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Outlook Express

“I want to go back to AOL”

This painful statement came from a customer of mine who made the leap to DSL (at the request of her kids, not me) a couple of months ago. She dumped dial-up and AOL and opted for DSL with a local Internet provider.

Changing from AOL is never easy and many ex-AOLers go through major withdrawls. However, once the shivers go away and a person gets settled with a real Internet provider, they are quite happy. AOL does things their own way and this keeps many a customer for them. Luckily, their high prices, slow connections, and abismal support has led millions away to a better place.

Sending pictures via email

Computer users are always grateful to learn new tricks of the trade. One ‘trick’ that was implemented with Windows XP more than five years ago continues to escape many computer users…send pictures via email efficiently. Sure you might be sending digital photos as attachments, but can you send more than one at time? Are you resizing your photos before sending them so they don’t require horizontal and vertical scrolling? Do they travel quickly through the Internet or do they take a long time to transmit?

No matter now…this tip will get you sending multiple, appropriately sized photos quickly with Windows XP.

Searching through the email

Many of you are familiar with how to search the Internet, but did you know you could search through your email similarly? Look for the "Search" function in Thunderbird and the "Find" function in Outlook or Outlook Express in the  Edit menu.

Using these tools, you can quickly search through hundreds of messages to find a specific sender, content of the message, etc. Simply fill in the boxes corresponding to the information you want to search for. You can choose to search for a word in the From, To, Subject or Body of the message.

Backup Outlook Express Email

The most reliable way is to search your computer for *.dbx files using Start –> Search. Make sure you check the option to search for hidden folders and files. Then backup any of the dbx files.

To restore these files on a new computer or new installation, Start Outlook Express, Click File –> Import –> Messages. Follow the wizard and choose Outlook Express 6 as the type of email you are importing, then click Browse to where you saved the original files.  

Moving from AOL isn’t always easy, but it’s worth it

I am currently helping two clients make the move off of AOL after many long years of being AOL customers. While each client is having a few problems making the adjustment, each has stated that they small issues are worth it to get away from AOL.

There are a few things that you need to get ready for when making the switch from AOL. 

1. There is no easy way to backup your address book and move it over. You can print it out and then manually add each address to your new email program. The best way I have found to do it, though, is to send emails to everyone in your AOL address book with your new email address. Ask for each person to send a reply to your new address. Then, as people reply you can click "add sender to address book."

Red X’s in Email Messages

I’m resetting this tip from two or so years ago because we have had so many phone calls and email messages about this topic. 

Have you ever received an email with "red x’s" in a box or just an empty box in the middle of the email? There are three possible explanations for this phenomenon; either you are reading the message offline, your email program is blocking images from appearing in your email, OR more likely the pictures or graphics that were supposed to be in that message didn’t get sent with the message.

First, a quick background on how pictures work in email messages. Email originated as a text only medium, but in the late 90’s it evolved to the point that it was possible to send embedded pictures, colored text and more with email. This is called Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) email. In English, that means special computer code to display those pictures and formatted text. Essentially, email has become like mini-web pages. One problem with HTML email is that not all email programs or users can read this type of email…they simply see the plain text devoid of pictures and formatted text.

Export your PST folder

Lately I have seen several people who use Microsoft Outlook to manage their calendar, email, memos and to do lists.

Microsoft Oultook is similar to the Outlook Express program that comes with all Windows computers, but it adds more features. It is essentially a Franklin Planner for your computer.

One of the great things about Microsoft Outlook is that it is so easy to backup everything at once, you just have to go through a series of steps.

Following this process allows you to backup your email, contact list, calendar, memos, and to do list all as one file.

Here’s what to do:

Spam Revisited…and Outlook Express Filters

If you use Outlook Express, a listener, Jerry, pointed out an important and extremely helpful tip for seeing less junk in your Inbox. Thanks Jerry!

1. Click Tools from the menus
2. Click Message Rules –> Mail
3. (Click the New button IF the ‘new mail rule’ box doesn’t appear)
4. Check the box “Where The To Line Contains People”
5. Check “Delete It” or another action you prefer
6. Click on the blue “Contains People” in the third box
7. In the select people box, type in Your E-Mail address
8. Click the Add button
9. Click on the Options button (this is the most important step)