Dial-Up Connection Disconnects after Sending or Receiving Email

In the Outlook Express top-line menu, select TOOLS, then OPTIONS. In the Options window, select the Connection tab and uncheck the check box labeled "Hang up after sending and receiving." Click OK to save the changes.

Cannot Open Email Attachments

This problem is described in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 329570.

Newer versions of Outlook Express contain a "security feature" that prevents certain email attachments from being opened or viewed, including Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, etc. Having this option enabled provides only minimal protection against viruses, and in no way diminishes the need for having an up-to-date anti-virus program on your computer.

To disable this option, thereby allowing access to the affected email attachments, select TOOLS, then OPTIONS from the Outlook Express top-line menu. On the Options page, select the SECURITY tab and uncheck the check box labeled "Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus." Once you have unchecked that box, click OK to save the change. Any previously unavailable attachments in emails that you have will now be available.

Timeouts when Sending or Receiving Email

Timeouts in Outlook and Outlook Express seem to be widespread, based upon the number of newsgroup posts relating to these problems on the Internet, but no specific cause is given, nor is there a specific fix mentioned.

If you are normally able to send and receive email, you can try the following as some first steps:

• Perform a shut down on your computer so that it is powered off. Wait 30 seconds or so, then power it back on and try again. Sometimes a modem will get into an error condition which can only be reset by powering off the computer.
• Go into your email account's Properties (in Outlook Express, select TOOLS, then ACCOUNTS, from the top-line menu, then select the Mail tab, highlight your email account and click the Properties button). In the account Properties window, select the Advanced tab and slide the Server Timeouts tab all the way to the right (Long) setting. Click OK to close the Properties window, then click Close to close the Accounts window.
• If the above steps don't help, you can try going into your mailbox on the server via the Montana.Net home page (click on the "Montana.Net Email" link at left). Log in using your account name (DO NOT include "@montana.net"). On the page where the contents of your account's server in box are displayed, the first email to be received by your email program would be listed on the bottom, and emails would be received working up from there, so if your timeout is happening on the third email, count up three from the bottom. You may want to delete that email, especially if it is very large in size, in order to receive the rest.

Some other information regarding timeouts can be found in the following documents from Microsoft's Tech Support Knowledge Base:

• Error 0x800ccc0d or 0x800ccc0f When Receiving and Sending E-Mail - Refers to verifying email server settings, checking configuration of firewall software and possible issue with Norton Anti-Virus software configuration.
• You Cannot Send a Message with Graphic Attachments - Refers to problems associated with U.S. Robotics WinModems.
• Cannot Send Outgoing Mail - Relates to problems associated with Linksys routers.
  

Outlook Express Timeout with Error Number 0x800CCC19

There is a problem in Outlook Express 6 with certain file attachments (or technically called MIME types) when they appear in your POP3 mailbox. Your connection to the mailserver will then time out. The solution is to download the Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 from Microsoft which should fix the problem. Please see this link to Microsoft OE6/SP1.

Using OE6 with Norton Antivirus or McAfee products

If you have already installed the SP1 for OE6, this problem may still occur when the following conditions are met. First, you have Norton Antivirus 2003 or 2002 installed. Second, you have "Scan incoming Email" and "Scan outgoing Email" turned on. Note that this may also be true when you use McAfee software products. To prevent this problem when you use NAV and Outlook or Outlook Express, follow the steps below to turn off e-mail scanning.

• Quit Outlook or Outlook Express.
• Start Norton AntiVirus
• Click Options. If a menu appears when you click Options, click Norton AntiVirus. The Norton AntiVirus Options dialog box appears.
• In the Internet section, click Email.
• Click to clear the "Scan incoming Email" and "Scan outgoing Email" check box.
  Click OK and close NAV.

For additional information, you can also visit this link to the Symantec Web site.