outlook express

Infopackets Reader Lee C. writes: " Ever since I installed XP Service Pack 2 on my system, all I get is blank boxes where pictures used to be in emails, every time I launch Outlook Express. Do you know why this is happening? I installed Service Pack ... 2 onto a clean system. Please help! " My Response: This is another frequently asked question. With Windows XP Service Pack 2, a new security measure has been put into place that -- by default -- will now block pictures that are embedded into emails. The reason for this is because some spammers use picture files as 'web beacons' to verify ... (view more)

Imagine this: you're sitting in front of your computer, writing an email -- and all the sudden, you forget how to spell a word -- or worse yet, you need to find another way to express yourself in a thought-provoking or entertaining manner. It ... happens to me all the time. Like most folks, I use Outlook Express to read and compile my emails because it's free and comes bundled with Windows. Unfortunately, the MS Spell Checker isn't part of Windows or Outlook Express by default (you'll need to install MS Office or similar ) -- and to top it all off, Outlook Express doesn't offer a thesaurus. What ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sherrie R. writes: " Hi Dennis, I am currently using Windows 2000 and Outlook Express. Sometimes when I receive an email, I see a lightly outlined small box with a red X in the center where a picture should appear. The red X also ... appears (but less frequently) with some web sites I visit. Why does this happen? Many of my friends report this has happened to them too, but they don't know why either. I would appreciate any and all help/advice you can give. " My response: There are a number of reasons why a red X may appear on your screen, and is not necessarily a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jim R. writes: " Dear Dennis, I read your article about sending music with e-mail. I had already been through all the HTML setup when I had trouble not getting pictures sent. All the solutions you mentioned I have done, but I ... still can't send music as background with email. Any other solutions? I am at a loss as to where to go next. I am running Windows XP, Internet Explorer 6, and Outlook Express 6. " My response: You are correct, in that that you need to ensure that your mail sending format is set for HTML (rather than plain text), in order to insert (*not* ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ruth S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I use Outlook Express. Every time I receive an email, the sender's address ends up in my Blocked Senders List. The next time the person emails me again, it goes directly into my Deleted Items folder. ... I don't know why this keeps happening. Any ideas?" My response: I can honestly say that I have never encountered this problem before. At any rate, I have a few suggestions: 1. Clear your Blocked Senders List and Mail Rules. Open Outlook Express Click Tools -> Message Rules -> Blocked Senders List Delete all blocked senders entries ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Peter P. writes: " Hello Dennis, I am having a problem with Outlook Express, and can't figure out how to solve it. Whenever I get an email with attachments, the info when I click on the paperclip is grayed out, and I can neither ... save the attachment files or display them. When I click Tools -> Internet Options and select the 'Security' tab, I see that the box labeled 'Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened' is check marked. Unfortunately, this option is grayed out [ghosted] and I cannot change the setting. I am running Windows XP with SP1 [Service Pack 1] and ... (view more)

After publishing the article on missing pictures in Outlook Express (the Red X's), Infopackets Reader George W. asked a related question about hearing music through email. " Dear Dennis, I just got done reading your article about missing pictures in ... Outlook Express: I've got a similar problem and hope you can help me. Until a short time ago, I was able to insert background music (MIDI and .WAV files) into my emails and have the recipient listen to the music as they read the email. I did this by creating my email, then clicked Format -> Background -> Sound, and selected my music ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Frank B. writes: " I need help! When I try to forward a picture to my friends, all that they receive is a box with a small red X. This started happening to me about 8 months ago. I have tried everything I could think of and even ... had a computer repairman try to fix it. It doesn't happen all the time, but more often than not. How can I correct this? " My response: Believe it or not, I get asked this question quite a bit ... and it's worth addressing (briefly) once more. This problem deals with Outlook Express 6 -- specifically: Anyone who has recently upgraded to, ... (view more)

With respect to our recent discussion on MsgTag and tracking whether or not a recipient has received an email, quite a few Readers emailed me over the weekend with some questions. Infopackets Reader Frank R. had some security concerns about MsgTag. ... He writes: " I was curious about MsgTag, so I went to download it. I was immediately notified that my security settings would not allow that to happen. I use Spyware Blaster and IE-spyad for protection against the 'bad guys', as well as the usual anti-hacker firewall / anti-virus stuff ... so now I'm second guessing the whole MsgTag operation ... (view more)

Have you ever sent an email to someone and wondered if your message was opened by the recipient? Yesterday, Infopackets Reader Brian 'BigJohn2' asked if I knew of a program which could do just that. After some prodding and poking around Google, I ... came across a program called MsgTag [Message Tag]. In a nutshell, MsgTag works by injecting a traceable object into outgoing emails. When the message is opened by the recipient, MsgTag alerts the sender with an email receipt that the message has been read. As I discussed briefly in yesterday's article, there are 3 different flavors of Message Tag. I ... (view more)