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Outlook Express 4 Options
General Tab
- Check for New Messages every X minutes:
This will have Outlook Express check for messages at the interval specified as long as it is open. - Play New Sound when messages arrive:
Plays a sound when you have new mail - Empty items in 'Deleted Messages' folder on exit:
Clears the folder on exit. If not checked, you'll need to manually clear this folder. - Automatically put people I reply to in Address Book:
Choose this option to have people you reply to put in you address book. - Make Outlook Express my default e-mail client:
Choose this if you want OE to open when you click mail links in your browser or other programs. - Make Outlook Express my default news client:
Choose this if you want OE to open when you click on news links. - When starting, go directly to 'Inbox':
This will have Outlook Express go directly to your Inbox, bypassing the normal starting screen. - Notify me of new newsgroups:
This will notify you of new newsgroups when you connect to the news server. - Automatically display folders with new messages:
This will open the folder tree when there are new messages in a folder.
Send Tab
- Mail and News Sending Format:
These two options let you decide whether to send or post in plain text or HTML. As a rule of thumb, it is considered rude to use HTML when posting to newsgroups so be sure to choose Plain Text for news. As for mail, be aware that not everyone can view HTML mail and it may show up as a big jumbled mess to those who can't view HTML. Use your best judgment when choosing a mail sending style. - Include Message in Reply:
If you want to include the original message in the reply, choose this option. - Send Messages Immediately:
Choose this option if you want messages to be sent as soon as you click the send button instead of waiting for you to click the Send & Receive. - Automatically Complete E-mail Addresses When Composing:
This will have OE fill in e-mail addresses as you type them; much like the auto-complete feature of IE 4.0.
Read Tab
- Message is Read after being previewed for X seconds:
Will mark the messages as read after so many seconds for showing them in the preview pane. the setting shown below marks them read as soon as they show in the preview pane. - Download x headers at a time:
This can be used to set a limit on the number of headers that you want to download at a time. - Automatically expand conversation threads:
You can choose whether or not you want to see the replies to all the messages at once, or, would like to see the original post only, and then click on a plus (+) to see the replies. The setting shown below will show you all the replies in the thread. - Automatically show news messages in the Preview Pane:
Self explanatory. - Mark all messages as read when exiting a newsgroup:
Will mark all the messages as read when you move to a new group, very useful if you have a large amount of unread messages that you just want to skip over. - Automatically Show Picture Attachments in Message:
It will automatically decode and show pictures as part of the message as opposed to you having to manually do it.
Spelling Tab
Everything here is pretty self explanatory. You must have Microsoft Office, Works, or a some other product which uses the Microsoft spell checking feature to be able to use it in Outlook Express.
Security Tab
This tab will outline the security settings that you will use to define your security for your e-mail. It's also where you can obtain and use Digital Certificates. For more information on that, click the More Info... button on this tab.
Dial-Up Tab
This concerns your Internet connection options. If you set your Mail and News accounts to use the same connection that IE4 uses as we recommend, this will be greyed out as shown below.
Advanced Tab
This tab should only be modified by advanced users.
Need Additional Help?
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- The help file for the application you are using.
- Our FAQs.
