IT Queries: Computer problems answered

Outlook Express will not send email with stationery. However, it does not give an error message and even moves the email to the Sent folder – but the recipient never gets it. I have even tried sending it to myself with the same result. I can see the stationery fine (no missing file), and if I remove it the email gets received. Any idea what’s wrong?

Outlook Express relies on the same computer language as web pages, this is called HTML. It sounds like Outlook Express is set to send in plain text rather than HTML.

To change this, open Outlook Express click Tools, Option and under the Send tab tick the HTML button under the Mail Sending Format section. Click okay and it should work fine.

Note that some people’s email systems are setup to strip out a lot of pictures and HTML features because they can spread viruses. It’s not unknown for virus and spam checkers to assume heavily formatted emails are also up to no good.

We recommend keeping emails simple partly for this reason, so don’t go too overboard on the graphics.

I can receive email through Outlook express but can’t send so I have to go through my server account which receives and sends. What is the problem please and how can get back sending through Outlook ?

Philip

Hi Philip,

This sounds like a firewall problem. The firewall has decided it doesn’t trust Outlook Express to send data so it blocks access to the net.

To resolve this, you’ll have to reset the firewall, tell it to trust your email provider or manually allow Outlook Express to send outbound data.

With the built in Windows firewall, you can allow this by clicking Start, Settings and opening the Control Panel. In there, you can go to Window Firewall.

In the Windows Firewall settings, click on the Exceptions tab, scroll down to Outlook Express and ensure it is ticked. In the advanced scope section ports 21 and 25 should be allowed from all Internet addresses.

If you are using a different firewall, you’ll have to check Outlook Express is listed as a trusted application. You should also add your Internet provider’s mail server as a trusted address.

Usually we find it’s easier to just reset the firewall and then put up with two days of being nagged when your computer tries to get anything off the network or Internet.

Troubleshooting these programs can be difficult as every one is different, if you do find yourself stuck then you should call for a tech to help out.

I was listening to your ABC program the other day, and you were helping someone who could not open Outlook Express. Now. lo and behold, I cannot either. The blue box “Outlook Express 6″ appears on the screen, then disappears to the small icon at the bottom of the page. When clicked, it just gets bigger then goes back into the bar, and Outlook Express will not open at all. Can you help me please?

This is an irritating little problem with a simple solution.

Open Outlook Express, on the taskbar across the bottom of the screen, right click on the Outlook Express box and the click “Maximize”. Outlook Express will then reappear.

There seems to be a bug in OE where some emails force it into minimising. Outlook Express then remembers these settings for subsequent restarts.

In Outlook Express, when I wish to highlight words in colour (HTML enabled) the colour no longer shows on my screen, but it does for the recipient.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

It sounds like the HTML settings in Outlook Express have a problem. To check this, open Outlook Express, click Tools then select Options.

In the Options box, click the Send tab and check the HTML button is selected as the mail format.

Another area that can cause problems is when you have stationery enabled. To check this, while in the Options choose Compose and take the ticks off the stationery options. You can edit any custom stationery later if this is the problem.

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.

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.

My outlook express will not open hypertext links.I have to copy and paste the links  to the address bar to view the linked page.

First you need to check that this is just Outlook Express, you might want to check that links work from other programs. If it is all other programs then it could be an errant firewall, security or pop-up blocking program at work.

If it is only affecting Outlook Express then it sounds like a problem with Internet Explorer. IE controls many of the functions in Outlook Express so the first possible fix is to open the Internet Explorer options, click “Advanced” and click the “Restore Defaults” button.

If that doesn’t work, then we’d recommend reinstalling your web browser. Click Start, Run and type “sfc /scannow“. You may be asked for a Windows disk.

Generally we recommend using an alternative to Internet Explorer for general web surfing. Our favorites are Firefox and Opera.

As a matter of course we’d also recommend checking for spyware and viruses. If the problem continues you should call your local computer guy to have a look at it.