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With computer communications, the world has become a much smaller place. It used to take months for a letter to travel from one side of the world to the other; it now takes seconds for an electronic letter to make the same trip. And with instant messaging, real-time electronic conversations between people who are miles apart are becoming commonly accepted as a comfortable, secure form of communication.
In this chapter, you venture beyond your own computer and communicate with the outside world by using an instant messaging service and an e-mail program.
See Also
Do you need only a quick refresher on the topics in this chapter? See the Quick Reference entries in Chapter 8 Communicating with Other People.
Microsoft .NET Passport is an Internet-based user account system that includes two classes of service:
You can use .NET Passport to sign in to a variety of Microsoft and commercial Web sites using a single user account name and password. If you choose to share your user profile information, it can be transmitted directly to .NET Passport–participating sites when you sign in to them, to save you the trouble of re-entering your information every time.
You can use Kids Passport to protect your children’s online privacy by specifying what information your children can share with participating Web sites and what those sites can do with that information. For example, children under 12 years old need a Kids Passport to use Windows Messenger. Kids Passports require the consent of a parent or guardian.
See Also
For more information about Kids Passports, visit kids.passport.com.
The concept behind .NET Passport is that you have a single user account name and password that you can use all over the Web, instead of having to set up separate accounts with each Web site that requires one. Your personal information and preferences are stored as part of your .NET Passport, so you don’t have to re-enter them each time you visit a site. (Sharing your information is optional.) Because your information is stored on a central server, it is available to you whether you connect to the Internet from your own computer or another one.
.NET Passport started out as a Microsoft service, but now more and more companies are using it, including 1-800-FLOWERS, Costco, eBay, Expedia, Godiva, Hilton, and Starbucks. Web sites that use .NET Passport to verify your credentials display the .NET Passport Sign In button, which looks like this:
How personal information is stored and used is a big concern for most online consumers, and .NET Passport has taken strict measures to ensure that your information is secure. Many of the methods that Web sites use to verify your identity do not use advanced security technologies, making it easier for an unauthorized person to access your personal information. .NET Passport, on the other hand, uses powerful Internet security technologies to prevent unauthorized people from accessing your personal sign-in profile. Here’s how:
Even though you can use your .NET Passport on numerous sites, your password is stored only in the secured .NET Passport database. When you sign in, the password you type is shared only with the .NET Passport database to verify your identity. Your password is never shared with any of the .NET Passport participant sites. This reduces the number of avenues hackers can use to gain access to your personal information.
When you sign in to .NET Passport, your sign-in name and password are sent over the Internet using a secure connection. This means that only .NET Passport is authorized to access the data sent across the connection.
After you sign in to a participating .NET Passport site and leave the secure connection, the site keeps track of who you are by using a computer-generated key rather than your .NET Passport sign-in name. Participating sites regularly refresh this key to make it difficult for anyone else to pose as you at these sites.
If you or someone else makes several incorrect attempts at guessing your password during sign in, .NET Passport automatically blocks access to your account for a few minutes. This makes it significantly more difficult for password-cracking programs to try out thousands of common passwords using your sign-in name.
Each time you sign in to your .NET Passport account, your session information is stored in a small encrypted text file (called a cookie) on your computer. When you sign out of your .NET Passport account, the cookie (and all your personal information) is deleted from the computer, which means that you can safely use your .NET Passport account from any computer, even a public or shared computer.
Your personal information—including your e-mail and mailing addresses—is also protected by strict privacy policies, and you’re always in control of which sites have access to it.
So how do you set up a .NET Passport account? If you have an MSN or MSN Hotmail e-mail account, it is already .NET Passport–enabled. If you don’t have one of these accounts, the .NET Passport Wizard helps you create one or associate your existing e-mail account with the .NET Passport program.
Important
To maintain an active free MSN Hotmail account, you must sign in at least once within the first 10 days and at least once every 60 days thereafter. Using your Passport on any Passport–enabled site counts as signing in.
In this exercise, you will use the .NET Passport Wizard to add an existing e-mail account to your Windows XP user profile.
Troubleshooting
If you don’t already have an e-mail account and would like to create an MSN Hotmail account, the wizard will help you create one.
Tip
These steps show you how to set up a .NET Passport account on a computer in a networked environment. The steps for setting up a .NET Passport account on a standalone computer are slightly different. If your computer is not on a network domain, you will be able to follow along with the majority of these steps, and the differences should be self-evident.
BE SURE TO log on to Windows and have an active Internet connection available before beginning this exercise.
OPEN Control Panel, and then display the User Accounts window.
Follow these steps:
In the User Accounts window, click the User Accounts icon.
In the User Accounts dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
In the Passwords and .NET Passports area, click .NET Passport Wizard.
The .NET Passport Wizard starts:
Click Next to display the wizard’s next page:
The wizard prompts you to specify an existing e-mail account or to create a new e-mail account.
Select the Yes option and click Next.
The e-mail account registration page opens:
If you have an MSN or MSN Hotmail e-mail account, select the Yes option, click Next, enter your e-mail address and password, and then skip to step 14.
If you are using an unregistered e-mail account, select the No, I want to register my e-mail address with Passport now option, and then click Next.
On the Register with .NET Passport page, click Next to connect to the Microsoft .NET Passport Member Services Web site:
Enter your e-mail address where indicated. In the Password and Retype Password boxes, enter the password you will use to access your .NET Passport account.
A picture appears in the Registration Check area. Type the letters and numbers you see in the picture into the text box.
In the Review and Sign the Agreements area, click each of the links to read the legal agreements. If you agree with them, type the e-mail address you are registering in the box, and then click the I Agree button. Otherwise, click the Cancel button.
If the system detects any problems with your registration, you are prompted to rectify them. When your registration is complete, you see this page:
Click the Continue button to close the Internet browser window and return to the .NET Passport Wizard.
Your e-mail account is now .NET Passport–enabled.
With the Associate my Passport with my Windows user account check box selected, click Next.
Your Windows XP user account is now configured with your .NET Passport:
CLOSE the User Accounts dialog box and the Control Panel window.
Windows Messenger is a nifty electronic communication system. Primarily known for its instant messaging (IM, also know as chat) capabilities, Windows Messenger also supports voice and video conversations over your Internet connection. If you have speakers and a microphone installed, you can place phone calls from your computer to another computer, to a telephone, or to a mobile device without paying long-distance charges (other than any incurred by your Internet connection).
Tip
Voice conversations require that each participant have a microphone and speakers or a headset. Video conversations require that each participant have an Internet video camera as well as audio equipment.
Windows Messenger utilizes the Windows XP Remote Assistance technology to make it easy to ask for help when you’re experiencing computer difficulties. You can share programs with other Windows XP users, including a special whiteboard application that everyone can use to contribute to a common whiteboard interface.
In addition to these standard features, Windows Messenger versions 4.6 and later support add-ins that you use to see how many e-mail messages are waiting in your Inbox (and alert you when you receive new messages), send text messages to mobile phones and pagers, join special public chat rooms, publish a public profile, and view daily messages in the Windows Messenger window.
Windows Messenger maintains and displays a special list of contacts that includes each contact’s online status. You can add new contacts to your list (and they can add you to their lists) using their .NET Passport–enabled e-mail addresses. However, you can’t interact with a new contact or see his or her current online status unless he or she has expressly granted you permission. Granting permission is a one-time interaction, but you can revoke a contact’s permission to see your online status or to contact you at any time.
Instant messaging and e-mail are in many ways similar, but they have a few significant differences. An instant message can be initiated only when both the sender and receiver are online and signed in to Windows Messenger. Unless you specifically save a Windows Messenger session, the contents of the discussion are gone after you close the discussion window, and they can’t be retrieved for later reference.
In addition to text and emoticons, your instant messages can include attachments such as files, photos, and Web pages. Up to four people can participate in a Windows Messenger conversation at any time.
To use Windows Messenger, you must have already set up a .NET Passport account (or a Kids Passport account for children under 12). MSN Internet Access accounts and MSN Hotmail accounts are already part of the .NET Passport system, so if you have one of these accounts, you can use Windows Messenger.
When you use Windows Messenger, the people you communicate with see your display name in their contact lists. When you select your display name, keep in mind that the people with whom you exchange instant messages might have lots of names in their contact lists. If your display name does not clearly identify who you are, they might not be sure who they are chatting with. For example, a display name of J might be for Jan, Jeff, Jim, Joan, or Joe. A display name of Joan might be for Joan Jones or Joan Smith. Also keep in mind that all your instant-message buddies will see your display name, so keep it respectable!
Another way to establish a distinct online presence and imbue it with your own personality is to jazz up the appearance of your messages. You can specify the name, size, style, and color of the font in which your messages appear to differentiate them from those of other conversation partners. You can also select a user account picture to appear next to the conversation area.
You can tailor your Windows Messenger sessions in a variety of ways:
You can make your home, work, and mobile phone numbers available to other Windows Messenger users so they can call you or send electronic messages to your mobile phone. Do this only if you want your phone numbers to be available to all your current and future Windows Messenger contacts.
By default, Windows Messenger starts automatically when you log on to your computer. (You can disable this feature if you find it distracting.)
You can specify how long you can be away from your computer before Windows Messenger shows your status as Away. The default is five minutes.
Windows Messenger can display pop-up messages or play sounds to alert you to new chat messages, new e-mail messages, or the arrival of one of your contacts online.
You can choose who can see your online status and who has permission to send you messages. When another Windows Messenger user adds you to his or her contact list, you receive an instant message the next time you sign in, asking if you would like to allow that person to see your online status. Whenever you’re online, you can see a list of the people who have added you to their contact list and either allow them to see you or block them from seeing you.
In this exercise, you will start Windows Messenger and configure some of your options.
BE SURE TO log on to Windows and have an active Internet connection and a .NET Passport account available before beginning this exercise.
Troubleshooting
This exercise provides steps for users who have not used Windows Messenger before and who have not configured Windows XP to start Windows Messenger automatically when the computer starts.
Tip
If you regularly use a Passport service such as Windows Messenger, you might want to automatically sign in to your Passport account each time you log on to the computer, rather than signing in manually.
Follow these steps:
On the Start menu, point to All Programs, and then click Windows Messenger.
Windows Messenger signs you in:
On the Tools menu, click Options.
The Options dialog box appears with your personal information displayed:
In the My .NET Messenger Service Display Name area, type the name you want other Windows Messenger users to see when you are online To reduce spam, Microsoft recommends that you not use your e-mail address as your display name.
Troubleshooting
If you registered your own e-mail address, you will be required to verify that it belongs to you before you can change your user display name. To verify the address, open the e-mail message you received from Passport Member Services with a subject "Please Verify Your .NET Passport E-mail Address," and click the link in the message to verify that you received it.
Click the Change Font button to open this Change My Message Font dialog box:
Make the following selections:
Scroll down in the Font box, and click Verdana.
In the Font style list, click Bold.
In the Font size list, click 8.
In the Color drop-down list, click Purple.
The Sample box changes to display each of your selections.
Click OK to close the dialog box and save your changes.
Click each of the tabs in turn to examine your other options, providing any information or changing any options you want.
When you are done, click OK to close the dialog box.
If you changed any sign-in information, a message box reminds you that those changes won’t take effect until the next time you sign in.
Click OK to close the message box.
Click the Close button to close Windows Messenger.
If a message box appears, telling you that the service will continue to run in the background, click anywhere in the box.
Both the message box and the dialog box close.
The Windows Messenger icon is displayed in the notification area of the taskbar. It remains there as long as you are signed in and changes to reflect your online status.
Click (don’t double-click) the Windows Messenger icon on the taskbar, and click Exit on the shortcut menu to close the program.
As long as you know someone’s e-mail address or .NET Passport name, you can easily add that person to your contact list. If you don’t have a person’s contact information but he or she is enrolled in the MSN Member Directory, you can look up his or her contact information online as part of the process.
When you add someone to your contact list, Windows Messenger notifies that person with a message like this:
New contacts can allow you to see their status or not, and they can choose whether to add you to their own contact list.
Until new contacts agree to allow you to see them, they are listed as Offline. If they choose to block your access, you won’t know it; they simply won’t ever be listed as Online. After contacts agree to allow you to see their status, they appear as either Online or Offline, depending on whether or not they are logged on to their account. You cannot add a contact who doesn’t have a .NET Passport–enabled account to your contact list, but you can have Windows Messenger send e-mail to the contact with instructions on how to obtain a .NET Passport account. When a contact is listed as Offline, you cannot send him or her an instant message, but you can still send e-mail messages to that contact through your .NET Passport–enabled e-mail account.
The following icons indicate the status of your Windows Messenger contacts:
Tip
For further information, refer to "Changing Your Windows Messenger Status," later in this chapter.
In this exercise, you will add people to your Windows Messenger contact list using their e-mail addresses.
BE SURE TO have an active Internet connection available, start Windows Messenger, and know the IM address of at least one other person before beginning this exercise.
Tip
You can create a free MSN Hotmail or .NET Passport account to practice with if you don’t have another person’s account handy.
If you did not select the Windows Messenger automatic logon option, sign in now using your .NET Passport account.
Windows Messenger starts, displaying your name, e-mail account status, and contact list:
In the I want to list, click Add a Contact.
The Add a Contact Wizard starts:
Select the By e-mail address or sign-in name option, and click Next.
Type your contact’s IM address in the box (if you don’t know anyone else’s address, use
[email protected]), and then click Next.When the contact has successfully been added, you see a confirmation message like this one:
If you have already created Windows Messenger contact groups, you can add the new contact to a group by selecting the group in the drop-down list.
See Also
For more information about creating contact groups, refer to "Sorting Contacts into Groups" later in this chapter.
If you would like to add additional contacts to your contact list, click Next and do so; otherwise click Finish to close the wizard.
The contact is added to your list with a status of Offline. After the contact agrees to allow you access, his or her actual status is displayed:
On the File menu, click Close.
The window closes, but Windows Messenger is still active and appears as an icon in the notification area of the taskbar.
Click the Windows Messenger icon on the taskbar, and then click Exit on the shortcut menu to close the program.
Chatting by sending and receiving instant messages is a great way to exchange information with co-workers and friends without making inconvenient telephone calls or crowding inboxes with e-mail messages. You start the conversation with one person, and you can then add more people.
Instant message conversations are held in a conversation window that you can resize by dragging its frame. Unless you explicitly save it, the text in the conversation window is lost when you close the window.
In this exercise, you will send and receive instant messages with one or more online contacts.
BE SURE TO have an active Internet connection available, start Windows Messenger, and configure at least two online contacts before beginning this exercise.
Follow these steps:
If you did not select the Windows Messenger automatic logon option, sign in now using your .NET Passport account.
Windows Messenger starts, displaying your name, e-mail account status, and contact list.
Double-click the name of the online contact you want to chat with.
A conversation window opens:
At this point, your contact hasn’t received any indication that you are going to send a message.
Type a message in the input box, and click Send or press ENTER.
The message is displayed in the conversation area. A conversation window opens on your contact’s computer so that he or she can reply to you.
Tip
For information about customizing your message font, refer to "Setting Up Windows Messenger" earlier in this chapter.
The status of your conversation is shown in the status bar at the bottom of the conversation window. The status bar tells you when your contact is typing a response. When your contact clicks the Send button, the response appears in the conversation area on both your screens. You can continue this conversation for as long as you like, and you don’t need to receive a response to continue your side of the conversation:
To add another contact to your conversation, click Invite Someone to this Conversation on the I want to menu, select the contact in the Add Someone to this Conversation dialog box, and click OK.
A notification appears in the conversation area that a new person has been added to the conversation. The next time you send a message, a conversation window will open on the new person’s computer, and he or she can join in.
Multiple people can chat within the conversation, and anyone can leave at any time. Comings and goings are recorded in the conversation window like this:
When you no longer want to participate in the conversation, click the conversation box’s Close button to leave the conversation.
Click Windows Messenger’s Close button to close the conversation window.
The program is still running and is represented by its icon in the notification area of the taskbar.
Expressing Emotions Online
One frequent complaint about electronic communications is that emotions and intent are not always clear in typewritten messages—which can lead to miscommunication between co-workers and friends. One way to clarify emotions and intent is with emoticons. Emoticons are graphic images that are created by typing a series of keyboard characters. These character combinations are used in electronic messages to express a sentiment.
The first emoticons represented emotions (hence the name). Recent technology has enabled the development of another series of emoticons: playful symbols representing people and things that make an amusing (if sometimes unnecessary) addition to electronic communications.
Emotions are represented by these character combinations:
Symbol | Meaning | Character combination |
|---|---|---|
Angel | (A) or (a) | |
Angry | :-@ or :@ | |
Confused | :-S or :s | |
Crying | :’( | |
Devil | (6) | |
Disappointed | :- |or :| | |
Embarrassed | :-$ or :$ | |
Eye-rolling | 8-) | |
Growling | 8o| | |
Hot | (H) or (h) | |
I don’t know | :^) | |
Nerd | 8-| | |
Open-mouthed | :- D or:d | |
Party | <:o) | |
Sad | :-( or :( | |
Sarcastic | ^o) | |
Sealed lips | :-# | |
Sick | +o( | |
Secret-telling | :-* | |
Sleepy | |-) | |
Smile | :-) or :) | |
Surprised | :-O or :o | |
Thinking | *-) | |
Tongue out | :-P or :p | |
Wink | ;-) or ;) |
People, symbols, and things are created by typing these character combinations in a program that supports emoticons:
Symbol | Meaning | Character combination |
|---|---|---|
Airplane | (ap) | |
Auto | (au) | |
Beer mug | (B) or (b) | |
Birthday cake | (^) | |
Black sheep | (bah) | |
Bowl | (||) | |
Boy | (Z) or (z) | |
Broken heart | (U) or (u) | |
Camera | (P) or (p) | |
Cat face | (@) | |
Clock | (O) or (o) | |
Coffee cup | (C) or (c) | |
Computer | (co) | |
Dog face | (&) | |
(E) or (e) | ||
Filmstrip | (~) | |
Gift with a bow | (G) or (g) | |
Girl | (X) or (x) | |
Island with a palm tree | (ip) | |
Left hug | ({) | |
Light bulb | (I) or (i) | |
Lightning | (li) | |
Martini glass | (D) or (d) | |
Mobile phone | (mp) | |
Money | (mo) | |
MSN Messenger | (M) or (m) | |
Musical note | (8) | |
Pizza | (pi) | |
Plate | (pl) | |
Red heart | (L) or (l) | |
Red lips | (K) or (k) | |
Red rose | (F) or (f) | |
Right hug | (}) | |
Sleeping half-moon | (S) | |
Snail | (sn) | |
Soccer ball | (so) | |
Star | (*) | |
Stormy cloud | (st) | |
Telephone receiver | (T) or (t) | |
Thumbs down | (N) or (n) | |
Thumbs up | (Y) or (y) | |
Umbrella | (um) | |
Vampire bat | :-[ or :[ | |
Wilted rose | (W) or (w) |
If you don’t want the character combinations to be displayed as emoticons in your instant messages, do either of the following in Windows Messenger:
On the Tools menu, click Options. On the Personal tab of the Options dialog box, clear the Show graphics (emoticons) in instant messages check box, and then click OK.
On the View menu of a message window, click Enable Emoticons to clear the check box.
If you don’t want to type the character combinations, click the Emoticons button in a message window to display a drop-down list of 34 common emoticons. Click any emoticon to insert it in the message box.
By default, your Windows Messenger status is set to Offline when you are not logged on, Online while you are working on your computer, and Away when you are inactive (not typing on your computer or using the mouse) for five minutes or more. You can change the inactive time setting, and you can choose from a variety of alternate settings that provide a bit more description to your Windows Messenger contacts.
Contacts can send you instant messages while you are Online, Away, or Busy. While you are Away or Busy, an alert at the top of the message window notifies them that you might not respond due to your status. If a contact tries to send you an instant message while you are Offline, an e-mail window opens so that they can send you an e-mail message instead.
The following notification tray icons indicate your Windows Messenger status:
If, for example, you receive an important phone call and want to indicate to your Windows Messenger contacts that you are unable to IM at this time, you could set your status to On The Phone.
In this exercise, you will change the length of inactive time that triggers the Away setting, and then experiment with different ways to change your online status.
BE SURE TO have an active Internet connection available before beginning this exercise. OPEN the Windows Messenger program window.
Follow these steps:
On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Preferences tab:
Look at the Windows Messenger icon in the notification tray. Note that it currently shows you as Online.
In the Show me as "Away" when I’m inactive for box, type
30, and then click OK.You can now remain inactive for longer without your Windows Messenger buddies thinking that you’re not around.
In the My Status area at the top of the Windows Messenger window, click your display name, and click Be Right Back.
The Windows Messenger icons in the My Status area and the notification tray change to reflect your new status. This status change is also visible to your Windows Messenger contacts.
On the File menu, point to My Status.
A list of status options opens:
The Windows Messenger icons change again.
In the notification tray, right-click the Windows Messenger icon. Point to My Status on the shortcut menu, and then click Appear Offline.
The Windows Messenger icon changes again.
CLOSE the conversation window and quit Windows Messenger.
Microsoft Outlook Express is an e-mail program that ships with Windows XP. With Outlook Express, you can quickly and easily connect to your existing e-mail server to send and receive e-mail messages and track your contacts. You can download e-mail from your server and work either online or offline. If you work offline, you can direct Outlook Express to connect to your server to send and receive e-mail messages at regular intervals. You can also block junk mail senders or other people or companies from whom you do not want to receive e-mail messages.
Outlook Express includes an Address Book in which you can keep track of information about your friends, family members, co-workers, customers, and anyone else you come in contact with. You can track multiple e-mail addresses, home and work contact details, family information, NetMeeting contact information, and even digital IDs. You can also create groups of contacts so that you can send e-mail to multiple people using only one address. You can export your contact list from the Address Book as a Microsoft Exchange Personal Address Book file or as a text-delimited file that can then be imported into Microsoft Office Excel, Microsoft Office Access, and a variety of other programs.
Tip
If you have configured Windows Messenger, the Address Book also displays your Windows Messenger contacts and their online status.
You can format your e-mail messages almost any way you like—using backgrounds, fonts, and colors—and you can create a personalized signature to automatically finish off each of your e-mail messages with a professional touch. You can send electronic business cards (vCards) to new contacts to give them all your contact information. If your contact uses Microsoft Office Outlook or Outlook Express, he or she can drop your vCard into his or her own electronic address book. If your contact information changes, you can send updated vCards to all your contacts.
An in-depth discussion about e-mail technology is beyond the scope of this book, but this topic discusses some of the basic concepts to ensure that you understand how to work with Outlook Express.
Most business people today have e-mail accounts at work. Many people also have separate e-mail accounts that they use for personal e-mail, either through their Internet service provider (ISP) or through a Web-based e-mail program such as MSN Hotmail. With Outlook Express, you can connect to each of your e-mail accounts through the same interface. You can also connect to newsgroups and Internet directory services, including BigFoot, VeriSign, and WhoWhere.
E-mail administration is managed through one or more e-mail servers—computers that manage your mailbox and send, receive, and distribute e-mail messages. E-mail servers operate under specific rules set by the server administrator. These rules govern the size of individual e-mail messages that can be sent and received, as well as the amount of space available for your individual mailbox. Incoming messages are handled by a server running one of three protocols : Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), or Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3). Each of these protocols has a different set of rules for handling e-mail messages; your network administrator or ISP will be able to tell you which protocol your server uses. Outgoing messages are handled by a server running Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
Tip
E-mail servers can do their jobs because every mailbox has a unique e-mail address. This address has two parts—the alias and the domain—separated by an at symbol (@). For example, the e-mail address [email protected] represents a user named someone who has an e-mail account on the microsoft.com domain (in other words, the person works at Microsoft). Business e-mail aliases generally consist of a person’s first and last name or initials. The domain name that follows is also where you’ll find that business’s Web site—simply replace the alias and the @ symbol with www and a period, and you have the URL. Exceptions are ISP and Web-based e-mail accounts, where the domain name leads to the service provider’s home page.
Within your mailbox, your e-mail is stored in a series of folders. The folder structure varies depending on your e-mail program. Outlook Express includes these folders:
Inbox. Your new messages are delivered to this folder.
Outbox. Messages that you have sent, but that have not yet been delivered to the e-mail server, are held in this folder. If you are working offline, messages are held here until the next time you connect to the server.
Sent Items. After you send a message to someone, a copy of it is stored in this folder. Depending on your e-mail program, you might have to stipulate that you want to save your sent messages.
Deleted Items. Deleted messages are stored here until you purge the folder. This is the Outlook Express equivalent of the Windows Recycle Bin.
Drafts. While you are preparing your message but before it has been sent, a copy of the message is saved periodically in the Drafts folder. If your e-mail program suddenly closes, or if you want to close the message and send it later, you can open the most recent version from this folder.
In addition to these standard folders, you can create your own folders in which you can organize your e-mail messages as you like. For example, you might create a folder for each project you’re working on and then move messages to the appropriate folders as they arrive. Folders help to keep your Inbox less cluttered and make it easier to find specific messages later.
When you’re using Outlook Express, you can choose whether you want to see all your e-mail folders and whether you want to synchronize your Outlook Express folders with the folders on your e-mail server. When you synchronize your folders, Outlook Express compares the folder on your computer to the folder on the server and updates both folders to the current status, downloading new messages to your computer and removing messages that have been deleted from either version.
In this exercise, you will configure Outlook Express to send and receive e-mail messages using your existing e-mail account.
BE SURE TO have an active network or Internet connection available and have your e-mail account name and password, the name and type of your incoming e-mail server, and the name of your outgoing e-mail server available before beginning this exercise.
Follow these steps:
On the Start menu, point to All Programs, and then click Outlook Express.
Outlook Express starts. If this is the first time you’ve started Outlook Express, the Internet Connection Wizard starts:
If the Internet Connection Wizard doesn’t automatically start, click Accounts on the Tools menu, and in the Internet Accounts dialog box, click the Add button, and then click Mail.
Enter your name as you want it to appear to recipients of e-mail messages from you, and then click Next to display the wizard’s second page:
Enter the e-mail address you want displayed to recipients of your messages, and click Next to move to the third page:
Type the names of your incoming and outgoing mail servers in the boxes. Then select the type of server that handles your incoming mail from the drop-down list, and click Next.
The Internet Mail Logon page is displayed, where the wizard prompts you for your e-mail account name and password:
If you clear the Remember password check box, Outlook Express will prompt you for your password each time you start the program.
Click Next, click Finish to close the wizard and then click Close to close the Internet Accounts dialog box.
Troubleshooting
If you are configuring Outlook Express for an IMAP server, you will also need to complete steps 7 through 12. The remaining exercises in this chapter show an IMAP account. If you have a POP3 or HTTP account and have any problems with steps 13 through 19, contact your system administrator or ISP.
Outlook Express prompts you to download the list of folders from your mail server. Click Yes.
Outlook Express downloads a list of folders and then displays the folders that are available for your account:
Double-click the folders you want to display.
An icon appears next to each folder you double-click to indicate that the contents of the folder will be downloaded.
Click OK to download the selected folders to your computer.
The account and folders are now displayed in your Folders list.
Click the account name to display the synchronization options:
Select the check boxes of the folders you would like to synchronize, and then click Synchronize Account.
E-mail messages from the selected folders are downloaded to your computer.
E-mail messages from folders that you did not select for synchronization will be downloaded the first time you select that folder for viewing.
In the Folders list, click Outlook Express.
Outlook Express now looks something like this:
In the Folders list, click Inbox to open your local Inbox.
On the View menu, click Layout.
The Window Layout Properties dialog box appears:
To enlarge your work area, clear the Contacts and Folder List check boxes.
Check that the Preview Pane options are selected as shown, and click OK.
Your Inbox now looks something like this:
In the preview pane, use the scroll bar to scroll through the contents of the welcome message.
In the Inbox, double-click the message to open it in its own window.
Initially, the message opens in a small window:
Click the message’s Maximize button.
The message expands to fill the screen.
CLOSE the message, and quit Outlook Express.
Although an in-depth tutorial on Outlook Express is beyond the scope of this book, it is certainly worth investigating the main capabilities of the program on your own. With Outlook Express, you can send and receive professional-looking e-mail messages with most of the features that are available in larger programs such as Microsoft Office Outlook. For example, you can use stationery, customize fonts, create personal signatures, request read receipts, and check the spelling of your messages. You can send fancy messages in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) or simple messages in plain-text format. You can also send and receive files that are sent with messages as attachments.
Tip
With an IMAP account, until you select a message you have received, Outlook Express downloads only the message header. As a result, you can’t see whether an e-mail message has an attachment until you select that e-mail message for viewing.
Each e-mail message that is displayed in Outlook Express is represented by an icon indicating the type of message and its priority and status. The most common icons include:
Category | Icon | Represents | Icon | Represents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Unread messages | Standard unopened message | Digitally signed | ||
Encrypted | Digitally signed and encrypted | |||
Read messages | Standard opened message | Replied to | ||
Digitally signed | Forwarded | |||
Encrypted | Digitally signed and encrypted | |||
Extra designations | Attachment | High priority | ||
Flagged for further action | Low priority |
A complete list of icons is available in the Outlook Express Help file.
In this exercise, you will send, receive, reply to, and delete e-mail messages.
BE SURE TO have an active network or Internet connection available and set up Outlook Express as your default e-mail program before beginning this exercise.
Follow these steps:
On the Start menu, click E-mail.
Tip
If Outlook Express is not the default e-mail program, click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Outlook Express.
Outlook Express opens, looking something like this:
Click Outlook Express on the Folder bar to display a list of available folders:
Click the Inbox folder for your e-mail account.
The Folder List closes.
On the toolbar, click the Create Mail button.
A New Message form opens with a blank background.
In the To box, type your own e-mail address (the one you used to configure this account).
In the Subject box, type
Test message.As you type, the text of the subject line is repeated in the title bar.
In the body of the message, type
This is a test of sending a new e-mail message.Your message is displayed in the font that is selected and shown above the body of the message, which is the default for all messages.
On the message form’s toolbar, click the Send button.
Outlook Express sends the new message and then receives it in your Inbox:
Double-click the message to open it.
On the message window’s toolbar, click the Reply button.
Tip
Always check to see if anyone else appears on the To line or on the Cc line of the e-mail messages you receive. If you want your reply to be sent to everyone who received the original message, on the message window’s toolbar, click the Reply All button instead of the Reply button.
A new e-mail message form opens, set up so that you can respond to the message you received. The sender of the original message has been entered in the To line, and the original subject is preceded by RE: on the Subject line to indicate that this is a response.
In the message body, type
This is a test of replying to an e-mail message.Click the Send button.
Outlook Express sends your reply and then receives it in your Inbox.
Click the original e-mail message to select it, hold down CTRL, and click the reply e-mail message to add it to the selection.
On the toolbar, click the Delete button.
The e-mail messages are deleted from the Inbox. With IMAP accounts, the messages are still visible, but have been "crossed out" to indicate that they have been deleted.
If you have an IMAP account, click the double arrows at the right end of the toolbar to display all the options, and then click the Purge button.
The deleted e-mail messages are removed from your Inbox.
CLOSE Outlook Express.
Important
Most computer viruses are transmitted as e-mail attachments that aren’t dangerous to your computer until they are run. Some virus attachments must be opened to start, and others can activate themselves in the e-mail preview window. If you receive an e-mail message with an attachment from an unknown (or clearly bogus) source, right-click the message in the Inbox and click Delete on the shortcut menu to move it to the Deleted Items folder without opening or previewing it. Certain e-mail viruses redistribute themselves to everyone in the recipient’s address book without any outward sign. If you receive an e-mail message with an attachment from a known source, but the attachment is unexpected or gives you reason for concern (perhaps it has a strange name or file name extension), it is safest to reply to the message and request further information.
An e-mail stationery theme, or template, includes background colors or pictures, fonts, and margin settings. By default, the stationery theme applied to messages is a blank background, but Outlook Express comes with 14 stationery themes from which you can choose. Many more themes are available online.
If you don’t like any of the available themes, you can create your own using the Stationery Setup Wizard. You can create a new theme based on the current one, or you can create one of your own design.
In this exercise, you will create a simple stationery theme using the Stationery Setup Wizard.
BE SURE TO set up Outlook Express as your default e-mail program before beginning this exercise.
Follow these steps:
On the Start menu, click E-mail.
Outlook Express opens.
On the toolbar, click the down arrow to the right of the Create Mail button to display the stationery drop-down menu.
On the stationery menu, click Select Stationery.
The Select Stationery dialog box appears, showing the currently installed stationery options:
Click the Create New button.
The Stationery Setup Wizard starts.
Click Next to move to the wizard’s Background page:
Clear the Picture check box, and select the Color check box.
Click the down arrow to the right of the Color box, and click Purple in the drop-down list.
Your color choice is displayed in the Preview area.
Click Next to move to the Font page:
Click the down arrow to the right of the Font box, and click Verdana in the drop-down list.
Click the down arrow to the right of the Color box, and click White in the drop-down list.
Select the Bold check box.
Your choices are displayed in the Preview area.
Click Next to move to the Margins page.
The Preview area displays your background and font selections:
Make the following changes:
Click the up arrow to the right of the Left Margin spinner once to set it to 25 pixels.
Click the up arrow to the right of the Top Margin spinner once to set it to 25 pixels.
Click Next to move to the Complete page:
In the Name box, type
My Stationery, and then click Finish.Your new stationery is created, and the file is saved on your computer. (It is visible in the Select Stationery window.)
Click OK to open a new message form that uses your new stationery theme.
The purple background is immediately visible.
Click in the message body, and type
This is my custom stationery.Your message is displayed in bold, white, Verdana font.
Click the message form’s Close button to close the message without sending it.
When you are prompted to save the message, click No.
On the toolbar, click the down arrow to the right of the Create Mail button to display the stationery drop-down menu.
Your custom stationery is now available on this menu.
CLOSE Outlook Express.
Outlook Express incorporates an Address Book that you can use to add contacts to your Contacts list—and if you want, it will add contact information for you! With the Address Book, you can:
Store e-mail addresses, street addresses, phone numbers, and personal information about contacts or groups of contacts that are important to you.
Find people and businesses through Internet directory services, Web-based search engines that give you access to directory information from around the world.
Create groups of contacts for mailing lists. You might want a group for each project you’re working on, a group for external vendors, a group for family members, or any other type of group you want to e-mail collectively.
Share contacts with other people who use your computer.
Import information from and export information to other address books, including those from Microsoft Exchange, Netscape Communicator, Eudora Light, Eudora Pro, or any other program that exports comma-separated text files.
Send and receive electronic business cards that contain contact information in a format that can easily be merged into other people’s contact databases.
Print your Address Book information in a variety of formats so that you can carry it with you when you don’t have access to your computer or handheld electronic organizer.
By default, Outlook Express adds your Windows Messenger contacts to your Address Book, and adds e-mail contacts to the Address Book whenever you reply to them. This means that you can pretty much populate your address book without trying. It’s also easy to add new contacts manually.
In this exercise, you will add three new contacts to your Address Book and then create a group of contacts.
BE SURE TO set up Outlook Express as your default e-mail program before beginning this exercise.
Follow these steps:
On the Start menu, click E-Mail.
Outlook Express starts.
On the toolbar, click Addresses.
The Address Book opens:
Click the Address Book’s Maximize button so you can see its contents.
On the Address Book’s toolbar, click the New button, and then click New Contact on the drop-down menu.
A contact form appears.
Create the contact by typing the following:
In the First box, type
Catherine.In the Last box, type
Turner.In the Title box, type
Ms.In the E-Mail Addresses box, type
[email protected].Click the Add button.
The e-mail address is added and is designated as the default address, like this:
Click the Business tab, and then do the following:
In the Company box, type
The Garden Company.In the Street Address box, type
1234 Oak Street.In the City box, type
Seattle.In the State/Province box, type
WA.In the Zip Code box, type
10101.In the Web Page box, type
http://www.gardenco.msn.com.In the Phone box, type
(206) 555-0100.In the Fax box, type
(206) 555-0101.
Click the Home, Personal, Other, NetMeeting, and Digital IDs tabs, and review the options available there.
Click OK to add Catherine Turner to your Address Book.
Position the mouse pointer over Catherine’s Address Book entry.
Her contact information is displayed as a ScreenTip.
Repeat steps 5 through 9 to create an Address Book entry for Mr. Mike Galos. Mike’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Mike is the manager of The Garden Company, and he has the same business contact information as Catherine Turner.
On the Address Book’s toolbar, click the New button, and then click New Group on the drop-down menu.
A contact form appears:
In the Group Name box, type
Work.Click Select Members.
The Select Group Members dialog box appears:
Click Catherine Turner, and then click Select.
Catherine is moved to the Members list.
Click Mike Galos, and then click Select.
Mike is moved to the Members list.
Click OK to close the Select Group Members dialog box.
The Work Properties dialog box now lists two members.
Click the New Contact button to add a new group member who doesn’t yet exist in the address book.
A contact form appears.
Repeat steps 5 through 9 to add Ms. Kim Yoshida. Kim’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Kim is the purchasing manager at The Garden Company and has the same business contact information as Catherine and Mike.
After you have entered Kim’s information, click OK to close the Kim Yoshida Properties dialog box.
Kim is automatically added to the Work group.
Click OK to close the Work Properties dialog box.
Your three contacts are listed in the right pane of the Address Book, and the Work group is shown in the left pane.
In the Address Book, select the Work group, and then click Delete.
Click Yes when asked to confirm the deletion.
Select and delete each of the contacts you created in this exercise.
CLOSE the Address Book, and then quit Outlook Express.
Windows XP includes the tools you need to communicate with others: Windows Messenger for instant messaging and Outlook Express for e-mail.
By attaching your .NET Passport or.NET Passport–enabled account to your
Windows XP user account, your contact list is available to you in Windows Messenger and Outlook Express.
You can easily personalize your IM and e-mail communications to reflect your unique personality.