BOOT CAMP 416 (21/03/06)

OUTLOOK EXPRESS TOP TIPS

There are no reliable figures but I’m willing to bet that something like eight out of ten PC owners use Outlook Express for email, and with good reason, it’s free, easy to use and mostly quite reliable.

That’s not to say we haven’t had a few problems with it over the years. A significant number of security holes have been exploited by virus writers though most of the other difficulties have been due to external causes such as conflicts with other programs or ISPs messing around with settings.

There are alternatives -- see this week’s Top Tip -- and most of them more secure than OE, in some cases they are more functional but the fact is OE does the job and we’re a lazy bunch so for as long as Microsoft keeps plugging the holes we’ll probably continue to use it.

One of the most frequent questions we get asked is how to transfer email messages from an old PC to a new one. Because of the proprietary nature of its filing system OE data can be a pig to move but there is something you can do to make transferring and backing up your message store a lot easier and that’s to make it more accessible. By default OE messages folders are stored deep inside the Windows filing system but you can easily move it to a folder of you choice in the root of the C: drive. Once there it’s a lot easier to copy the folder over a network, or on to a CD and then Import the contents into a new PC.  Start by opening Windows Explorer, select your C: drive then go to File > New > New Folder and give it a name, something like ‘oestore’. Next open Outlook Express and go to Tools > Options, select the Maintenance tab and click the Store Folder button then click Change. Navigate to your newly created oestore folder, highlight and click OK. For a simple step-by-step guide to moving OE to a new PC have a look at Boot Camp 309.

Here’s a quick one for those of you who want to send the same email to a lot of different people, but don’t want the recipients to see the other names and addresses. In a New Message window put your own email address in the ‘To’ box and the addresses of everyone you want to send it to in the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) box. If BCC is not displayed go to View and click All Headers.

This next tip makes it easier to find emails from regular correspondents, friends or colleagues by colour coding their messages in your Inbox. Go to Tools > Message Rules, click New then under Conditions check ‘Where the From line contains people’. Next, under Actions select ‘Highlight it with colour’. To finish off in the Rules Descriptions box double-click the underlined ‘Contains People’ and type in the sender’s email address or name then click the underlined ‘Colour’ and make your selection, finally click OK then the Apply Now button.

If you find Outlook Express is becoming sluggish or unreliable check to see how many messages you have in your mailboxes. There is no limit as such but you will find that it is slower to open once you get past 3000 or so Inbox message and it can get cranky once you pass 5000, especially if you receive a lot of attachments. Over 10,000 messages and OE may become unstable. If your Inbox is filling up act now, either delete old messages or shift them into other folders, which you can then archive to CD.

Talking of archives and backups, while OE (and your PC) are working properly backup your Address Book. Go to File > Export > Address Book, select ‘Text File (comma separated values)’, click the Export button, give it a name and use the Browse button to save it in a folder of your choice, click Next then Finish. At your earliest opportunity copy the file to a safe place, preferably well away from your PC on a floppy, USB flash drive or CD-ROM. You can re-load this into OE from Import on the File menu and it can be read in any text editor or word processor.

This next tip is in the blindingly obvious category but judging by the number of email viruses and worms still sloshing around the Internet there’s still a lot of people who need reminding not to open unexpected attachments. You should also disable the Preview Pane (View > Layout, uncheck ‘Show Preview Pane’) and make sure your PC’s security settings are regularly reviewed and updated (see also Tip of the Week).

When Outlook throws a wobbly it usually displays a not very helpful Error Code. There’s scores of them but if you know where to look you can often find out what caused the problem, or point you in the direction of a helpful MS Knowledgebase article. The next time you see an OE error code make a note of it and pop alone to one of these websites:

www.nthelp.com/50/Outlook_error_codes.htm

www.modemhelp.net/oeerrors/oe.shtml

www.nls.net/nls/support/oe.htm

And while we’re on the subject of useful websites, the fount of all OE knowledge is Tom Koch’s Inside Outlook Express

NEXT WEEK - Top Browser Tips

JARGON FILTER

FLASH DRIVE

Removable memory module that plugs into a PC’s USB socket

ISP

Internet Service Provider

MS KNOWLEDGEBASE

Vast library of guides, articles and files relating to Microsoft products

TOP TIP

Because of its popularity Outlook Express is the virus writer’s favourite target so the simplest way to reduce the threat to your system is to switch to another email program. Arguably the best alternative is Mozilla Thunderbird (from the people who brought you Firefox). It’s free, you can import al of your messages and settings and it looks and works a lot like OE so it’s very easy to get on with.

---end---

© R. Maybury 2006, 1503