Troubleshooting Outlook email connections
Here’s how to troubleshoot your Outlook connections to POP, IMAP and SMTP accounts. Outlook has a ‘Test Account Settings’ button that makes testing a lot easier (also Auto Configuration for many accounts). It’s there when you setup or change account settings. Click on the button and Outlook will try to receive and send messages using […]
Moving from your old email address made easier
It’s hard to move from an email account you’ve used for years, but there’s a simple way to make the move easier. The main reason why Internet Service Providers give email accounts with all their connections (dial-up or broadband) is to make it harder for you to switch to another connection. If you’ve used their […]
‘Outlook’ hacked by Chinese government?
Many reports about hacking into ‘Outlook’ had many regular Outlook software users rightly worried, especially if they are in China, Hong Kong or Macau. Don’t panic – a lot of the reporting was poorly worded and showed an ignorance of the difference between Outlook software (as sold/rented with Microsoft Office) and Outlook.com, Microsoft’s free email […]
SMTP and sending messages on the road
It’s been a long-standing problem for laptop users – you have Outlook running nicely at home but when you travel it’s impossible to send messages. Here’s what’s happening and how to avoid it. The fix, that should work for most situations is to change the Outlook account settings to login for both receiving and sending […]
IMAP problems in Outlook after Microsoft updates
It’s happened again … Microsoft releases updates for Outlook which break the important IMAP feature that many people rely upon. After installing some of the November 2014 updates, some Outlook users find their IMAP or Exchange Server connections stop synchronizing. And Microsoft’s response has been typical – almost complete silence. You won’t find a Knowledge […]
Winmail.dat – what it is and how to fix it
It’s an old problem that keeps coming up – an email arrives with a winmail.dat attachment. We’ll explain and how to fix it from receivers and senders point of view. Winmail.dat problems were once common. They don’t happen a lot these days because Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Server both have default options to stop it. […]
Winmail.dat – what to do if you get one
It’s an old problem that keeps coming up – an email arrives with a winmail.dat attachment. We’ll explain and how to fix it from receivers point of view. Winmail.dat problems were once common. They don’t happen a lot these days because Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Server both have default options to stop it. But Office-Watch.com […]
How to stop sending winmail.dat
Here’s what to do if someone complains that you’re sending winmail.dat attachments with your emails. The problem is in Outlook and you need to change some settings. The setting might be global for all emails but you may need to check the settings for an individual contact or email address. Overall Setting New messages are […]
Is AutoCorrect making you boring or stupid?
The BBC has an interesting piece on the effect of AutoCorrect and word suggestions for quicker typing. I dunno about ‘boring’ but AutoCorrect in Office does have a downside – it makes you and your typing fingers stupid. If you type stupdi into Word it will fix it to stupid as soon as you […]
Send Outlook emails when not on the Internet
Of course, you can’t fully send emails from Outlook if the computer isn’t connected to the Internet … but it’s surprising how many people don’t know they can write and click Send any time – whether the computer is connected to the Internet or not. We often use the relatively interruption free time on planes […]
Read Jeb Bush’s emails in Outlook
The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting has released the emails of Governor Jeb Bush during his tenure as Florida’s governor. That’s of interest to us since the information is available in its original Outlook data file form. Before anyone gets angry with us … we are not making any political comment here nor any statement […]
FedEx email that isn’t
A friend is expecting a parcel via Fedex and got the email shown below, so they wondered if it was really from the courier company or not. This particular email got past both the Gmail and Outlook spam filters. We thought it was a good example to use of the tell-tale signs to look for […]
New Outlook for Mac
Microsoft has released a new version of Outlook for Macintosh computers with new features but it’s not available to everyone. This Outlook is separate from Outlook 2011 that comes with Office 2011 for Mac. It’s called Outlook for Mac version 15 and is only available to Office 365 subscription/rental customers. Office 365 Personal, Home, University […]
More Outlook Category tips
These days, Outlook Categories are saved within the PST data file. If you move the PST to a new computer, the categories will move too. Exchange Server saves categories with each user mailbox and they show up automatically when you login (even with Outlook Web Access). Backup and Restore Even so, there’s occasions when it’s […]
Compare your SSD with an endurance test
Is your solid state drive getting near the end of its life? Here’s how to find out. Solid State Drives (SSD’s) are a great option for anyone looking to speed up the computer, especially Outlook. Starting up Windows and major programs like Outlook is noticeably faster. Either get an SSD with a new computer or […]
Outlook annoyance with Exchange Server
More than a few Outlook users have seen this error message “The Microsoft Exchange administrator has made a change that requires you quit and restart Outlook” Problem is, the Microsoft message is lying! All too often Outlook users restart Outlook, even restart the computer, but the same message keeps appearing. Grrrrrr. Happily you can click […]
