How to set up Outlook Express

Thinking of using Outlook Express for your email? It's most likely already installed on your computer, and is free to use. Read on for an overview of the program or, if you've already decided to try it, skip straight to one of the following:

• Setting up Outlook Express
• Popular POP and SMTP servers

First of all, what is Outlook Express? In short, it's a free windows-based program courtesy of Microsoft that allows you to send and receive email. It's a component of Internet Explorer and comes pre-installed with any version of Windows. Look under Start > Programs and you should see it listed there.

Don't get it confused with Outlook though. Outlook is a much bigger application that comes bundled with Microsoft Office, and has calendars and planners and all sort of other things. You could say that Outlook Express is a lite version of Outlook, limited to sending and receiving email only. You'll notice that the two prgrams have different icons...

Outlook      Outlook Express

But why use Outlook Express to receive email at all? If you have an email account with a popular online webmail service such as Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo then you can simply read your email online. Why bother switching to Outlook Express?

The problem is that these webmail services have limited space for your email, and it can be a nuisance to keep dumping older messages to make way for new ones. This is one of the benefits of Outlook Express; it allows you to store all your messages on your computer, thus completely eliminating the storage problem.

How does Outlook Express work?

Put simply, you set up a profile in Outlook Express using the login details of your online email account (the email address and password you normally use when logging in to Hotmail, Earthlink, Gmail, Yahoo, etc). Once you've done that, Outlook Express simply connects to your online webmail service and retrieves your email, downloading all your messages to your computer while deleting them from your online webmail service.

Is Outlook Express recommended for those with dial-up connections?

Definitely, because you can retrieve all your new mail in a matter of seconds and then disconnect – and read everything at leisure without hogging the telephone line. You can also compose replies and new messages while offline, and put everything in your outbox ready to send. Then, when you're ready, you can reconnect to the internet and send everything with one click, enabling you to disconnect immediately afterwards.

What about those with high-speed internet?

Even for high speed internet users, it's much faster browsing through new email using Outlook Express. Using webmail you have to press "Next" and wait for each new message to load – not a long wait, admittedly, but things can get sluggish if your webmail service is experiencing a lot of traffic. With Outlook Express you click "Send and Receive" and wait just one moment while all your email is retrieved in one fell swoop. Flicking through the messages is super-fast once they're downloaded to your computer.

Is there a limit to email storage space on a computer?

The limit depends on the size of your computer's hard drive, but even old computers have relatively "unlimited" space as far as storing email goes. Some would argue that storing all your mail on your computer is dangerous in the event of a computer system failure, because then you'd lose it all. But total system failures are rare, and if you need to buy a new computer or even restore your current one with a fresh install, you can normally backup all your messages first and import them into Outlook Express afterwards. And if you're really cautious, you can always make regular backups to CD.

Can the online webmail service still be used if I need it?

Yes. If you're the sort of person who still wants to check mail online while you're away, you can still do so. While you're on vacation, just pop into any internet cafe and check email via your online webmail service. Delete spam if you like, but otherwise leave the messages where they are. Then, when you return home, just use Outlook Express as normal and all those messages you've checked during the week will download in the normal way (and will then be removed from your online account).

Opinions differ about whether Outlook Express is easier or better to use than online webmail services. It really depends on your personal preference and whether you use one computer or hop around between various machines. But if you want to try it out, setting it up is fairly straightforward...

Setting up Outlook Express

First you have to tell Outlook Express where to retrieve the mail from. You must have an email account set up somewhere already, such as Hotmail or Earthlink or any other. You'll need your username and password as well as a couple of other bits of information...

1. Start Outlook Express, and on the Tools menu, click Accounts.
2. In the window that opens up, make sure the Mail tab is Selected. Click Add, and then click Mail to open the Internet Connection Wizard.
3. On the Your Name page of the wizard, type your name as you want it to appear to everyone who gets email from you, and then click Next. Most people use their full name, but you can use any name – even a nickname or business name – that people will recognize.
4. On the Internet E-mail Address page, type your email address and then click Next. Here, bear in mind that this is the address people will return mail to. You can use your mailbox account address or, if you have one, your business domain address.
5. On the Email Server Names page, you'll probably want to leave the incoming mail server type as a POP3 server, but in some cases this should be set to HTTP or IMAP. Check the list of POP and SMTP servers below for details on this and the other two boxes, "Incoming Mail" and "Outgoing Mail." Once you're sure you've got these right, click Next. (You can easily change these details later if incorrect.)
6. On the Internet Mail Logon page, type the username/email and password you normally use to login to your webmail account. If you want, you can also check the Remember Password box if you don't want to be prompted for the password each time you send and receive mail. Then click Next.
7. Click Finish. You're now ready to send your first email!

Check to see if you've set it up correctly

First off, try to send a message to yourself. Does the message send successfully? If you receive an error message about the SMTP server, then you've probably got it slightly wrong. Check the list of POP and SMTP servers below, or check with your internet service provider. Note that some webmail accounts do provide an SMTP server, but some don't, but in any case you should try setting it to your local ISP first.

If you successfully sent your email, it's likely that you didn't receive it straight away. Try pressing "Send and Receive" again, and keep trying until you do receive it. Depending on the webmail account you use, your message may arrive within moments or after a delay of five, ten, or thirty minutes – in fact, it's not unheard of for Hotmail messages to take a full day to arrive!

You could try checking your webmail account too, just to see your message arrive there before retrieving it with Outlook Express. Send yourself various emails just so you can see how it all works.

Don't forget to view all the options Outlook Express offers

It's well worth browsing through the various settings and choices you have available in Outlook Express. Click Tools > Options, then read each option carefully and decide whether you want to check or uncheck the box.

Popular POP and SMTP servers

Hotmail works a little differently to most mailbox accounts. When you go through the setup wizard, instead of selecting the default POP3 choose HTTP and then choose Hotmail. You'll notice you can then skip the incoming and outgoing mail fields.

However, most of the other mailbox accounts should be configured using the following information. "Incoming" is the POP3 server while "outgoing" is the SMTP server. Note that while you can use the outgoing servers listed here, ideally you should use the outgoing server provided by your local internet service provider, such as Comcast, Bellsouth, etc (see additional list below).

Adelphia Cable
pop3 incoming: mail.adelphia.net
smtp outgoing: mail.adelphia.net

AOL
pop3 incoming: imap.aol.com
smtp outgoing: smtp.aol.com
*Note: Choose "IMAP" as the email server type in Step 5 of setting up Outlook Express

AT&T WorldNet
pop3 incoming: postoffice.worldnet.att.net
smtp outgoing: mailhost.worldnet.att.net

BellSouth
pop3 incoming: mail.bellsouth.net
smtp outgoing: mail.bellsouth.net

BlueLight
pop3 incoming: pop.mybluelight.net
smtp outgoing: smtp.mybluelight.net

Cableone
pop3 incoming: mail.cableone.net
smtp outgoing: authmail.cableone.net

Charter
pop3 incoming: pop.charter.net
smtp outgoing: smtp.charter.net

Comcast
pop3 incoming: mail.comcast.net
smtp outgoing: smtp.comcast.net

Compaq.net
pop3 incoming: pop3.compaq.net
smtp outgoing: smtp.compaq.net

Compuserve
pop3 incoming: pop.compuserve.com
smtp outgoing: smtp.compuserve.com

Cox
pop3 incoming: pop.central.cox.net
smtp outgoing: smtp.central.cox.net

Dotster
pop3 incoming: pop.registerapi.com
smtp outgoing: smtpauth.registerapi.com

Earthlink
pop3 incoming: pop.earthlink.net
smtp outgoing: mail.earthlink.net

DirectNIC
pop3 incoming: pop.directnic.com
smtp outgoing: smtp.directnic.com

Google Gmail
pop3 incoming: pop.gmail.com
smtp outgoing: smtp.gmail.com

Juno
pop3 incoming: pop.juno.com
smtp outgoing: smtp.juno.com

Lycos Premium Mail
pop3 incoming: pop.premiummail.lycos.co.uk
smtp outgoing: smtp.premiummail.lycos.co.uk

Mindspring
pop3 incoming: pop.mindspring.com
smtp outgoing: smtp.mindspring.com

Modwest
pop3 incoming: mail.modwest.com
smtp outgoing: mail.modwest.com

MSN
pop3 incoming: pop3.email.msn.com
smtp outgoing: smtp.email.msn.com

Netscape Internet Service
pop3 incoming: pop3.isp.netscape.com
smtp outgoing: smtp.isp.netscape.com
*Note: Other countries may use different variations.

NetZero
pop3 incoming: pop.netzero.net
smtp outgoing: smtp.netzero.net

Rediff
pop3 incoming: pop.rediffmailpro.com
smtp outgoing: smtp.rediffmailpro.com

Supanet
pop3 incoming: pop.supanet.com
smtp outgoing: smtp.supanet.com

Tiscali
pop3 incoming: pop.tiscali.com
smtp outgoing: smtp.tiscali.com

Verizon
pop3 incoming: incoming.verizon.net
smtp outgoing: outgoing.verizon.net

Yahoo
pop3 incoming: pop.mail.yahoo.com
smtp outgoing: smtp.mail.yahoo.com

Popular local SMTP servers

• Comcast - smtp.comcast.net
• America Online - aol.com
• cwnet.com - mailhost.cwnet.com
• Bellsouth - mail.bellsouth.net
• Earthlink - mail.earthlink.net
• Mindspring - smtp.mindspring.com
• Netcom - smtp.netcom.com
• PacBell - mail.pacbell.net
• Pipeline - smtp.pipeline.com
• QuikNet - smtp.quiknet.com
• Verizon - outgoing.verizon.net or smtpout.verizon.net

These lists are not exhaustive, although I got pretty exhausted compiling them. Hopefully you'll find all the information on this page correct, but occasionally these internet service providers and webmail accounts do update things without my permission. :-)

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