Running Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

Most people are initially concerned with setting up a mail account so they can send and receive e-mail. But there's a wealth of information to explore in newsgroups, so you'll probably want to set up a news account as well. Both types of account setup are described here.

Setting Up Mail Accounts

The standards for Internet mail specify separate servers for inbound and outbound mail, so you must have accounts on both servers to send and receive mail. Some ISPs, such as MSN (The Microsoft Network), automatically configure Outlook Express when you install their software, but many others require manual configuration. If your ISP gave you a list of account codes and passwords when you opened your account, you'll need that list now.

To set up a new Outlook Express mail account:

1. Start Outlook Express.
2. Open the Tools menu and choose Accounts. The Internet Accounts dialog box appears.
3. Click the Add button and choose Mail.

The Internet Connection Wizard starts.

4. Use the information supplied by your ISP to fill in the blank fields in the wizard.

TIP

To see a list of your mail accounts, including the ones that you set up with the Internet Connection Wizard and those that were installed automatically, click the Mail tab in the Internet Accounts dialog box. If you have accounts on more than one mail server, Outlook Express checks for new mail on each of them unless you have specifically excluded one or more accounts, as explained in the following section.

Viewing and Changing Account Properties

To view or change a mail account's current configuration, select the name of the account on the Mail tab and click the Properties button to open the properties dialog box for the selected account, or double-click the name of the account.

Normally, Outlook Express checks all your mail accounts every time you choose the Send And Receive All command or click the corresponding toolbar button. To exclude an account, click the General tab in the properties dialog box and clear the check box at the bottom of the screen labeled Include This Account When Receiving Mail Or Synchronizing.

Setting Up News Accounts

Most accounts you set up with an ISP also include access to their news server. To set up Outlook Express to access news messages from a news server, you'll need the information supplied by your ISP or other news provider:

1. Open Accounts from the Tools menu and choose News.
2. Click the Add button and choose News.
3. Use the information supplied by your ISP to fill in the blank fields in the wizard. You can view the names of your news accounts on the News tab in the Internet Accounts dialog box and adjust their settings by clicking the Properties button. The All tab shows your mail accounts, your news accounts, and your directory service accounts.