When I first started sending and receiving email, I, like almost everyone else, either used Outlook Express, which was free, or Outlook, which came with Microsoft Office. In those early days of e-mail, most of us used only one machine in one location, usually our office, to send and receive our messages, so these programs did a fine job of managing our mail interactions. I used Outlook for many years.
As we have become more mobile or more likely to use more than one computer, programs like these present challenges to being flexible about how and where you get your e-mail.
The reason you are having a problem sending messages from the road via Outlook Express is because the program is specifically configured to send mail out your specific ISP’s mail system. When you are on the road, you are no longer connecting to the Internet through your ISP; thus you are not permitted to send mail from another Internet provider through your ISP’s mail system.
This restriction was implemented by all Internet providers years ago to stem the tide of spam that was sent via unauthorized system on the networks.
Simply put, you can only send messages through your ISP’s mail system when you are connected to their service. It’s one of the reasons that AOL became so popular, since you could send and receive email from any computer. So, if you’re using Outlook or Outlook Express, it is configured to use your ISP’s outgoing mail system or SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server, so it gets denied access when you are on the road.
If you knew what the SMTP settings were for the network that you are connecting to from the road, you could change the setting temporarily to get it to work, but there are several more elegant solutions available.
The first option is to use your ISP’s ‘webmail’ interface instead of Outlook Express when you are on the road, which you can get information about, by contacting your ISP.
The nice thing about webmail systems is that you don’t even have to use your own laptop to access them as they can be reached via any Internet connected computer. I used to use mail2web.com when I traveled or was at another computer.
The downside to using a webmail interface while you are on the road is that it’s rather sparse, won’t have all the contacts you have stored in Outlook Express and adds a new place that you will have to look for ‘Sent messages’ in the future.
If you transferred all your contacts to the webmail system and stopped using Outlook Express even while you were at home, you could eliminate all but one of the problems: the lackluster webmail system itself.
My recommendation is that you bypass all of the webmail options and sign up for a free Google Gmail account (http://gmail.com) which can be configured to check your ISP’s e-mail account and mark all messages as coming from them.
You can also set Gmail up to automatically make your messages look like they are coming from your ISP’s e-mail account for all outgoing messages or just those that were originally sent to your ISP’s account. I have one Gmail account to read ALL my emails (I have many different emails account, such as BaliPCAdvisor@gmail.com).
You can export your contacts from Outlook Express (File, Export, Address Book) as a CSV (Comma Seperated Values) file which Gmail can very quickly import (Contacts/Import).
Once you have it all setup, use Gmail at home, on the road, on your friends computer or anywhere you can access the Internet. You will always have your most current contacts, messages and sent mail, no matter where you are.
Additionally, Gmail has a many other useful tools that can make dealing with spam or messages from many accounts very efficient. Gmail is so popular, especially with the tech savvy crowd that you likely have many friends or family members that can help you get converted.
It does have the very best Spam filtering system out there. I receive VERY few Spam emails now. Also, it has many add-ons. Some of my favorites are:
“Attachment reminder”. When you send an email, Gmail looks for words like ‘attachment’ or ‘included’. If it sees them and there is no attachment to your email, it will ask if you meant to include an attachment!
There’s also “don’t forget Bob” - Once you pick some email recipients, Gmail suggests more people you might want to include based on the groups of people you email most often together.
And lastly, after you have sent your email, Gmail gives you 10 seconds to cancel the send – great for when you forgot something in the email.
This approach also gives you another cool option; stop giving out your private ISP’s e-mail address to anyone you don’t explicitly trust and give them your Gmail address instead (shopping sites, subscriptions sign up forms, etc.)
By doing that, you can easily see messages from people you care about in the Inbox as Gmail will mark the messages separately or allow you to click on your normal messages only.
Gmail has a very small learning curve and I promise you that it will drastically change your e-mail life in a very good way!
Have a question or problem? Write me at BaliPCAdvisor@Gmail.com. I’ll try and answer as soon as I can.
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