Tech: E Mail problem

Subject: Tech: E Mail problem
From: kendall
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 09:11 AM

For quite a long time now I've been having trouble opening e mail through Outlook Express. Most of the e mails I get I can't open, and I get a notice that says:
"This file does not have a program asociated with it for performing this action.
Create an association in the folder options control panel."

When I go there, all I see is gobbledegook that gives no clue what to do. I called my ISP and even they are clueless.

Any ideas?

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 09:17 AM

Sorry, kendall, I use Eudora - never liked Outlook, too messy and complicated.

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 10:28 AM

Kendall,

There are many good free email programs. I use several for different email addresses. You can download one and tell it all of the POP information from your email provider and start opening it in there. I don't use Outlook much (except at work where I have no choice). I like Eudora and Pegasus, and I also use Mozilla Thunderbird.

I'd try a few things in the Outlook program first. Under the "HELP" menu try the "Detect and Repair" option, and while you're at it, click on the updates and see if there is anything helpful to download and put in place. In other email programs there was a feature to un-BinHex messages but I don't see that now. Poke around the help menu and see if anything looks likely. You can also search the online Microsoft Knowledge base for problems to do with Outlook.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: Sorcha
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 11:00 AM

Kendall, try [e-mail] (web mail and see what happens there)

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 11:05 AM

I get that message when people forward things that have been written using Powerpoint which I find is like MS in that everybody seems to expect you've got it. I just erase them as I'm dmned if I'm going to buy another MS programme just to read jokes.
Giok

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 12:55 PM

It should be noted that "Outlook" is NOT THE SAME THING as "Outlook Express."

Outlook includes so many bells and whistles it tends to collapse under its own weight, and opens far too many "push functions" for my taste.

Outlook Express (OE) is a bit clunky, but for the most part handles email and ONLY email. It offers, in simple form, a few convenient functions that are pretty complex in other email programs.

Unfortunately OE was designed for POP3 email protocol, and many email services do not support POP3. Even MSN has attempted to eliminate POP3, and to convert all users to http - sometimes without notice to the users. With an MSN or Hotmail account, unless you have a "charter account" (very old) and/or pay for one of Hotmail's "super accounts," you will have been switched to an http server that's not really compatible with Outlook Express.

The "registration" of email messages in OE is automatic and doesn't show in the Folder Options | File Types list in Windows. Each message is a record in a database folder, so the individual message doesn't really have a filetype (extension) that can be registered. If you can read some of the emails then OE probably is OK internally.

Some email services have attempted to accomodate the POP3 incompatiblity by sending email as individual files, each of which has a file extension and is (or can be) saved on your machine as an individual file. The specific filename extension used may vary depending on the service, but ".email" seems to be common. You may also occasionally receive "attached emails" that are separate files with "strange" filename extensions, and in this case it may depend on what browser or email program the sender used.

Outlook Express itself allows you to "extract" an individual message from the database and save it as an individual file simply by clicking "File | Save As | Mail (*.eml)." Saved in this way, all attachments are automatically included, and the individual file opens just like the original message, in OE.

If you can identify an individual message file sometimes the message can be opened by changing the filename extension to ".eml," which is the "native" filetype for "Internet email" files used by OE. OE may be able to open it when you double-click the new filename in Windows Explorer. I've had some success with this method for emails attached to emails.

The most likely cause for your problem is that your email service provider has "hijacked" your account, moving it from a server that supported the POP3 protocol to one that supports only http. If this is the case, you should be able to visit the server using your normal internet browser and use your browser to look at your email. You may have to contact your email service to get setup/URL info for this. If the service provider has a website that you know how to find, it may be as simple as clicking an "email" button there, and providing your password/account info.

Giok - I believe you can download a free "PowerPoint Reader" from Microsoft, if you really think the jokes are any good.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 01:16 PM

Another thing that baffles me is the fact that when I get an attachment that I can't open, I can just hit "reply" and it opens. Or I can send it to my hotmail address and then go there where I CAN open it. Crazy!

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 01:16 PM

Just for Giok - or anyone else interested:

The 32-bit PowerPoint Viewer is available from the Microsoft Download Center (Article 126492). This page gives separate links for info on the Windows and Mac versions. The linked articles should take you to the appropriate download site.

Free.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: kendall
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 01:20 PM

Sorcha, nothing there but more gobbledegook

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: kendall
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 02:02 PM

I just downloaded Mozilla and Firefox. Maybe that will help.

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 02:23 PM

Good move Cap'n
G.

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: kendall
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 02:47 PM

Now when I click on the envelope at the top of the tool bar, Outlook Express still comes up.

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 03:17 PM

I think that if you open OE it might say it is not your default mail service do you want to make it so, say no, and try again. Not a geek so can't swear that this will work.
Giok

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 03:28 PM

Kendall...you need to NOT 'click on the envelope'...that little icon is 'associated' with OE....that is, your computer thinks you want ALL mail to be opened with it. You need to open your mail DIRECTLY with some other program....that is, set up another program, tell it who you are and where your mail comes from (basically the same 'settings' as in OE) and then click on an icon for THAT new program and never let OE know anything is going on!

You said you downloaded "Mozilla & Firefox", but those are browsers, not primary email programs...though, I guess Mozilla 'will' do mail. (Firefox won't)..if you wan't to try Mozilla for mail, you'll have to poke about and find where the settings are.

You really need a totally separate program just for email (like OE is)...that would be Eudora, Thunderbird (made BY the Mozilla team), Pegasus(kinda complicated) or one of several others.

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 03:30 PM

(there are ways to DIS-associate OE from any connection with what your PC thinks about email, but it can get tricky. Best to just leave OE out of the loop)

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 05:02 PM

The theory espoused by those who are trying to convert the whole internet to "http only" is that you DO NOT NEED A SEPARATE EMAIL PROGRAM. You should be able to accomplish everything in your web browser, provided that all you do with email is "read and delete," and if you're happy with all the popups and ads on the providers' websites.

The principal difficulty with a "web browser only" approach to email is that you can't easily archive messages on your own machine. When a message arrives, it goes to "Temporary Internet Files" space on your machine, which probably is cleared when you disconnect. The messages are kept on the server, and if you want to read one again you may have to wait for it to download again. You can use the "make available offline" button in most browsers to actually put a "persistent" copy on your own machine; but you may have to do it separately for each message and it still is in "Temporary Internet" space on your hard drive where it's much too easy to lose.

You can "Save" an email message that you have open, but with IE - and I expect with other web browsers, the only options are to save it as a web page, as "plain html," or as "plain text." Attachments must be saved separately to achieve any kind of recoverability. None of the available formats can be considered "archival."

But you don't really have to have a separate email program ...(?).

John

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: kendall
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 08:15 PM

Mozilla and Thunderbird downloaded, but I can't send mail because the notice says my password failed. I quit gwi.net back in January yet it is screwing up the workings of Thunderbird.

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: Sorcha
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 08:26 PM

Well, is it re format time then? Save what you want and ditch all?

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: kendall
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 08:43 PM

I hope not, that is a real cluster fuck

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Sep 05 - 10:26 PM

Kendall,

It might be easiest of you talk to someone on the phone who has the same programs and can talk you through it. However, here are the things you need to know about your current email, and you can find it by going into

Outlook "Tools" and dropping down to "Email Accounts."

A box should pop up, and you can toggle the radio button on "view or change existing email accounts."

Click "next."

You'll see a box that says something like "Outlook processes e-mail for these accounts in the following order:"
In my version of Outlook, I have set it up to download my Google email, so it has "pop.gmail.com" under name and under type it says "POP/SMTP (default)". Do you see something similar? Then write these things down.

Next, click on the "change" button beside the box with name and type.

This resulting box is a goldmine. This is where you have everything else that you need for setting up the Thunderbird. Be sure to pay particular attention to "Incoming mail server (POP3)" and "Outgoing mail server (SMPT)". Mine say, in that order "pop.gmail.com" and smpt.gmail.com" (none of these things have quotes, I'm using them for your benefit).

You can close out that dialog box without making any changes.

In Thunderbird, I opened it and went to "tools" and "account settings."

The account name you want to set up in there is the full email address.

Under "Server Settings" you want to put the Server Name as the same as the Incoming server in Outlook.

For your user name, put just the first part (i.e., stillyriversage, but not @whatever.com)

You can tell it how often you want it to check for new email, set it to download from the server, and I have mine set to empty trash on exit.

Still in the Account Settings box, click on "Outgoing Server (SMTP) and tell it the name of the outgoing server. I think my Outlook isn't set for that, so I'm not sure what to tell you to call it, but you may find that information in your Outlook. My Eudora mail is also set up for a sprynet account, as is my Thunderbird, and that one calls my "SMTP Server )outgoing)"
"mail.sprynet.com" so you'll probably have something comparable.

Eudora is really easy to set up also. It is free if you accept a little ad in the lower left hand corner. I hardly ever even notice it.

I hope this helps. Print it out and see if you can find all of the corresponding bits in your Outlook mail and plug them into Thunderbird.

To open Thunderbird once it is set up, what I did was go to the start menu, open the programs, and at Mozilla Thunderbird you see an arrow so mouse over and you'll see Mozilla Thunderbird again with a couple of other options. RIGHT CLICK over the program name, not one of the options, and in that dialog box click on "send to" and in that dialog box, choose "desktop." It'll put the Thunderbird icon on your desktop, and you just click on that to open your mail.

Now after all of that writing, I hope the Mudcat is up and it goes through. I'll save a copy just in case. Print this out, make notes for yourself as you go, and you should be able to set up a new account. As you work through it you'll see other choices, but they have to do with managing your mail, not getting it into the box in the first place.

Good luck!

Maggie (SRS)

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: kendall
Date: 23 Sep 05 - 09:11 AM

Thanks a lot Maggie, that sounds like a plan. I'll try it.

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Sep 05 - 11:08 AM

There are a couple of typos in there.

My Eudora mail is also set up for a sprynet account, as is my Thunderbird, and that one calls my "SMTP Server )outgoing)"
"mail.sprynet.com" so you'll probably have something comparable.


This should read
My Eudora mail is also set up for a sprynet account, as is my Thunderbird, and that one calls my "SMTP Server" (outgoing) "mail.sprynet.com" so you'll probably have something comparable.

Not a huge typo, but might make you scratch your head for a minute.

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: kendall
Date: 23 Sep 05 - 12:20 PM

I didn't get anywhere with all that. My ISP tech says I don't have the software to open those attachments. Of course they didn't tell me what I need and how to get it.

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Sep 05 - 03:39 PM

Let's take a step back then.

Do you receive some mail that you can open? Outlook Express isn't completely dead in the water?

Does your email open with html stuff showing (do people send fancy lettering and backgrounds that you can see?) or do you have it set for text only?

Do you have Adobe Reader installed? The most common form of attachment I receive from people is a PDF (Portable Document Format) and it opens a free program called Adobe Reader. You can go to Adobe and download the latest version 7.0.

Other attachments can come for various Macromedia products (Flash, etc.) or Microsoft products (Powerpoint, Excel, etc.). If you don't have their office suite those programs can go unopened, though I know that at least there is a Powerpoint viewer you can download from Microsoft.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: Jim McLean
Date: 23 Sep 05 - 04:56 PM

Do you know what the extesion of the file is (eg .doc, .jpeg etc)

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Sep 05 - 05:09 PM

Yeah, that too!

Subject: RE: Tech: E Mail problem
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Sep 05 - 05:51 PM

Yep...you need to know WHAT someone is sending you....whether it is a music file, a zipped file, an Adobe PDF file, some cute little animated cartoon...whatever.
If that file is attached to your email, your computer will attempt to look up what it is supposed to do with such a file...id it finds no instructions, it may ask you if YOU know or have a preference, or it may just do nothing.

It also makes a difference whether the file is embedded in the body of the email, or is just a separate attachment. Can you see ANY name for the file you are trying to open? And do you trust whoever sent it to you?