

The problem is your email program is set to save the emails on the Internet provider’s server. Over time, the mailbox fills up and the ISP rejects all new messages.

To clear it, you have to change your email settings. In Outlook, Outlook Express and Windows Mail click Tools, E-Mail Accounts, in Outlook select View or Change Existing Mail accounts while in Outlook Express and Windows Mail select the Mail tab.

You’ll now have a list of your email accounts, select the account you want to share and click Change, then click More Settings and then the More Settings.

In the Internet email settings box, click the Advanced tab. Under the delivery heading take the tick off the box that reads Leave a copy of messages on the server if you don’t want to share your email with another computer.

If you do want to share it leave the tick on and in section that reads Remove from server after xx days reduce the number of days. Also tick the box that reads Remove from server when deleted from deleted items.

You’ll need to watch the email account closely to see how many days is best for you. If the problem is because you receive massive emails then you’ll need to either tell your correspondents to reduce the size of their emails or get an Internet provider with larger email storage.

If the server fills up, your emails will be returned to sender with an error message. If this happens, drop the number of days the server keeps your email.

My wife and I have our own computers but we only have one email address. How do we set up our system so we can both receive the same emails? Currently, if one computer gets the email the other won’t. We’re both using Outlook Express on Windows XP.

You can set the computer to leave email on your ISPs server. To do this, open Outlook, Outlook Express or Windows Mail.

Click Tools, E-Mail Accounts, in Outlook select View or Change Existing Mail accounts while in Outlook Express and Windows Mail select the Mail tab.

You’ll now have a list of your email accounts, select the account you want to share and click Change, then click More Settings and then the More Settings.

In the Internet email settings box, click the Advanced tab. Under the delivery heading click the box that reads Leave a copy of messages on the server. Below that, tick the box that reads Remove from server after xx days because you don’t want the server to fill up.

If the server fills up, your emails will be returned to sender with an error message. If this happens, drop the number of days the server keeps your email.

I would like to use windows mail , and have a yahoo email address. It was working but somehow I’ve messed it up . I now read all mail on the Yahoo server, but would like it to download to MS Mail.

The reason for it stopping is Yahoo! Mail has been through some changes in the way it handles POP (Post Office Protocol) mail which Outlook Express and Windows Mail use.

To enable it, go into your Yahoo! mail folder and click Options on the top right hand corner of the screen.

Select POP Access and Forwarding and click the button next to I want to receive all messages, including those that SpamGuard thinks are spam.

You’ll need then to run the account setup wizard in Windows Mail, fill in your own details and enter pop.mail.yahoo.com.au as your incoming mail server and  smtp.mail.yahoo.com.au as your outgoing mail server.

While in the Options page you can export your Yahoo! address book by clicking  Address book then Import/Export then choose to export your addresses as a Comma Separated Value (CSV).

You can then import the addresses into your Windows Mail.

I have four messages in my outbox. One of them won’t display because an error message appears saying low memory or low disk drive. Because of this error message, it won’t send any of these four messages.

The first thing to check is you have enough hard drive space. If the drive is full then the computer will choke. We’ve covered freeing up space on your hard drive previously.

If you do have enough hard drive space then one of those outgoing emails is damaged and it’s blocking the others from leaving.

To fix it, turn off the auto-preview screen by clicking View and then Autoview in Outlook. If you are using Outlook Express or Windows Mail click View, Layout and take the tick off the Show Preview Pane box.

Once you’ve done that, go into your Outbox folder and drag all four of the emails into your drafts folder. Delete any you don’t need to send then open the ones you do want to resend and click the resend button.

I have outlook express 6. When I open outlook express I cannot receive messages in the inbox. It comes up saying that an unknown error has occurred. Account:’mail.optusnet.com.au’,
Protocol:POP3,Port:110,Secure

(SSL):No,ErrorNumber:0x800C0131
(I don’t understand any of that!)
It then says i folder could not be displayed
Outlook Express could not open this folder
Possible causes are:
*low disk space
*low memory

I have 260 emails but I can’t open them in outlook express.
Can you please help me?

You have two separate problems. The first error is Outlook Express telling you it can’t connect to Optus and collect your email. You’ll have to check your firewall and Internet connection.

The second problem is more serious. This indicates the folder is damaged or your hard drive is full.

The fix for this is somewhat complex, if you have a basic understanding of computers, we’d recommend contacting a computer tech to assist you.

First you need to clean up your hard drive. We recommend the free Cleanup! tool, but make sure you’ve backed up your important data before using it.

Once you’ve cleaned up your computer, check to see if the problem has gone away. If it hasn’t, then the problem is a corrupted Outlook Express folder.

The simplest way to fix this problem is to download Mozilla Thunderbird and import the mailboxes from Outlook Express. The import process often overcomes smaller corruption problems.

A longer way is to create a new folder in Outook Express by clicking the Local Folders icon on the left then from the menu at the top of the screen select File, Folder and New. Name the new folder BadInbox.

Now we need to find where Outlook Express has saved your data. Click the Tools menu and select Options. In the options box click Maintenance and Store Folder.

The store folder is where Outlook Express keeps the email folders. Copy the location shown, be aware that the address probably scrolls across to the right as it doesn’t fit in the box.

Shut down Outlook Express, then click Start, Run and type or paste the store folder location in the Run box. Click Okay and the store folder will open.

Rename the BadInbox file to OldInbox and rename the Inbox file to BadInbox.

Restart Outlook Express, the Inbox will re-create itself without the old emails and hopefully the BadInbox on the right will now contain all your old emails.

I want to configure Outlook Express what are the steps I have to follow?

First you will need your Internet provider’s mail server settings, your email address, user name and password. If you don’t know these, you will have to call your provider.

To set up your mail accounts, open Outlook Express, click the Tools menu and select Accounts.

In the Accounts, click Add then click Mail. The Internet Connection Wizard will start.

The first box is the Your Name box, type the name you’d like to appear on your emails when they are received. Generally we recommend using your full name and perhaps add your business name as well (eg; Paul Wallbank, PC Rescue).

In the next screen, type your email address. This should be exactly how your ISP described it. A mistake will mean replies and returned emails won’t get to you and it may upset spam filters.

The next screen is the email server settings. Type your outgoing and incoming mail server addresses in the boxes. Normally the POP3 setting should be set as the server type.

In the final box you’ll be asked for your Account Name and password. Enter your user name into the first box and the password into the second. Tick the box “remember password” unless you want to be nagged about it every time you check your mail.

That’s it! Send a few emails to friends or relatives and see if they are returned. If they are, you are up and running.

My previous computer was using Windows XP Pro. I used Outlook for my e-mail program. Many times I saved e-mails in the Outlook format – .msg I bought a new computer that now is Windows Vista and the Windows Mail is .eml format. I am unable to open any of my old saved messages of the .msg format. If I try, it opens a box asking me which file format I want to import contacts from, which makes no sense to me. Is there any way to open these .msg messages in Windows Vista? I am a bit frustrated that this hasn’t been a “uniform” type updated system. Thank you for your help.

You are quite right to be frustrated, Microsoft really dropped the ball with having different file formats for Outlook and Outlook Express/Windows Mail. It’s another example of how pointless the name “Outlook Express” was for Windows Mail was when the two programs have nothing in common.

All of that aside, there are tools that allow you to open .msg messages, but the simplest solution is to download the Office 2007 Trial Edition then use Outlook to open the files and then save them in .txt format where they can be read by almost any program.