Remember to take out the trash!

If you really like saving all of your email, you might seriously consider getting a Gmail account. With today’s emails sometimes weighing in at 5 megabytes and more, email programs (Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, etc) can get extremely sluggish. Sluggish performance eventually leads to corrupt data which means you lose all your email. You can take steps to avoid this, however, by following a few simple email...

Using your backups

This weekend, an emailer asked the question of how to use the backups that we describe on our site. An excellent question I’m sure others have had as well. Over the years, I laid out step-by-step methods for backing up your email address book, favorites/bookmarks, and even your email. To use these backups, simply use the “Import” function to bring them back into a new installation of a program or even a...

Backup Your Email Address Book – Video Tip

You can back up your address book very simply to a floppy disk or USB Flash drive and the heartache it has the potential to prevent far outweighs the thirty seconds it takes to complete the task. Follow these steps depending on the program you use: Outlook Express Windows Mail Users Insert USB Flash Drive Start Outlook Express Click the Address Book icon from the toolbar. Click File –> Export –> Other...

Delete your email twice

No, I’m not so obsessive-compulsive that I do things twice. What I’m referring to in the title of today’s Shotgun/Email Tip is that almost all email programs require you to delete your email twice. Whether you use Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Thunderbird, AOL, Yahoo, Gmail, or any of the myriad of other email services, when you delete your email, the email isn’t gone. Deleted email ends up...

Internet Explorer prints only HTML

Today I ran into a problem that I hadn’t seen before. A customer’s MSN and Internet Explorer browser (including MSN email and web mail) would only print the HTML coding of a web page or email. HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language and is the programming that is used to present web pages to us and the coding behind text color, bold, etc. in email. We had cleaned some spyware from this users computer earlier...

Outlook Express Spell Check – pardon my fren...

Many people are installing Office 2007 and then discovering that their spell check for Outlook Express is set for French. This is fine if you are writing emails in French, but most of us aren’t. Microsoft is aware of the problem and their solution is the upgrade to Windows Vista. Our solution is do download and install this free spell check program. Another less than elegant solution is to: Close all...

Mission Accomplished

As I wrote about on Friday, this was a busy work weekend for me. I think three of the computers I worked on offer an interesting comparison in operating systems. One laptop was a brand new HP with 2 GB of RAM and Windows Vista, but the owner wanted me to install Windows XP and take off Windows Vista. He uses it primarily for traveling and downloading his digital photos while traveling and just didn’t like the lack...

The mysterious expanding Outlook Express book!

I received an email this week from someone who had a mysterious address book problem. Their Outlook Express address book had tons of email address for people they didn’t know. Pretty scary. If you are an Outlook Express user, you may want to take a look at your own address book, it is likely happening to you too. There are two possible explanations for this. 1. Address book Gnomes. These weird little bearded men with...

Set a startup password for Microsoft Outlook

Some computer users who work in an office or on a PC with other roomates or kids would like to password protect their email, calendar, contacts, etc in Microsoft Outlook. Until today, I didn’t know how to do that. As you know, when I learn something new, I pass it on to you. Remember, this tip is for OUTLOOK users NOT Outlook Express users: Start Microsoft Outlook RIGHT Click the Outlook Today icon on the left or the...

Woo Hoo…new feature in Microsoft Office 2007...

I ran into a strange problem today with a client using Windows XP and Outlook Express. They had to install a new copy of Office 2007 because they lost their certificate of authenticity for their old copy (don't lose those folks). Subsequently, their spell checker in Outlook Express now only uses the French dictionary. Thanks Microsoft!! Once again, fabulous upgrade to the "new" Office 2007. After some...

Is this a test?

Today I had an appointment that spanned almost every area of what I do on a daily basis. The appointment lasted roughly three hours. In that time I… Helped setup a new iMac. She is making the switch from Windows and wanted some of the features that she was used to in her PC. I set her computer to ask for her password whenever it was turned on or came out of sleep mode so her kids couldn't get online without her...

A Faster computer does not equal faster Internet

Just as Rick mentioned that people often expect the computer to run faster once they have faster Internet, the opposite is also expected. Often people on dial-up or slower DSL ask me once they have a new computer whether their email will go faster or their websites will load quickly. Typically the difference between a new computer and a Windows 98 machine with sufficient RAM will be barely noticeable. It may take longer for...

Sorting the Mail – Video Tip

Wouldn't it be nice if you could sort your email by the date it was received or by the name of the sender? If you use Microsoft Outlook Express (or Outlook), Mozilla Thurnderbird, or most other email systems), you can quickly sort all of your mail. AOL finally added this feature for its members just last year. As an added bonus, this tip will work with any computer or operating system.   To sort the mail: Click ONE...

Dial-up users: Are you tired of waiting for email ...

I have been utilizing this tip much more lately as dial-up users get pummeled with email containing pictures that haven't been resized and an endless parade of forward spam with large attachments from friends and family with high speed connections. For every one megabyte of space an attachment contains, it takes 5-8 minutes for a dial-up user to download it. Many joke emails, slide shows or movies being passed around...

Email Preview Button in Outlook Express – Vi...

This tip evaded me for many years, but now you can benefit from its use. The tip works in any versions of Windows including Windows Vista's Windows Mail. When asked how to delete a message without opening it in Microsoft Outlook Express, I traditionally answered by directing the computer user to the View menu (See Tip #156). This works, but if you want to turn the Preview back on you have to go through the same number of...