* Editing HTML in Outlook Express By default, when you compose a new message, Outlook Express shows you what the message will look like to the recipient. For more precise editing, you can change this default view to a text-based HTML source code view. When you start a new message, click on Source Edit from the View menu. Three tabs on the bottom of the message window let you switch from Edit to Source Code to a simple Preview. This option is greyed out for text messages and is available only if your message is in HTML format. To convert your message into an HTML format, go to Tools > Options > Send and under sending mail format, select HTML. * Driver Memory Error When I start my computer, I get a ‘Driver Memory Error’ and the other day I got the message, ‘Kagou-Anti-Kro$oft says not today!’ If it is the first of the month and the time is after 5:00 p.m., the above message is displayed. It indicates that your machine is infected by the Kak worm. To remove the worm, execute the patch that is available at: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/peropsys/IE/IE-Public/Fixes/usa/Eyedog-fix/x86/q240308.exe. This patch will prevent further Kak worm infections. Next, execute the Kak cleaner, available at: http://tech.sheltonbbs.com/Files/KakCleaner.exe. It will get rid of all the Kak worms in your system. You can also remove the worm manually: 1. Turn off the Preview Pane option in Outlook Express. For this, go to View > Layout, uncheck the box for Preview Pane and click on Apply. 2. Delete your default e-mail signature if you have one from Tools > Options and then clicking on the Signatures tab. Highlight any signatures in the box and click Remove and apply. 3. Delete messages that are not needed and which may contain the embedded script. 4. Close your e-mail program. 5. Search for the files Kak.hta and Kak.html and delete them. 6. Open registry editor and search for instances of *.hta, and delete all those files. 7. Restart your computer and run a virus scanner to ensure the worm is gone. * Backing up e-mail messages Microsoft stores Outlook Express messages in a subfolder buried deep beneath the Windows folder. So, unless you have backed up this folder, it can mean disaster if you have a disk crash, or if you change your PC. With Outlook Express 5.5, you can specify the default folder where the e-mail messages are stored. Go to Tools > Options > Maintenance and click the Store Folder button. In the dialog box that comes up, select the folder where you want your e-mail messages to be stored. The path to your new folder now appears in the Store Location dialog box. Click OK to save this change, and click OK to the warning message that appears next. Close the Options dialog box, and restart Outlook Express. All your message files are now in a convenient location. Back up the entire contents of this folder and you will be prepared for any data losses. To restore or import your e-mail message folder back into Outlook Express, follow these steps: 1. In the File menu, point to Import, and click on Messages. 2. In the ‘Select an e-mail program to import from’ box, click on Microsoft Outlook Express 5, and then click on Next. 3. Click on Import mail from an OE5 store directory, and then click OK. 4. Click Browse, and then point to the folder that includes the files you want to import. 5. Select the folders you want imported, click Next, and then click Finish. * Backing up Address Books Outlook Express stores the address book as a file with the .Wab extension, and this file is normally located in the C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book folder. Use the Find or Search option in the Start menu to track down the Address Book file and back it up regularly. You can restore the address book using the Import Address Book option from the File menu. * Creating Stationery in Outlook ExpressYou can create your own stationery in Outlook Express. Go to Tools > Options > Compose and under Stationery, you can set the stationery you want to use for your e-mail messages. Clicking on Create New will start the Stationery Setup wizard, where you can choose the background by selecting a colour or a picture you want to use, select the font and the margins. This file is stored in the Stationery folder in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared. When sending a new message, you can select the stationery you made. Go to Format menu and click on Apply Stationery. The one you made will be listed. Select the file and your message will bear the look of the stationery you created. * Creating Signatures Set up your own signature from Tools > Options and clicking the Signatures tab. Click the New button and Signature #1 Default Signature will appear in the Signatures field. Add the text for the signature. You can also append a file as a signature by clicking on the file option, and selecting the file. You can browse for an HTML file to give your signature additional formatting. You can add more signatures for use with different accounts or situations. Clicking on the Advanced button will let you configure which signature to use with which account. For instance, you may have Outlook Express set up as your newsgroup reader and your e-mail client. You can choose one signature for outgoing newsgroup posts and another for e-mail messages. The Set As Default button lets you select either signature as the one to use when you fail to specify anything different. * Adding a signature-picker button on the toolbar Right-click anywhere on the toolbar (in the New Message window) and choose Customize. The Customize Toolbar window pops up. Click the Insert Signature button and then click the Add button. Once you see the Signature button switch sides, click Close. Now the message window features the Insert Signature button at the end. You will be able to select the signature after you type something in the New Message window. * Creating a shortcut for a New Message If you send e-mails regularly but don’t want to launch Outlook Express each time you have to write a new message, simply create a shortcut on the desktop. Right-click an empty space on the desktop, choose New, and then select Shortcut. When the Create Shortcut wizard opens, type mailto: in the Command Line text box and click Next to proceed to the Select a Title for the Program dialog box. Here, enter a name, such as New Message, for the shortcut. Finally, click Finish. You now have a desktop shortcut with a special mail icon. Simply double-click this icon to immediately open an Outlook Express New Message window. * Using digital signatures with Outlook Express Digital IDs, also called certificates, provide a means of proving your identity on the Internet. The certificates allow you to sign your e-mail messages so that the intended recipients can make sure that the message actually originated from you and has not been tampered with. You can obtain your Digital ID from a certifying authority such as Verisign. Next, you must associate your digital ID with the e-mail account you want to use it with. In Outlook Express, open Tools > Accounts. Select the account you want to use your ID with, click Properties > Security. Select ‘Use a digital ID when sending secure messages from’. Click Digital ID, and then select the digital ID you want to associate with this account. To digitally sign an e-mail message in Outlook Express, open Tools > Options > Security. Select Digitally sign all outgoing messages. You can also use the Digitally sign message button on the message toolbar. Signed e-mail messages are designated with special signed e-mail icons. Any problems with signed e-mail messages that you receive (described in Outlook Express security warnings) could indicate that the message has been tampered with or was not from the supposed sender. * Managing multiple e-mail accounts Within the same identity, it is possible to have multiple e-mail accounts. To set up new e-mail accounts, just go to Tools > Accounts and click the Mail tab. Click on Add to start the process of creating a newe-mail account. You will be asked for information such as your name, e-mail address, and POP and SMTP server address. Type in the information accordingly, and click on Finish when the process is over. You can configure this account and change the settings to do things such as leaving the e-mail messages on the servers itself, or not checking for e-mail every time you do a Send/Receive. You can also choose to make this account your default account if you so desire. * Importing mail account settings To import the details of your e-mail accounts from another e-mail client, in the File menu, point to Import, and then click Mail Account Settings. Select the e-mail client you want to import from and click Next. The settings for the e-mail account will appear. To accept these settings, select Accept Settings and then click Next. To change any of the settings, select Change Settings and then click Next. Use the Internet Connection wizard to step through the settings for the mail account. Make any changes you wish, and then click Next. On the Congratulations screen, click Finish. To see the account information, on the Tools menu, click Accounts. You can also export your mail account settings to a file from the Tools > Accounts option. * Importing a business card In the Address Book, click the File menu, point to Import, and then click Business Card (vCard). Locate the business card file on your computer or a network drive, select it, and then click Open. When the business card is added to your address book, a dialog box appears where you can modify or add to the contact information as necessary. * Every time I try to start Outlook Express, I get an ‘Illegal Operation’ error. On clicking Details it shows that ‘MSIMN caused an invalid page fault in module MSIMNUI.DLL’ at some address. I tried uninstalling Outlook Express and reinstalling it. I even tried the same with Internet Explorer (v4.0). This problem occurs if one or more of the mailbox files are corrupted or the Msimnui.dll file is not compatible with the newer version of the Comctl32.dll file installed by Internet Explorer 4.0. Rename all .idx, .mbx and .nch files on the hard disk and start Outlook Express. When you start Outlook Express, the default folders are re-created. Note that other folders created by users will not be recreated. If you manage to successfully start Outlook Express, you can now test and see which one of the original files is damaged. To do so, rename the files back to their original names one at a time, each time starting and closing Outlook Express. Note that you may have to rename the corresponding new file that would have been created for the default folders. First start with the .mbx files. If this is not the problem, then you can extract Msimnui.dll from the Internet Explorer setup cabinets. You can do this using WinZip or any utility that can read .CAB files. Extract the file to the folder where Outlook Express is installed. * MAPI error when exporting messages from Outlook Express (v4.0) This can happen if you configure Outlook Express as the default Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) client. To work around this problem, restart your computer and start Outlook Express. Go to Tools > Options. Under the General tab, clear the ‘Make Outlook Express my default Simple MAPI client’ check box and click Apply. Click OK when you receive the prompt, ‘The Simple MAPI client has been changed. You may need to restart your machine for the change to take effect.’ Quit Outlook Express and restart your computer. You should now be able to import or export messages without any hassles. * Password protecting Outlook Express When I open the address book it asks for my password but after I close the program and open Outlook Express, it opens without asking for my password. How do I ensure that it asks for a password each time?When you open the address book directly from Start > Programs > Accessories > Address Book, you will be asked for a password for the particular identity. When you close the Address Book, Outlook Express still considers that identity as the current identity. Now, if you open Outlook Express, it logs on to the same identity. To avoid this, you need to log off when you exit the Address Book. In the Address Book, go to File > Identities, select ‘Log Off Current Identity’ and click OK. Now if you open Outlook Express, you will be prompted for a password.