Yup, more glitchs I'm afraid, after getting me on-line, the dial-up banner continues to say "unable to make connection" off of my present screen,[out of sight] leaving me unable to send email, or move to another site, there being nothing in the tray to bring the banner forward.
The only way I can do it, is by pulling down the existing windows to find the dial-up banner,& clicking on "connect", in doing so, I have sometimes managed to lose complete emails, & had to write them again.
And, yes, I have "connect automatically" ticked, but it disappears spasmodically, & leaves me stranded as above. I have been to properties, but all seems OK. [I use Outlook Express.]
Thanks.

Maurice if you press Alt+Tab it will bring forward windows that are underneath one each time it is pressed. Also you can set Outlook to 'Save a copy of your sent emails ' in Tools>Options>Send
Sorry I can't help with you Dial-up woes , but it sounds like a call to your Isp tech dept.

Are you the only user of that telephone line, or do you perhaps share with a neighbour?
Are the BT-Exchanges on your island up-to-date or are they pre-historic?
Do you get disconnected/interrupted when making phonecalls?

Don't know which part of the Isle you live, but look here
http://www.iwweb.co.uk/
and here
http://www.wightindex.com/broadband.asp

Maybe time to consider broadband?

realblackstuff, seems you know a little about the Island, [have you been here from Dublin?] I say a little, because it is not prehistoric as regards BT Exchanges, long gone are the little local exchanges, when we moved over from Portsmouth my birthplace, 30 years ago there WAS a tiny exchange ina private house in the next village to mine [Rookley] where they said an old dear sat knitting between calls, sat in front of a "plug-in" switchboard, & it's rumoured that she listened into calls!
No, it's just an extension of the mainland these days, things like murders, rapes,drugs etc.
As regard broadband, it is patchy, OK in Newport & Ryde, but hardly anywhere else, especially where I am in the south, & no, I don't share a line.

Liquidlen, I'll try the Alt+Tab, thanks, also, the "save sent emails". Calling my ISP for help is pretty hopeless, almost as bad as Microsoft, they very rarely reply.

'fraid I never set foot on your island.
However, there is this other thread that has a lot of info on your subject:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10728&highlight=dslreports

I see you use a laptop. Make sure the modem-card is connected properly (and pressed in all the way) and does not "wobble"

Hope that helps.