Fig 1.0 Double click on the WINDOWS LIVE MAIL desktop icon to launch Windows Live Mail
Fig 1.1 Click on the WINDOWS LIVE MAIL menu-item to launch Windows Live Mail - START button >> ALL PROGRAMS >> WINDOWS LIVE folder
| GETTING STARTED WITH WINDOWS LIVE MAIL |
This section will teach you how to set up an e-mail account, using an existing e-mail address, for use with Windows Live Mail. In the previous section I showed you how to download and install Windows Live Mail, and explained a little about the Mail Servers - The, ISP/Broadband Company, computers (servers) that are responsible for the email you send and receive. Now I will briefly explain the e-mail.
An e-mail is a data file that must contain at least one E-Mail Address (i.e. contactjohn@yoingco.com), a Subject (i.e. Photos Attached) and a Message (in the form of a small note or a letter). An e-mail can also contain one or more Files (i.e. Photographs and Documents) which are known as Attachments, but do not worry too much about this as e-mail Attachments, Sending, Receiving, Forwarding and so on will be explained in later sections.
Before launching windows live mail make sure you have the Main Internet (Broadband) Connection, as described in The Internet section, open. Windows live mail expects the main internet connection to be open so that it can use an Extended Internet Connection (also explained in The Internet section) to communicate directly with your ISP's computer. Therefore, there is no need to have Internet Explorer open - Internet Explorer, which uses its own extended internet connection to download/upload files and webpages, has nothing to do with windows live mail whatsoever. Failing to have the main internet connection open before launching windows live mail might result in errors and/or the Dial-Up requester appearing.
To launch windows live mail either click on its START Menu menu-item (shortcut icon) or double click on its Desktop icon (if one has been created). If you are using the START Menu menu-item you first need to click on the START Menu button, then on ALL PROGRAMS and then on the WINDOWS LIVE folder in order to launch Windows Live Mail.
As soon as you launch windows live mail the first window you will see is its copyright message window (Fig 1.2). A few seconds later the main window will appear (Fig 1.3).
If you have more than one e-mail client installed on your computer, such as Windows Live Mail and Microsoft Outlook, and windows live mail is not the default (normal) e-mail client to use the following message requester will appear when you start windows live mail. To make windows mail the default e-mail client, and to stop the message requester from appearing again, click on the YES button. Clicking on the NO button will allow you to use windows live mail but next time around the message requester will appear again.
| SET UP AN E-MAIL ACCOUNT |
Before you can send and/or receive e-mail you must first have an E-Mail Address & Password. You normally get an e-mail address & password when
you sign up with your ISP (Internet Service Provider). For example. When I signed up with BT OpenWorld they gave me one e-mail
address - yoingco@btinternet.com - and asked me to provide a password for it. I also have the e-mail address contactjohn@yoingco.com, with a password,
that I created for my yoingco.com website. I could also get a free e-mail address & password from the Internet, from Hotmail or Yahoo for example.
However. Companies that give a free e-mail address & password, such as Hotmail and Yahoo, normally want you to manage your e-mail using their website
only. To manage your e-mail using windows live mail usually means you have to have a paid-for e-mail address & password, such as an ISP's e-mail
address & password or a website owner's e-mail address & password.
At this stage you might be wondering "Why use Windows Live Mail? If I have an e-mail address & password I can check my e-mail from my ISP's website".
And this is true, but the whole point of windows live mail is that it does not rely on internet explorer and so does not inherit internet explorer's
problems (slow speed, pictures not showing correctly and so on). Windows Live Mail for example is faster at sending/receiving e-mail, it allows you to
manage more than one e-mail address & password, it is not bound to 250Mb of storage space (because it uses your hard drive space instead), it allows
you to import/export e-mails and e-mail addresses and is generally better (feature-wise) than an ISP's website based e-mail client.
In order to use windows live mail you must first set up an E-Mail Account for each e-mail address & password you want managing. So assuming you have
an e-mail address & password already continue from Fig 1.3 above by filling in the account details (below). If you have closed that Add An Email
Account window, for whatever reason(s), by clicking on its CANCEL button for example; you can reopen the Add An Email Account window by clicking on the
ADD E-MAIL ACCOUNT link on the left-side of the main window.
The Add An Email Account window (above and Fig 1.3) is the first window of the Email Account Wizard - Windows Live Mail has three account wizards. The E-Mail Account wizard, the Newsgroup Account wizard and the Contacts Directory Account wizard. What windows live mail has done with the ADD E-MAIL ACCOUNT link is take out the need to click on the TOOLS menu and select the ACCOUNTS menu-item (shown later) in order for you to then select one of the three account types just mentioned. So the ADD E-MAIL ACCOUNT link is a shortcut to the E-Mail Account wizard.
The first piece of information the email account wizard requires is your E-Mail Address, which needs to be typed into the EMAIL ADDRESS edit box. As said above, this is normally the e-mail address given to you by your ISP or a website owner e-mail address. So if you are with BT your e-mail address might be john.smith@btinternet.com. In which case that is what you would type into the edit box. In this example though I am not using my ISP e-mail address, I am using my Domain Name (website owner) e-mail address instead: contactjohn@yoingco.com.
After entering your e-mail address the next requirement is your Password. This will be the password you gave your ISP when setting up your P.A.Y.G, Anytime
or Broadband internet account. It needs to be typed into the PASSWORD edit box. In this example I have used the password belonging to my website e-mail
address - contactjohn@yoingco.com.
If you want to type in your password each time you send/receive e-mail untick the option REMEMBER PASSWORD and leave the PASSWORD edit box empty. This is
good for security reasons (i.e. you do not want any trace of your password left on the computer, such as in a password file). By putting a tick next to
the REMEMBER PASSWORD option you are telling windows live mail to download your password information, stored on your computer, each time you want your
ISP (or Website Hosting Server) to verify your e-mail account details. If you have to type your password each time it means the password is sent straight
down the telephone line, pure, and not sent down the telephone line as a password file for example.
The next edit box is the DISPLAY NAME edit box. It requires a name that people will see when they receive an e-mail from you. This could be a Business Name, Personal Name, Nickname or whatever. I could use Yoingco, FREE Computer Lessons or John White for example whereas if you were called David Jones you could use DJ Business LTD, Website Name or David Jones for example. Obviously you want to use something that is recognisable and not something that comes across as a Junk Mail name for example.
The MANUALLY CONFIGURE SERVER SETTINGS FOR E-MAIL ACCOUNT option is unticked (clear) by default, but in this example I have ticked (set) it to show you how to configure POP (Receive E-mail) and SMTP (Send E-Mail) server settings manually. Why? Because if you leave this option unticked windows live mail will use default POP and SMTP server settings for your e-mail account. So if you set up a TalkTalk e-mail account for example (i.e. yoingco@talktalk.net) windows live mail will use standard POP and SMTP server settings, which is okay if those server settings are up-to-date but what if TalkTalk change their POP and/or SMTP server settings? Windows Live Mail will be using the wrong settings. At least here, in this example, you will know how to edit those server settings if need be. So tick the MANUALLY CONFIGURE SERVER SETTINGS FOR E-MAIL ACCOUNT option and then click on the NEXT button to continue.
Clicking on the NEXT button (Fig 2.0 above) will take you to the server settings, e-mail account, window (above) where you can manually set up the POP
and SMTP server settings associated with your ISP (or Website Hosting) e-mail address.....as just mentioned.
POP and SMTP server settings should of been sent to you, via e-mail and/or post, by your ISP or Website Hosting company together with other e-mail account
details. The common server settings should be available from their website, or at least on the internet somewhere. If not, contact your ISP or Website
Hosting company directly for those common server settings. Although server settings are normally common they can vary from one ISP or Website Hosting
company to another. For example. One ISP might use mail (i.e. mail.btinternet.com) for both their POP and SMTP servers, whereas another ISP might use
pop3.ispname.co.uk and smtp.ispname.co.uk. So if you are unsure, perhaps because you have misplaced the original details, contact your ISP or Website
Hosting company and ask them "What are the POP and SMTP server details I have to enter into Windows Live Mail when setting up my E-Mail Account?".
Without being technical - IMAP and POP ports are used for Incoming/Receiving e-mail and a SMTP port is used for Outgoing/Sending e-mail. These ports are monitored by security softwares for example in order to protect your incoming and outgoing e-mail. The main differences between IMAP and POP are; IMAP leaves your e-mails on your isp's (internet service provider's/broadband company's) server and initially only allows you to view e-mail headings such as "Hi John, Its Only Me!". When you click on a heading its e-mail message is then downloaded for your viewing. So IMAP only downloads the e-mail messages you want to read and therefore saves bandwidth by not downloading all of your e-mail headings and their messages at once. IMAP also keeps a copy of your e-mails on the server by default. POP is the total opposite. It usually downloads all of your e-mails (headings and messages) at once and then clears the server of your e-mails, by default.
The MY INCOMING MAIL SERVER IS drop-down menu allows you to select the type of server (e-mail server), dictated by your ISP or Website Hosting company, that is used for your e-mail account. This will either be IMAP or POP3 - In this section and throughout this category I am exampling the POP (POP3) server based e-mail account because it is more common, and better for the home/residential user, than IMAP. Plus. Many ISP and Website Hosting companies use POP servers.
The incoming server (mail server) is the name of your isp's or website hosting company's Receiving E-Mail server. Their computer (server) that takes care of the e-mail you receive. It usually takes the format of pop, mail or pop3 followed by the domain name of your isp or website (i.e. mail.yoingco.com, pop3.ispname.co.uk and so on). In this example I have used this website's server incoming/pop details of mail.yoingco.com.
The LOGIN ID edit box requires the User Name (also known as Account Name) or E-Mail Address used to verify your e-mail account. This could be your broadband user name (i.e. Yoingco) or an e-mail address associated with your broadband account for example (i.e. yoingco@talktalk.net). This will depend on your particular ISP Account (i.e. broadband account). In this example I have used my website e-mail address (contactjohn@yoingco.com) but I could of used my broadband e-mail address instead (yoingco@talktalk.net).
The outgoing server (mail server) is the name of your isp's or website hosting company's Sending E-Mail server. Their computer (server) that takes care of the e-mail you send out. It usually takes the format of smtp or mail followed by the domain name of your isp or website (i.e. mail.yoingco.com, smtp.ispname.co.uk and so on). In this example I have used this website's outgoing/smtp server details of mail.yoingco.com.
The other settings on the above window are to do with Security and Authentication which may or may not be required. They are to do with checking the authentication of the user who is sending e-mail and the port settings that prevent junk mail and so on. Basically. Your isp or website hosting company will either require one or more of them or none of them. TalkTalk do not require them for example. However. In the case of a website e-mail address (i.e. contactjohn@yoingco.com) being used to send e-mail through their servers, they may require the MY SERVER REQUIRES AUTHENTICATION setting to be set (ticked) - This is something you may need to check with your isp as each website and its e-mail settings can be unique. In my case TalkTalk allow me to send and receive e-mail through their servers, for contactjohn@yoingco.com for example, with only the MY SERVER REQUIRES AUTHENTICATION authentication setting ticked. The other two settings (THIS SERVER REQUIRES A SECURE CONNECTION) are not needed for authentication in my case.
The above examples should be enough to get your email account, and more precisely its email address, working. However. As stated above, you may need to change other settings such as authentication settings before your email account/address is fully working. So in the next example I will show you how to view/alter the account settings for a particular email account.
| VIEW / MODIFY AN EMAIL ACCOUNT |
With windows live mail still open click on the TOOLS menu and then select the ACCOUNTS menu-item to begin viewing/modifying an email account. If you have closed windows mail simply open it by doubling on its desktop icon (Fig 1.0 above) or by clicking on its start menu icon in the WINDOWS LIVE folder (Fig 1.1 above). Either way, when windows live mail opens click on the TOOLS menu and then select the ACCOUNTS menu-item. Doing so will then open the Accounts window (Fig 3.1 below).
When the Accounts window opens it will list all of your Mail (E-Mail) Accounts plus the default News Account (which you can ignore) and the hidden (collapsed) Contacts Directory (which can also be ignored). As this example only contains one email account, the Yoingco account just created, I will select it and then click on the PROPERTIES button. This will then open the Properties window in order for me to view the specific settings belonging to the currently selected email account.
At this point it is worth noting that the email account has been named after the domain name (i.e. Yoingco) and the user name from the email address
(i.e. contactjohn), purely for identifying this email account. The reason I point this out is because when you have multiple email accounts with the
same domain name (i.e. contactjohn@yoingco.com and info@yoingco.com) it is better to rename each email account, if need be, to something more suitable.
I could change the email account name of Yoingco (contactjohn), currently inside the MAIL ACCOUNT edit box, to John Yoingco for example or FREE Computer
Lessons for example. It just makes things easier when checking your email.
Regardless if you change the email account name, inside the MAIL ACCOUNT edit box, or not click on the SERVERS Tab (window) to continue (Fig 3.2 above).
The SERVERS Tab has the server settings on it that should of been set up in the first part of this section. However. There are settings that still might
not work until you come to this stage. For example. The E-MAIL USERNAME edit box might be filled with just a username (i.e. contactjohn), but these days
you might need to extend it to include the domain name (i.e. yoingco.com). So instead of contactjohn only, I need to put contactjohn@yoingco.com into that
edit box before my account works properly.
Another setting that you might need to alter is the MY SERVER REQUIRES AUTHENTICATION. This might be switched off (unticked) by default, especially if your
ISP/Broadband company does not require authentication, but in this example I need it ticked. When it is ticked the SETTINGS button will become active in
order for you to set up and apply authentication settings. Clicking on the SETTINGS button will open the Outgoing Mail Server window.
With the Outgoing Mail Server settings you normally have the USE SAME SETTINGS AS MY INCOMING MAIL SERVER setting selected, if both the incoming and
outgoing mail servers are the same. In my case they are - both of them use mail.yoingco.com. However. If they were to use different servers (i.e. incoming:
mail.yoingco.com and outgoing: talktalk.net) I would need to select the LOG ON USING setting instead and then enter the authentication email address and
password associated with the outgoing server, which is normally the email address and password given to you by your isp/broadband company
(i.e. yoingco@talktalk.net) but in some cases can be a website email address (i.e. contactjohn@yoingco.com). These are details you would need to,
individually, clarify with your isp/broadband company.
After the SERVER Tab settings come the CONNECTION Tab settings, which can be ignored. These settings date back to the Dial-Up (P.A.Y.G/Anytime) Networks
whereby you may have had two or three different dial-up networks to choose from. These days though you normally have one broadband network and that's it.
Saying this though, these settings can still be used if you have a scenario of one broadband connection that you use at home for example and one dial-up
account that you dial-up when at a friend's house for example. This setting basically allows you to ALWAYS CONNECT to a certain account, therefore prevent
use of another account. Anyway. Just ignore the settings on this tab, and the SECURITY Tab settings, and move onto the ADVANCED Tab.
The main settings inside the ADVANCED Tab are to do with the Ports (Sockets/Channels) that each mail server uses (the Incoming/POP3 and Outgoing/SMTP ports).
These are usually set to 25 (Outgoing/SMTP) and 110 (Incoming/POP3), but can easily use another port number depending on your isp's/broadband company's
requirements.
The only other settings you need to worry about are the DELIVERY settings - LEAVE A COPY OF MESSAGES ON SERVER, when ticked, means you want windows live
mail to receive email from your isp's incoming/pop3 server (email computer) as normal, but you also want it to leave a copy of those same emails on your
isp's incoming/pop3 server. This is a good option if you have more than one computer whereby you want them both to receive the same email. If this option
is unticked you would not be able to do that because only one computer would receive the email before that email was then cleared (deleted) from your
isp's incoming/pop3 server.
The REMOVE FROM SERVER WHEN DELETED FROM 'DELETED ITEMS', when ticked, means you want to keep a copy of your emails on your isp's incoming/pop3 server
(as just explained) but also want to have each email you delete from the windows live mail 'Deleted Items' folder deleted from your isp's incoming/pop3
server as well.
The REMOVE FROM SERVER AFTER [?] DAYS, when ticked, means you want to keep a copy of your emails on your isp's incoming/pop3 server (as just explained)
but also want any windows live mail received email to be deleted from your isp's incoming/pop3 server after X amount of days. Any new email that has not
been received through windows live mail yet, but is still on your isp's incoming/pop3 server (as NEW email), should not be deleted.....until it has been
received by windows live mail first.
To add another email account just click on the TOOLS menu and then select the ACCOUNTS menu-item (to bring up the Accounts window). From there. Click on
the ADD button (to bring up the Add An Account window), select EMAIL ACCOUNT and then click on the NEXT button. This will bring you to the stage of
Fig 2.1 above. So from there simply enter your email account details/settings as exampled and explained above to create another email account within
windows live mail.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.
