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Troubleshooting Email

My Email Program Used to Work...

If you used to have a working email address, but it now doesn't work, there are several things that may have gone wrong on your computer. This document will help troubleshoot the most common email problems on the most common email programs. If your email program seems to be too complicated, we provide our customers the ability to check email from a website, which also means you need not set up an email program. Simply go to www.fire2wire.com and click on Webmail, or click here: https://webmail.fire2wire.com/


[ Cause #1: No Internet Connection ]

Firstly, one of the most common reasons users cannot retrieve their email is because they are not connected to the Internet. If you are reading this page on the same computer that you use to retrieve your email, then your Internet connection is functional. If not, go to https://webmail.fire2wire.com/ and see if you get a logon page or if you get a Page Cannot Be Displayed error.



[ Cause #2: Wrong login information ]

To make sure that you know your login information correctly, go to https://webmail.fire2wire.com/ and attempt to login. If it lets you log in, your email account is functioning properly, and you correctly remember your login information. If you have trouble logging on with your username, try entering your full email address for the username box.

Note: If you have a custom email address (using a custom domain name), check to make sure you have messages in it. If you can see some messages, stop reading this cause, and move on to the next paragraph.  If you do not have any messages in your inbox, this is either because your email client has already received all the email, or that your email address is set up using the "old way."  To check to see if your email is set up using the "new way," click on the Compose button, and make up a test email message to your address. If you check your mail, and the message has shown up, your email account is set up the "new way," and we can move to Cause #3. If you do not receive the message you sent yourself, you will need to call us (209) 543-1800. There is nothing wrong with your email being set up the "old way," but you need to call us to get your proper login information.



[ Cause #3: Incorrect Mail Server Settings ]

For all mail programs, you need to know the following items:

• Incoming server type: POP3. Outgoing server type: SMTP.
• Incoming mail server: mail.fire2wire.com
• Outgoing mail server: mail.fire2wire.com
• Your username and password (we know these for sure already)
• Note: Do not check any "Secure Password Authentication" boxes, or "My outgoing mail server requires authentication" boxes.

Instructions for verifying settings for Outlook and Outlook Express follow. If you use a program other than Outlook or Outlook Express, please consult the program documentation if you do not know how to verify your mail server settings.

If you are running Outlook Express, click on the Tools menu, go to Accounts, select your email account from the list, and click on Properties. Make sure your name, and email address are correct. Next, click on the Servers tab. Make sure your mail server settings are correct, and type in your username and password you used earlier to get into Webmail (if there is already a password in the text box, REMOVE IT and retype it). Remember that your username and password are case sensitive, and you should have both your number lock and caps lock OFF. Make sure that you don't have any of the options selected (don't have "secure password authentication", and "my outgoing mail server requires authentication"). Try to send a message to your address - if you receive it, you can properly send and receive mail.

If you are running Outlook, Microsoft has changed procedures for mail setting adjustment several times, so if these steps don't exactly match up, try to use common sense. Click on the Tools menu, go to Services (might say Email Accounts), select your email account, and click on Properties. Click on the Servers tab, and make sure the settings are correct. If there is already a password in the password box, clear it, and retype it - using the same password that granted access through Webmail. Make sure the incoming and outgoing mail server settings are correct (see above). Do not have any authentication options selected. Try to send a message to your address - if you receive it, you can properly send and receive mail.


[ Cause #4 - Firewalls or Other Interfering Programs ]

If you are still having a problem, there is either a firewall preventing your email program from properly communicating with our server or the program you are using has been corrupted.



To see if a firewall may be causing the problem, click here. If you have a firewall, you will probably get a "Connection Timed Out", instead of "+OK, Hello there." Simply close the box (click the X button in the top right of the window).

If you did get a "+OK Hello there.", and you are fairly certain you do not have a firewall, your email program is most likely corrupted. We recommend you get your email program reinstalled, switch to a different email client, or use our free Webmail service.


Questions, comments, complaints? We would like you to let us know if there is any way we could rewrite this page to be more clear. Drop us a line at support@fire2wire.com and let us know what you think.

E-Mail Tips and Tricks

E-mail is the Internet's killer app, the function most likely to convince technophobes to jump online, and the one they're most likely to use on a daily basis once they get there. These days, nearly everyone uses e-mail. Businesspeople whip off electronic missives to colleagues, students turn in book reports electronically, and grandparents check their in-boxes for the latest photos of the grandkids.

Yet most of us use our e-mail as if it were merely the digital equivalent of snail mail, complete with its attendant limitations. We read our incoming mail and compose our own messages (analogous to tearing open an envelope and licking a stamp), but we rarely, if ever, exploit the digital nature of e-mail to its fullest.

If you spend a substantial amount of time each day keeping up with e-mail, investing a few minutes in learning how to use message rules and a few other features will likely pay off many times over in saved time and avoided aggravation. Though certainly not the only e-mail program worth using, we focused on Microsoft Outlook Express 5, largely because of its popularity.

1. Automatic Address-Book Entries

Almost any e-mail program will provide an address book, but even the best implemented will do you little good if you forget to enter the names and e-mail addresses of your correspondents. One way around the frustration of pecking them in yourself is to have Outlook Express do it for you. Choose Tools > Options > Send, then enable "Automatically put people I reply to in my Address Book." For help entering recipients as you create messages, also check "Automatically complete e-mail addresses when composing."

Tip: Familiarize yourself with other Send options while you're at it. For instance, enabling "Send messages immediately" may make sense if you enjoy always-connected broadband service, particularly if you often forget to click Send-Receive.

2. Store Messages By Folders

Most people leave all their messages in the in-box, which results in chaotic clutter. A better approach is to create folders in which you can file at least some of the messages you'd like to save. You may wish to create separate folders for work-related messages, personal messages, or messages from certain people.

To create a new folder, select New Folder from the File menu, then enter a name for your new folder. Outlook Express will create the new folder within the folder that is selected, so make sure Local Folders is highlighted when you begin if you want to create a top-level folder.

To move one or more messages from the in-box to a folder, drag the selected messages from the Message pane to the appropriate listing in the Folder pane. You can also move messages by right-clicking on the selected messages and choosing "Move to Folder..." from the menu that appears.

Tip: Moving saved messages to folders is just one part of keeping your message stash tidy. Deleted messages end up in the Deleted Items folder (unless you hold down the Shift key when you delete them), so remember to empty it from time to time. Because every message you write gets saved in the Sent Items folder, you may want to go through this folder occasionally, too, deleting messages you don't need to save. To complete the job of reclaiming lost space, select File > Folder > Compact All Folders.

3. Sort Incoming Mail Automatically

Outlook Express allows you to create mail rules sometimes called "filters," that can automatically deal with messages before you even see them. These rules let you identify messages by sender, subject, or words in the body, and have them forwarded, deleted, or moved to a particular folder. This allows you to receive messages from friends in your Personal file, and those from business contacts in your Work file, and to move unwanted messages to the trash.

One handy use of message rules is getting rid of spam, or at least moving it out of your in-box into its own folder- say, Bulk Mail. Create the Bulk Mail folder as outlined above, and then select Tools > Message Rules > Mail. If no rules are defined, this takes you to the New Mail Rule dialog.

From the list marked "Select the Conditions for your rule," choose "Where the To line contains people." Then, from the list marked "Select the Actions for your rule," check the box marked "Move it to the specified folder." To set the e-mail address to check, click on the phrase "contains people," type in your e-mail address, and select Add. Because most spam is not addressed directly to you (usually, these messages are addressed to mailing list of some sort), we want to screen messages that aren't addressed to you. Select Options and click on the radio button marked "Message does not contain the people below." Next, click on the word "specified" in the phrase "Move it to the specified folder" and select Bulk Mail from the folder list. Finally, name the rule "Bulk Mail" in box 4, and select OK. Your new rule will now be applied to all incoming messages.

Tip: If you are using a Fire2Wire email account, you can use our free spam tagging service to make identifying spam easier. For more info go here.

You can also apply rules to sort existing messages. Select Message Rules > Mail from the Tools menu, select the rule Bulk Mail, and click Apply Now to move messages that aren't addressed to you into the Bulk Mail folder.

There are some shortcuts for creating rules. Let's say a sender bombards you daily with unsolicited ads. Simply highlight one of the messages and select Block Sender from the Messages menu. This not only suppresses future messages from this sender, but will also allow you to delete any such messages currently in your in-box.

Tip: Use rules with caution to avoid deleting messages you may actually want. For example, if you set a rule to delete any message with "XXX" in the subject line, it will delete a message with the subject "You've won a trip to Super Bowl XXXVI." Note also that rules are applied in the order in which they are listed, so move rules that save messages to the top of the list, and rules that delete messages to the bottom.

4. Add a Signature

To add your name, contact information, or even a catchy phrase at the end of each of message, go to Tools > Options > Signature. Then click the New button and enter the text you wish to be assigned to the default signature. You can change the name of the signature from "Signature #1" to something else, if you like. You can also have the signature added to each message automatically.  You can always delete it from any given message, as with any other text, or add it manually. To add your signature manually, compose your message as usual, and when the cursor is within the message body, choose Insert > Signature.

Tip: To define additional signatures, simply repeat the steps you used to create the first, and assign each signature a distinctive name. When you choose Insert > Signature, Outlook Express will then let you choose which signature to insert.

5. Manage Multiple Accounts

Outlook Express gives you two ways to manage multiple e-mail accounts: defining multiple accounts within a single user profile, called an "identity," or defining multiple identities.

To add an e-mail account to the current identity, select Tools>Accounts. When you see the list of mail accounts, click on Add Mail to start the Internet Connection wizard. This leads you step-by-step through the process of specifying your name, the e-mail address you wish to add, and the type of mail service. If you have multiple e-mail accounts with your ISP, Outlook Express will load all messages into the same in-box and Sent folders. Using separate identities lets you view the messages for different accounts separately. Of course, you can also use this feature to separate identities for each member of your household. Select Identities>Add New Identity from the File menu, and type in a name for your new identity. Once you establish the identity, you'll be led through the same Internet Connection wizard dialog as when you add a new mail account to an existing identity. To switch from one identity to the next, select Switch Identities from the File menu.

6. Automatically Correct Spelling

If your spelling isn't so hot, let Outlook Express spell-check your messages automatically. To give it a try, go to Tools > Options > Spelling, and select "Always check spelling before sending." After you click Send, the program will automatically run your message through spell-check, presenting you with any misspellings it finds and suggestions to correct the mistakes.

7. Update For Security

Largely because of its ubiquity, Outlook Express is a particularly tempting target for those devilish souls who design viruses or otherwise probe for security vulnerabilities. Microsoft periodically issues software updates to close the gaps, and it's worthwhile to keep up with these.

Select the Windows Update item from the Start menu, and Internet Explorer loads the Windows Update page (windowsupdate. microsoft.com) . Click the Product Updates link. The site will install Active Setup if it hasn't already been installed, and the program will check your system to see what updates are needed. The resulting updates will appear on the Select Software page. The section marked Critical Updates, which contains the security patches, will be selected for you. Simply click on the Download button to automatically load and install these patches.

Tip: These security updates will help, but they won't catch everything. Make sure you keep your virus checker up to date. One simple security tactic is to never open an e-mail attachment unless you know exactly where it comes from and what it contains. Many e-mail viruses appear as attachments from unknown senders.