| SET UP AN EMAIL ACCOUNT |
In this second section, which continues from the previous section, I am going to show you how to set up an existing email account using the Thunderbird email client. Therefore, it is assumed you already have Mozilla Thunderbird installed. If not, read the previous section (Install Thunderbird Email Client).
Thunderbird is an E-Mail Client (program) that allows you to automatically login to an existing email account in order to then send and receive email, amongst other things. The beauty of this is that you do not need to login to your Web Mail email account (i.e. TalkTalk website email account) in order to send and receive email. Thunderbird is roughly the same as Windows Mail (see the Windows Mail sections) and therefore ideal if you do not have Windows Mail installed and/or if you have seen Thunderbird in action and liked what you saw.
In this example I will show you how to launch the Account Wizard using thunderbird directly. In the previous section the Migration Wizard was launched,
but not shown or exampled. Therefore I will now show those who already have thunderbird installed and open, but do not know how to set up an existing
email account for whatever reason(s), how to launch the Account Wizard.
To launch the Account Wizard you first need to launch Thunderbird by double clicking on its Desktop Icon for example, depending on what icons are
installed. When thunderbird has launched (Fig 1.1 below) close down (exit) the two migration/account thunderbird windows that appear after each other
(this only as a first time user) and then click on the TOOLS menu and select the ACCOUNT SETTINGS menu-item. This will bring up the Account Settings
window (Fig 1.2) whereby you then need to click on its ACCOUNT ACTIONS drop-down menu in order to select the ADD MAIL ACCOUNT menu-item to continue.
After clicking on the ADD MAIL ACCOUNT menu-item (Fig 1.2 above) the Account Wizard is launched (Fig 1.3 below). It is this Account Wizard window that
also launces at the end of the previous section (but is not shown or exampled). Therefore, regardless of you coming from the previous section or you
using an already installed version of thunderbird, you will now be able to continue in the set up of an existing email account.
In this example I am going use my TalkTalk email account, which I set up from the TalkTalk website
(my Broadband provider's website). TalkTalk members please note - DO NOT USE YOUR BROADBAND USER NAME & PASSWORD - Use the email account that TalkTalk
offer you during set up of your modem/router or that you manually set up prior to receiving your modem/router. If you go to MY ACCOUNT on the TalkTalk
website you will see an area called Web Mail. It is that email account I am using here. The TalkTalk POP and SMTP settings, which you will need later,
are Here. They apply to Windows Mail and Thunderbird account settings.
The first step in the account wizard (below) requires your Display Name (the name people will know you by when they receive an email from you) and
your Email Address. In this example I have chosen the display name as John White but this could easily of been John Computers, Free Computer Lessons and
so on if I were using the email account for this website. You normally use your real name though, of course, which I have done here. The email address I
am using, as said above, is my TalkTalk email address. When you have entered your details click on the CONTINUE button to continue.
After clicking on the CONTINUE button the account wizard automatically tries to set up the rest of the email account for you, which defaults to using IMAP Protocol settings instead of POP Protocol settings - POP Protocol settings that are required in this example and generally used instead of IMAP Protocol settings. Therefore you either need to click on the STOP button straight away, to avoid IMAP Protocol settings being found for your email account, or let the IMAP Protocol settings be found but then click on the EDIT button to change those settings into POP Protocol settings. On top of this you also have the START OVER link option. In this example I have allowed the IMAP Protocol settings to be found (Fig 1.5) before I then changed them into POP Protocol settings (Fig 1.6).
If your broadband company has supplied you with IMAP Protocol settings, as opposed to POP Protocol settings, make sure those settings match the ones the account wizard found. The same goes for the SMTP Protocol settings. If any settings are not the same click on the EDIT button, modify them and then click on the RE-TEST CONFIGURATION button to continue. And if they are the same click on the CREATE ACCOUNT button to continue. Any IMAP, POP and SMTP settings needed here would have been posted to you, via mail and/or email, by your ISP (Internet Service Provider/Broadband Company). These settings should also be available on their website.
Without being technical - IMAP and POP ports are used for Incoming/Receiving email and a SMTP port is used for Outgoing/Sending email. These ports are monitored by security softwares for example in order to protect your incoming and outgoing email. The main differences between IMAP and POP are; IMAP leaves your emails on your isp's (internet service provider's/broadband company's) server and initially only allows you to view email headings such as Hi John, Its Only Me! When you click on a heading its email message is then downloaded for your viewing. So IMAP only downloads the email messages you want to read and therefore saves bandwidth by not downloading all of your email headings and their messages at once. POP is the total opposite. It downloads all of your emails (headings and messages) at once and then clears your broadband server (delete your emails form it).
In this example my POP (also known as POP3) setting is pop.talktalk.net and my SMTP setting is smtp.talktalk.net. Other companies may
use pop. pop3 or mail for example as their POP setting and smtp or mail for example as their SMTP setting. Also. Some companies might
use different service (domain) names depending on the broadband/internet package you have. For example. Orange use wanadoo.co.uk,
fsmail.net and orangehome.co.uk whereas BT use btinternet.com and btclick.com amongst others. With many companies merging these days it
is important that you are using the correct POP and SMTP details that go with your particular broadband/internet package.
If you have made any neccessary changes in the account wizard click on the RE-TEST CONFIGURATION button to continue (Fig 1.6 above).
Hopefully all is well and you have something like the following when the account wizard has retested your new email account settings
(configuration). If so, click on the CREATE ACCOUNT button to continue. Otherwise change some, incorrect?, detail(s) before clicking on
the RE-TEST CONFIGURATION button again - You may have to change the SMTP security setting (i.e. NONE to SSL) or even click on the START
OVER button if all is not well.
Before the email account can be fully created the account wizard may warn you about any IMAP, POP and/or SMTP ports that are currently unsecure. In this case just click on the I UNDERSTAND THE RISKS option in order to create the email account. You can change the security settings later, if need be, once the email account has been created.
Regardless if you have your account settings set up properly or not, click on the OK button (above) to completely finish off this installation of an existing email account. Then go and test your email account by clicking on the GET MAIL button to receive email (if anyone has sent you any) and on the WRITE button to create/send a new email. If your email account works it works of course, but if it does not work simply go back to the Account Settings window (TOOLS >> ACCOUNT SETTINGS) and change the settings that you feel need changing before retesting your email account.
As said above, you may need to set up extra settings in order to get your email account fully working in Thunderbird. These extra settings are normally to do with Authentication, Server Ports and so on. Security settings basically.
| SET UP EXTRA SECURITY SETTINGS |
If your ISP (Internet Service Provider) requires your email account to have more security applied to it they will usually ask for Server Ports (connection
channels) to be changed and Authentication to be applied, so that they can verify even more that it is you using the email account to send/receive email.
To change the POP Mail Server PORT NUMBER for example go to thunderbird's TOOLS menu and click on the ACCOUNT SETTINGS menu-item (Fig 1.1 above). When
the Account Settings window appears click on the SERVER SETTINGS heading, underneath your email account name, and then click inside the POP MAIL SERVER
edit box to change the PORT NUMBER. When you have done so, click on the OK button to apply the new setting (port number).
In this example I have not changed any settings - I am just showing you where to go to change them. The POP Mail Server's PORT NUMBER is normally set to 110, but you may be asked to change it by your ISP as said above. Also. If your ISP wants you to Use Secure Authentication you should put a tick next to the USE SECURE AUTHENTICATION option, underneath the SECURITY SETTINGS heading, otherwise leave it unticked.
To change the SMTP Mail Server PORT NUMBER you need to click on the OUTGOING SERVER (SMTP) heading and then click on the EDIT button. Doing so will bring up the SMTP Server window (Fig 2.2) where you can then change the PORT NUMBER, and give these settings a name, if need be. Again. I have not changed any settings here because I am just showing where to find them.
Normally you use the same server to send and receive your e-mail, because your contract is with the same company (i.e. TalkTalk). However.
In some cases you might of discontinued your contract with another ISP but are still allowed to access your e-mail on their server for
the next three months, for example, until the contract comes to a complete end. In which case you might want/need to set up the POP Mail
Server settings to use the pop mail server settings of that discontinued ISP (so you can still receive your e-mail from their server) and
set up the SMTP Mail Server settings for use with your existing ISP.
In other words; If you have just discontinued from BT but still want
to receive your e-mail from them (off their mail server) you would set up the POP Mail Server to use mail.btinternet.com for example. If
you then wanted to send e-mail as john.smith@btinternet.com you would set up the SMTP Mail Server to use talktalk.net for example. This
means that your new ISP (TalkTalk) would be the one to send your e-mail as john.smith@btinternet.com. This kind of thing is where
Authentication would come into play, but you would need to ask your current ISP (i.e. TalkTalk) if this is possible in your particular
case.
In the above example I am selecting the NO AUTHENTICATION menu-item, from the AUTHENTICATION drop-down menu, because my TalkTalk settings
(email account) do not require Security And Authentication. With that setting not selected I cannot send email, but as soon as I select it
all is well. If I wanted to set up a yoingco.com email address, that sends out email using my talktalk broadband connection, I would need to
select one of the PASSWORD menu-items.....with contactjohn@yoingco.com for example used as the email address. This is basically how you get private
domain name, and other types of domain name, email addresses (such as contactjohn@yoingco.com) working with thunderbird.
So the above is how you set up Thunderbird to send and receive email - Email that you would normally send and receive using your ISP's
website (their Web Mail service to be precise). In the next sections I will be showing you; How to create an email.....with attachments
(attached files), How to send an email and so on.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.
