Re: Can't send/rec e-mail - ?reinstall?

Barb, Bruce is right, if there's an error message it may be a quick fix.

Some tips on spyware you may not have seen (May be a good guess on your
part)
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/security/expert/honeycutt_spyware.mspx

And this utility is easier to use than AdAware, and works well for me,
however just like AdAware it can delete some things which will stop your
network connectivity if the spyware has messed with it.
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

With OE running go tools>accounts and hit the mail tab. Double click each
account name to get to properties ***. Under the "Servers" tab check
what's there.

If it says something like "LocalHost" or "127.0.0.1" it probably means
Norton is intercepting mail to scan for viruses and it's generally accepted
here that is a bad thing, find the settings in Norton to turn email scanning
OFF then set the server names to the ISP settings. That should be a server
name like mail.adelphia.net or similar.

The firewall in XP is unlikely to be causing it, but it could, similarly if
it's Norton Internet Security firewall that could be a problem, but the
email scanning is a likely place to start and also see if she has recently
installed any spam blocking software. Most of the free stuff is okay but it
could have been damaged. Basically ask her if she can remember doing
anything just before the problem started.

I don't think reinstalling OE ever answers many questions, it's not usually
OE that gets messed up but the settings or it's data files.

Charlie




"Barbara Z" <BarbaraZ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5FE95571-1501-4884-8160-07E762F572CD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> I'm helping an elderly neighbor with her Dell Dimension 4500S w/ Windows
> Xp.
> She started having trouble - can't send/receive e-mail. I had her call
> Adelphia (cable company). They suggested uninstalling and reinstalling
> Outlook Express. How do I do this correctly? I have her OS CD if
> necessary.
> You can get to the Internet OK otherwise.
> I also noticed other problems; I'm not sure if they're related. I was
> helping her with system maintenance and I couldn't get AdAware or SpyBot
> to
> download updates. I uninstalled AdAware and tried to reinstall it from
> Lavasoft page, but the window never came up to "Save" or "Open" the
> download.
> It just sat at the download page looking like it was doing something, but
> it
> wasn't. I also tried the SpywareBlaster download. When I tried to check
> for
> updates, it said (not exact words): server connection or firewall problem
> or
> ? (can't remember exact wording). I then tried to open ZoneAlarm to check
> settings to seeif it was causing these problems, but it doesn't open.
> I've
> run SpyBot and AdAware (not updated) and didn't get too many objects to
> delete (4 and 10). Also ran Stinger, Sysclean, and Norton - all supposedly
> clean. Any ideas? Could the firewall be causing the problem?? Or a
> hidden
> virus?? NAV is updated thru Intelligent Updater to 4/26/05. Again, I'm
> not
> sure if these problems are related or not. Any help appreciated.
> --
> Barb Zakrzewski


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