EMAIL ANNOYANCES

EMAIL SETTINGS REMAIN THE SAME

The Annoyance:

Now that we share our Internet connection, how do we set up our email? The instructions from the ISP regarding settings for the router (or for Internet Connection Sharing) are quite detailed. It's annoying they aren't as specific about email settings.

The Fix:

Your email settings don't change when you share the Internet connection throughout the network. The configuration settings you need to retrieve mail from your mailbox or to send mail are the same whether you're working on a standalone computer or on a network.

USE OUTLOOK EXPRESS ON MORE THAN ONE COMPUTER

The Annoyance:

I use the same computer most of the time, but occasionally I have to use a different computer on the network. I want to be able to collect and send email and have my address book, Inbox, and other mail folders available on both computers. Both computers have Outlook Express. How do I do this?

The Fix:

It's not easy. In fact, it's so difficult that you'll be content to do just some of that. You can easily fetch and send email messages from any computer. The part that's a pain is having all your folders and messages available on more than one computer (see the sidebar "Copy Your Entire Email Installation to Another Computer").

If you just want to get and send email from the "other" computer, you have two options:

• Use the web-based mail software your ISP provides instead of using email software.

• Open Outlook Express and set up your mail account. Then, collect and send messages the same way you do on your "regular" computer.

If you choose the latter option (using Outlook Express to fetch and send email), you have a couple of methods for making sure all your email lands in one spot (your regular computer):

• Before you collect email on the "other" computer, configure the email software to keep messages on the server. Open the Properties for your email account and go to the Advanced tab. Select the option to keep mail on the server, and select the manner in which mail should be removed from the server (see Figure 6-7). Then, when you return to your regular computer, the messages will be downloaded again the next time you collect email.

  Figure 6-7. You can leave mail on the server and collect it again from the other computer.

  
  
  

• You can forward the messages you want to keep to yourself, and then don't collect email again until you return to your regular computer. If you send a message, add your email address to the Cc: field (or, better yet, to the Bcc: field). When you download your email, those forwarded messages are received.

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Warning: When you download the forwarded and Cc'd messages the name of the Sender is you, and your Inbox won't show the real sender's name in the message list.

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COPY YOUR ENTIRE EMAIL INSTALLATION TO ANOTHER COMPUTER

If you want to move all your email information (address book, Inbox, Sent Mail folder, etc.) to another computer, you have some work to do.

Outlook Express

First, you must back up all of your Outlook Express files, copy the backed-up files to the other computer, and then restore all the files. This usually involves many millions of bytes, or hundreds of millions of bytes. When you finish using Outlook Express on the other computer, you must back up the files, copy them back to the original computer, and restore them. Backing up and restoring the address book is a separate action. You can find the details for performing this enormous, complicated task on Microsoft's Knowledge Base (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;KBHOWTO). Search for "Backing up Outlook Express" and read all the articles.

Eudora

Buy and install Eudora on the other computer (unless you're using the free version of Eudora, in which case just install it). Then copy the contents of the Eudora folder on the first computer to the second computer. When you finish using the other computer, you must copy everything back to the original computer.

USE EUDORA ON MORE THAN ONE COMPUTER

The Annoyance:

Every computer on our network has a copy of Eudora installed. Each copy has every email account (one for each user). I can easily get my email when I'm working on a computer that's not the one I usually use. But there must be an easy way to move the messages I receive to my regular computer. I tried forwarding mail to myself, but then the message lists me as the sender.

The Fix:

Fortunately, Eudora keeps every component in its own discrete file, including attachments (unlike Outlook Express, which has a humongous file that holds all your mail folders and attachments).

Create a new mailbox on both computers to handle the exchange of mail between the two (I named my mailbox "Transfers"). Collect and send mail on the other computer. Then transfer all the mail from the Inbox and Outbox to the new mailbox. Copy the files for the new mailbox (the mailbox I named "Transfers") to the other computer. There are two files:

• Transfers.mbx, which is the mailbox

• Transfers.toc which is the index for the mailbox

Make sure you copy the files into the folder where Eudora keeps your mailboxes, which differs depending on your version of Eudora and the way you installed it. Look in the main Eudora folder or a subfolder named "Data" for other files with the .mbx extension. Windows will ask if you want to replace the existing file; say Yes.

Cut and paste all the attachments you've received from the Attach subfolder (under the Eudora folder) to the Attach subfolder of the Eudora installation on your regular computer.

After you've copied the files across the network, delete all the contents of the "Transfers" mailbox (so that it's empty for the next time).

When you're back at your regular computer, open the "Transfers" mailbox. Select all the incoming messages and transfer them to your Inbox. Select all the outgoing messages and transfer them to your Outbox. It's easy to tell the difference because when you mix inbound and outbound messages in the same mailbox, Eudora uses italic font for listing outgoing messages. When you've finished transferring the messages, the "Transfers" mailbox is empty and ready for the next round.