IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I use Outlook for my e-mail as well as the Calendar which is linked to my smartphone which is using Mobile 6 software.

Does Mozilla support my calendar function or is there a way of linking these if I change?

Unfortunately Sunbird, the calendar function for Mozilla, is still under development and we’re reluctant to recommend beta software.

The next version of Thunderbird will include calendar support, but we wouldn’t be too optimistic about getting it to work with the Windows Mobile ActiveSync.

For the present we’d recommend sticking with Outlook.

Over the past week or two every time I send a single e-mail using Outlook the bottom right side of my screen shows 1 of 2 messages being sent even though there is only 1 e-mail in my Outbox.

Can you advise me on what to check for? I do use Adaware, Spybot, Windows Defender & AVG.

The problem lies in your Outbox. You’ve created an email that wants to use your mobile email settings rather than the one you use at home or office. Your work or home email server is refusing to send it because the settings are incorrect.

Open the Outbox and you will see the email. Drag it to the drafts folder.

You might get a message saying Outlook is sending the message. If that happens, cancel the Send/Receive and then try again.

If you still want to send the message, open it and click on the Accounts tab in the top left hand corner. Make sure the correct email account is selected. Once it is, click send.

I have recently changed to broadband from a dialup connection and each time I go into Outlook (2007) it tries to connect using my old dialup connection instead of the new broadband connection. I have removed all the links to the dialup connection as far as I can see, but still the problem persists. I am using Vista home premium and Outlook 2007

The problem is in Outlook. It thinks the dial up setting is still there and tries to connect through it.

To fix this, click on the Tools menu and choose email settings. Select your email account and choose view or change existing settings, if you have more than one email account you’ll have to do this for each one.

Once in the the change account screen, click the More Settings button and then the Connections Tab. You’ll find the rogue dial up connection sitting there.

If you are connecting over broadband, then choose the Connect using my local area network.

I have Outlook 2003 which I’ve just installed on my new Vista computer. I’m finding doing anything in Outlook is incredibly slow

The problem is due to the indexing service. Vista automatically includes the Outlook folders in the list of locations the system monitors and this process slows Outlook down dramatically.

To disable it, open Outlook then click Tools, Options, Preferences and Search Options and take off all the ticks in the “index messages in these data files” box.

You can also disable the Indexing Service features by clicking the Start button, Control Panel and System and Maintenance.

Click on Indexing Options and click on the Modify button, and then untick the boxes Outlook folders under the “Change selected locations” box.

You may also want to take the ticks off everything except the Start Menu box as we’ve found that can speed up the computer as well.

I have Microsoft Outlook

Will be grateful for any assistance

There’s three things it can be. The first is you have the same account set up twice. Open Outlook, click Tools, Options and Email accounts.

In the email accounts, click View or Change my existing email accounts. You’ll now have a list of the email accounts Outlook is checking. Remove any duplicates.

If there is only one account then the current Outlook setup is damaged. Delete the account, reboot the computer and then return to the Outlook email accounts and recreate the account.

Should that fail, it may be a firewall problem that isn’t allowing Outlook to confirm the messages have been received. Check your firewall has allowed Outlook full access to the Internet.

I’m finding I can’t open Outlook eml files. This seemed to start after I installed Google Desktop Search

The current version of the Google Desktop Search has a function that indexes the content of eml files. The problem is some people find they can’t open eml files as a consequence.

To fix this, you can disable the Google Outlook Add-In. Open Outlook, click the Tools menu and select Options. In the Options click Other.

In the Other box, click the Advanced Options button and then Add-in Manager button that appears towards the bottom of the box. Take the tick off the Google Desktop Search Outlook Addin. Click Apply and exit out of the boxes.

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.

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.

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 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.