Setting Up Email in Outlook Express

Open Outlook Express and click Tools in the Menu. The following drop down menu will appear. Select Accounts to set up a new email account on your computer.

My Outlook Express
Window

Once in this Internet Accounts window, make sure the Mail tab is selected. Click Add/Mail.

Don't forget to click the Next > button to move on ...

 Your first window will ask for Your
Display Name. See Instructions in
the picture to the left.

Don't forget to click the Next > button to move on ...

 Easy, put in your new email address ...

This is a critical page, and the reason most ISP's give you a CD, and why AOL, as much as I disdain them, have been so successful.
AOL gives you a free CD that sets all this up for you (clever). You must enter an Incoming and Outgoing Mail Server Address for your email account to work. In the old days, ISP's (people you pay to have Internet access; stands for Internet Service Provider) use to ask you to bring your computer in. They would set your IP address or web browser to connect to the Internet, and set up your email. But with the wizards in Windows 98, you can do it yourself. Who needs cheap text based email from AOL when you can have fancy POP3 email (formatable) from your typical ISP for less money per month, if only you'll set up your accounts using this wizard.
My incoming and outgoing mail server addresses with my ISP are the same: mail.academicplanet.com ... but I have other domains I own and have email with. For example, my web design site's incoming mail server address is only my domain name dot com, no mail in the front; like mydomain.com Even if you have several email accounts on one computer, your Outgoing mail server address is usually always whomever you are connecting to the Internet thru. I connect to the Internet at home thru AcademicPlanet.com, therefore all my Outgoing mail server addresses are mail.academicplanet.com ... I once had a web host that required an incoming mail server address of pop3.mydomain.com ... check your documentation or the host's web site. Check your account paperwork, or your ISP's web site, to see what your Incoming and Outgoing mail server addresses are. Remember, this POP3 email wizard does not apply to web (Internet) based email accounts, like a freebie you would get with Yahoo or some other web community.
Put in the user name and password you selected or were assigned by your ISP or web host. I always check the 'Remember password' box at home, but if others have access to your computer, and you don't want them taking a peek, I'd leave it unchecked - you'll have to enter it each time you log on.

As it says, Congratulations, you're done ... so click Finish.

BUT, I'd do one more thing after clicking Finish ... see the next picture:
Go back to your menu in Outlook Express and Select Tools again. But this time, select Options, instead of Accounts. The following window should appear with the General tab already selected. If you have not changed this yet, your Outlook Express comes with a default of 30 minutes that it will automatically check for new messages. That seems very long to wait to me. I want my Outlook Express, when I'm connected to the Internet, to be checking for new emails every 3 or 4 minutes. This is the window that you change this in (see red circle). You can also change your default fonts when you send a new email, insert Signatures, and make other changes to your email in this Options window. Click the different tabs and select the settings you'd like. I always remove the 'Automatically put people I reply in my address book' setting. I like my OE to open in the Inbox (see the check box down below?), etc. And I definitely want Spell Check on before my emails are sent ... It's your call; experiment.

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