Outlook Express HELP

[Leetahkin]

Okay, my outlook express stopped working. Since July 30th, I have been unable to retrieve my emails through it.

My service provider is Charter Communications. I contacted their support center - Under tools, options, they had me delete the account. Then add it back on and try to send/receive. Nothing. It times out after 60 seconds.

They then had me ping the pop and smtp, everything talked fine.

So... I call Microsoft. They want to charge me $35 for assistance. !#$!#$@$

I called Emachines, my warranty with them expired, but they don't even handle software issues - referred me to Microsoft again.

Or Best Buy. I call them, I have a warranty with them for a little under a year yet. But it's usually for hardware issues. The lady on the phone said I could bring my computer in, and they could look at my settings for free to see if something got accidentally changed.

Can anyone think of any other options for me? Best Buy closes in 2 hours, so if I want to disconnect my system take it in to be looked at, I'd have to soon.

:compcrash:

[Apotheosis]

if you take screenshots of your settings, then it might be easier for some of us to figure out what's wrong.

usually it's a POP server (for incoming) and an SMTP for outgoing.

try making sure all the passwords are set in properly. Re-install the software if all else fails, and make sure you plug the settings back in.

Now, if you can SEND mail, then everything's fine, Something's wrong with the incoming/pop settings.

[Leetahkin]

I can't send or receive.

I'll look at the settings again...

[Ravenstorm]

Originally posted by Nobody Cares
Can anyone think of any other options for me?

Yes. Download Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/) and set it up. I don't use it myself but it's a free DL and to hell with spending $35 bucks.

Raven

[Apotheosis]

well, if you can connect to the internet, you can get your pop/smtp connections going, it could just be a settings issue.

(otherwise, it could be a router/firewall issue, although I am not 100% sure on that)

[Sylvan Dreams]

I've had this problem before and it turned out to be a conflict with Norton Antivirus. What ended up working for me was shutting off Norton's, deleting the accounts in Outlook, recreating the accounts and rerun Nortons.

If you're using another brand of firewall/antivirus, try the same with whatever brand you're using.

[Back]

Originally posted by Nobody Cares
Okay, my outlook express stopped working. Since July 30th, I have been unable to retrieve my emails through it.

My service provider is Charter Communications. I contacted their support center - Under tools, options, they had me delete the account. Then add it back on and try to send/receive. Nothing. It times out after 60 seconds.

They then had me ping the pop and smtp, everything talked fine.

So... I call Microsoft. They want to charge me $35 for assistance. !#$!#$@$

I called Emachines, my warranty with them expired, but they don't even handle software issues - referred me to Microsoft again.

Or Best Buy. I call them, I have a warranty with them for a little under a year yet. But it's usually for hardware issues. The lady on the phone said I could bring my computer in, and they could look at my settings for free to see if something got accidentally changed.

Can anyone think of any other options for me? Best Buy closes in 2 hours, so if I want to disconnect my system take it in to be looked at, I'd have to soon.

:compcrash:

Its not your service provider, its Outlook. It tends to eat up your HD if you don’t delete often. But they built in a way to make it much more manageable. A really intuitive way.

Hold down the alt key when you start it up next. You’ll get an option to compress the data file. Click it.

[Leetahkin]

I held down the alt key and double clicked the outlook express icon, it brought up properties but did not open the program. Didn't ask me to compress files.

I have a ton of hd space on my computer.

I briefly used Eudora at one time. I may check that out again or Thunderbird.

My service provider had me disable Norton, delete the account, and put it back on. It didn't work.

Only far fetched thought would be a recent Norton update gave my outlook a cold. :shrug:

[Back]

I sympathize. Microsoft sucks. :(

[HarmNone]

I can't even begin to help you, hon. I don't use Outlook Express. I wouldn't touch that dinosaur with a ten-foot pole. :barf:

[Skirmisher]

Gmail is your friend.

[Leetahkin]

I love the ease of it, which is why I was with Eudora for such a short time. I couldn't stay away from Outlook.

Guess it's time for a change again!

[Latrinsorm]

Originally posted by Nobody Cares
I held down the alt key and double clicked the outlook express icon, it brought up properties but did not open the program. Didn't ask me to compress files. I think Backlash means you start it up normally, then when it starts loading hold down alt.

[Back]

Originally posted by Latrinsorm

Originally posted by Nobody Cares
I held down the alt key and double clicked the outlook express icon, it brought up properties but did not open the program. Didn't ask me to compress files. I think Backlash means you start it up normally, then when it starts loading hold down alt.

Bummer. Thats what we have to do on the Mac side of things.

[Leetahkin]

Well shit. I don't know what's going on.

I downloaded Eudora, and can't retreive my email through it!

/insert me pulling out my hair

[Drezzt]

You can't retrieve, but you don't give an error.
IM me at simumonkey and I'll see if I can help.
I used to do this for a living :)

[Warriorbird]

Don't use Outlook Express. Ever.

[Leetahkin]

Originally posted by Warriorbird
Don't use Outlook Express. Ever.

Dude, I couldn't even retrieve using Eudora.

Drezzt helped! Woot!

It was Norton, the bastard.

[Drezzt]

Originally posted by Skirmisher
Gmail is your friend.

Skirmisher, I mean no disrespect, but google mail really scares me. Do you know they withold the right to use any information they have in any way they see fit? Currently it's ads. But just how targeted do you want those ads to be?
And what's next?

Also, they reserve the right to keep that information indefinitely.

I love their search engine, but having them have full access to my email is somewhat...creepy.

No, no, I don't recommend gmail at all.

[Warriorbird]

For things that you don't want secure, it is great.

[Skirmisher]

I guess thats always a possibility.

But I never assume that anything I send by email is completely private.

[Warriorbird]

Yeah. That's a bad assumption. Using something with security as bad as Outlook Express would be even worse, I imagine.

[Edited on 8-6-2005 by Warriorbird]

[Drew2]

Rofl. This reminds me of stuff I ran into working for yahoo.


Caller: I can receive e-mails, but I can't send any.

(I go through their settings, test them myself, they work fine on my end)

Me: Since it's working on my end, I'm quite certain your ISP is blocking third party SMTP servers. It's quite common. Just change your SMTP server to the one they provide for you and you'll be able to send mail.

Caller: But I have SBC/Yahoo! DSL...

Me: Yes. Change it to the SMTP server that they list on their website. Or you can call them at 1-800-555-4DSL (Or something).

Caller: But isn't this SBC/Yahoo?

Me: Yes, but this is Yahoo Small business webhosting.

Caller: But it's Yahoo.

Me: Yes. Webhosting. We have no connection to the DSL.

Caller: WELL THAT'S JUST RIDICULOUS. I PAY XXXX A MONTH FOR DSL AND WEBHOSTING AND YOU GUYS TELL ME THE COMPANY WITH THE SAME NAME DOESN'T DO THE SAME WORK BLAHB LAHB LAHB LAHBLAKHSD;LFKJA

At that point, my finger "accidently" hits the "release call" button.
Oops!

[HarmNone]

I think I'd probably be fired in less than a week for breaking too many telephones, Tayre. :lol:

[Messiah]

Oh Just Give It Up. You Heard It Here. Microsoft Sucks Ass.

[Gan]

Wow, I hope you get your mail issues resolved. I would think that deleting the old account as listed in OE then making a new one with the correct logon and correct pop3 incoming server address would fix your issues of not receiving any. The suggestion of making sure your antivirus software wasnt quaranteening all your mail is also a good tip, as they can act a little too aggressive when things start to go screwey.

I've been using OE for personal email and Outlook for work email for a little over 10 years now and I've never had any major issues. And to see the sentiment here that OE sucks, is prone to security attacks, and is mechanically unstable is not represented by me, therefore I must chime in. I guess I'm just lucky.

In fact, the only thing I dont care for about OE is the non-user friendly method of moving all my old email files from one system to another when I upgrade hardware. Everything else about OE I consider the standard for email generation and transmission.

[Edited on 8-6-2005 by Ganalon]

[Apotheosis]

my mac osx mail client r0x

[Drezzt]

Originally posted by Skirmisher
I guess thats always a possibility.

But I never assume that anything I send by email is completely private.

Send your emails encrypted and signed on your own servers for just 1 month and you'll feel much different, I guarantee.

[Edited on 8-6-2005 by Drezzt]

[Skirmisher]

Originally posted by Drezzt

Send your emails encrypted and signed on your own servers for just 1 month and you'll feel much different, I guarantee.

[Edited on 8-6-2005 by Drezzt]

Well it is good to know that if I ever really feel the need that it is possible I guess.

Thanks for the informatin.

[Sylvan Dreams]

Originally posted by Nobody Cares
Only far fetched thought would be a recent Norton update gave my outlook a cold. :shrug:

It's actually not far fetched a thought. I use Outlook Express and Norton's and sometimes run into the same problem.

Try and see if you can get a screen shot of the actual error message that you're getting. Is it timing out only? It might give you an error number. If you can get me that number I might be able to figure it out.

Another thing to try would be to check and see if there are any office updates (I think outlook express is considered part of office).

If you feel up to messing with Outlook more, go under Tools, Accounts, and double click on your account. What usually works for me is when I go to the section that reads Outgoing Mail Server and set the option that says "Use same settings as my incoming mail server". Under Advanced, also check to see if "This server requires a secure connection SSL" is checked or unchecked and whatever it is, set it the opposite (check it if it's not checked and vice versa). You should have two options for that, incoming and outgoing. Also under the Servers tab, check to be sure your incoming and outgoing mail servers are correct.

It's definitely Norton's causing the problem. Sometimes my "default" account in Outlook will work and the others won't until I start messing with it.

A quick fix is to go into Norton Antivirus and DISABLE email scanning. To do that, you need to open Norton Antivirus and go under options. In the email section, UNCHECK the scan incoming and outgoing email boxes, shutdown Outlook and try again.

[Leetahkin]

SD - Drezzt helped me through the problem last night. It was in fact Norton messing things up. As soon as it was disabled, I opened Outlook. And my emails started being retrieved.

I uninstalled Norton, and reinstalled. So far so good :)