AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Chat Area Computer (software) assistance sought

If anyone is expert with Outlook Express I have a question for you.

For a month or so my computer (which runs under XP) was away for repair, and I borrowed another machine that uses Vista. As I intended going back to my own computer I didn't want to transfer all my mail to Microsoft Mail so I simply used webmail (Gmail). A lot less convenient as unlike eg. Yahoo Mail there is no provision for folders and sorting.

When I got my computer back I tried to download all the webmail that had accumulated, but find that the mail for the period when I was using webmail does not download. Mail still on the web from when I was running OE does download. I have tried repeatedly, but with the same result each time. "Experts" I have consulted can't offer any insight or solution.

If anybody has experience of this problem I should be extremely grateful for some advice.

since this has come up,, can i ask for help as well?
i can't help you peter, sorry.
my outlook express is stuck on French for spell check. the drop down menu has no other options??

plus,, where do i find my 'open with' choices? i want photo attachments to open with a certain program and i can't find that button??
windows xp home sp2

thanks as well!!

Barn - several suggestions:-

1) There is now an XP SP3. I recommend you update to it - it has some important stuff in it.

2) I believe OE spell check (which I don't use) gets its language and region information from whatever has been set for the computer, and it can't be set/changed locally. Go to Control Panel, Regional Settings to see what that shows. I generally set mine to USA, not Belize, as some web sites assume that anywhere in Central America is Spanish speaking and display in that language.

3) To set/change the default program used for particular files, open Windows Explorer, select Tools, then Folder Options. Then choose tab File Types. Scroll down until you see the file extension you want to set/change and select it (single click). In the rectangle below, the program that opens it will appear. If you want to change that then select Change. If the program you want to use doesn't appear in either of the upper or lower lists, you'll need to use Browse to find the program file.

From now on it gets more complicated. If you get to this stage and can't work out how to proceed then write again, saying what program you want to use and for what extension, and I'll find the program for you.

not sure on XP, but in Vista - "tools" "options" "spelling" tab, bottom option is "dictionary". 'english' should be an option there.

I recommend you download and use Mozilla Firefox. It is much easier to use and understand to me.

Barn is talking about Outlook Express, the email client, not Internet Explorer. Although I agree with your recommendation to use Firefox (or really ANYTHING other than IE) that's not the point at issue. Note incidentally that many updates to Windows and other Microsoft products can ONLY be made in Internet Explorer. Note also that there are browser alternatives to Firefox that share its advantages, the main one being of course that it's not made by Microsoft.

Incidentally, for anyone who feels trapped into using MS Office, there are better and free products available. OpenOffice is the obvious one, but the new version of IBM's Lotus Symphony is also powerful and user-friendly, and free. Both have the significant advantage over MS Office that they can write PDF files.

SJ - what software package are you thinking of? What you are saying sounds like MS Office - it's certainly not native Vista. Outlook Express doesn't run under Vista, nor does MS Mail run under XP.

not thinking - yes, MS office outlook. didnt realize Barn said Outlook EXPRESS. sorry.

OK,, my region only has one choice as well,, US?
and in explorer, file type,, i never see anything mentioned about OE?
and where do i update to sp3?
allready use firefox and flock, and open office,,
by the way,, flock has a photo contest going right now and the winners photos will be displayed on flocks main page!

Outlook is a product bundled with MS Office, and I believe (not sure) it continues under current Vista versions of Windows. I dislike it and don't use it.

Outlook Express and MS Mail are part of their respective versions of Windows, and whilst they look superficially similar they are quite different under the skin. The database engines they use are incompatible with each other, though I haven't so far been able to discern a good reason for the change - more change for its own sake to make the product look fresher, I think.

MS Mail has some new features OE didn't have, but they could have been introduced under the old technology, they just weren't.

Actually, while writing this I've just had an idea that MAY solve my problem. Dabunk gave me the idea - thanks! Instead of trying to download my webmail into OE I think I'll try putting it into Thunderbird, the Mozilla version of OE. If that works then I'll also transfer my existing very large OE email database there as well. When I tried Thunderbird several years ago I didn't like it as much as OE so didn't make the change, but going there now makes an enormous amount of sense - it runs under both XP and Vista, so that's one compatibility problem between the two systems that will have gone away.

And when I find that the only new computer I can buy has Vista and it's not possible to retrofit XP, Thunderbird also runs under Linux. Because I've had to use Vista for a couple of months and I'm now pretty familiar with it, and if anything I hate it even more than I did before! Just the odd feature I prefer to XP, such as some detailed aspects of File Manager/Windows Explorer, though they in no way compensate for the many features I dislike, the abysmal performance, and the constant spying and reporting back to MS that I know is happening.

I don't believe your machine is tied to the US, though remotely I can't figure out where you're going wrong.

To update to SP3, open Internet Explorer (not Firefox or any other browser) and search for Microsoft Update http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/thanks.aspx?ln=en&&thankspage=5 .

You'll almost certainly need to install some other small programs to facilitate this process - the computer will offer to do this automatically and just OK it all - it's all safe. I think you'll then find SP3 to be a High Priority update. It's generally a good idea to install ALL updates this process reveals, both High and Low Priority, and to check back to this website at least once a month. You can set your computer so that it will install High Priority updates automatically, but that won't install Low Priority ones. You'll probably find you need to install the updates you find in several different goes. Once you think you've installed everything do another search, as some updates only appear once certain others have been installed. Keep going until there are no more - it can take hours! But once you're up-to-date maintaining that status is much easier.

If you can't see Internet Explorer or Outlook Express then they may not have been installed. Go to Control Panel and ensure you are looking at the Classic View. Then select the third option, Add or Remove Programs, and wait for it to load. Then select Add/Remove Windows Components from the buttons on the left and wait for that to load. Go down the list, selecting each item in turn to get to next lower menu level, and ensure Internet Explorer and Outlook Express are selected. There are other useful things there that often aren't selected by default, but that's another story. When you OK everything there's a good chance your computer will require your Windows CD, so don't even bother to do any of this until you have it with you.

In the menu options of Windows Explorer that I described you won't see any reference to Outlook Express as there aren't any files designed to open with it (other than its own database). What are you trying to say?