IE6 upgrade has killed my e-mail!

[manwhocan]

I tried about 20 times to install the IE6 upgrade from IE5.5 on my Windows ME system over the last 6 months. It constantly failed, then i found a forum that recommended moving the contents of the hidden 'Uninstall Information' folder in the IE folder in Prog Files, into a temporary folder whilst upgrading. I did this last Sunday and it installed okay but created a whole new set of files in the uninstall folder, most with the same names. I left them in place & the others hidden but could not get onto the 'net or use e-mail, despite checking all settings etc. I swapped the files, carefully -using another temp folder, but still could not get online. All ISP settings (ntlworld) are correct. Thinking the upgrade may have been incomplete i tried re-installing it, but of course it failed -no doubt due to the now re-occupied Uninstall Info folder. It went back to 5.5! and after some re-checking of settings (sorry -not sure what i did!) i got back online but e-mail still won't work. I cannot send or receive. System Restore in ME keeps failing so i can't go back to my pre-upgrade status. Although NTL have been doing some work on their systems i know it's not 'their end' as i can log-on through their Homepage and read e-mails. Thinking that the reverted IE5.5 version may not be the full 5.5 i re-installed ME, which i hoped would re-install the full 5.5(?) Internet is still okay but i just cannot get e-mail working. Broadband Medic says the server may be off, but i connect ok with my Laptop. My connection is 600k broadband. My settings are for LAN connection, and the box "Never dial a connection" is checked. Incoming mail server is defined as POP3 and 'Always Connect to this Account" is checked for LAN. The POP and SMTP addresses are correct, as are the port numbers -i don't see why these would have changed anyway.
Can anyone please offer any advice?
Many Thanks In Advance.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to TechSpot

Rather than waste your time on IE and OE, make the move over to the competition.
Install Firefox browser and Thunderbird email from www.mozilla.org.
You should be able to import your old emails from OE, if the data is still on your HD.
The above programs are a lot less susceptible to virus-attacks, thus having many advantages over the M$-$tuff.

 

[manwhocan]

Thanks

Looking at reviews and the Mozilla homepage right now...
And, by the way, i do a neat Shamrock in the head of every pint of the black-stuff that i pull!

 

[RealBlackStuff]

We are lucky here if we get that on Paddy's Day! You work in a tourist-place?

 

[manwhocan]

No, this is evening work in my day-job social society clubhouse (I'm near Liverpool in the UK) I'm the treasurer.

Have installed Thunderbird and get the message,

"could not connect to server pop.ntlworld.com;the connection was refused"

This looks like some sort of ISP issue here, so i've sent ntlworld a long e-mail detailing everything i've done.

Thank for your interest, i'll keep you posted as to what happens...

 

[RealBlackStuff]

You may need to activate a "secure login" as well.

 

[manwhocan]

Not so sure about the ISP now as my laptop downloaded all my 'waiting' e-mails ok (without me askin' actually! -must 'av a look at that...)
Unclear about 'secure log-in'?
Will 'av a peep at my firewall too (Norton IS 2002 -i think)
Might be off to a rock concert tonight, so a couple of Guinness could be on the cards... :slurp:

 

[manwhocan]

Killer IE

Well i turned off my firewall (NIS2002) and the waiting e-mails flooded in!
Went through setting up NIS blocking again and specifically gave Outlook Expresss and Mozilla unrestricted access but when i turned it back on it blocked access again -but strangely there was no warning of "**** is trying to access the internet" -I normally have NIS set to do this so i know what's going on in my connection. So i uninstalled NIS, did a defrag so that when i reinstalled it would all be together. and then i re-installed. With it being 2002 it took a long time (even on broadband) to reload all the updates and virus definitions, but now everything seems fine. When going through the "applications with access to the internet" bit i did notice multiple presences of some components EG Outlook Express, Outlook Express_2, etc
Have left them alone -don't wanna muck things up again! One initial impresssion of Mozilla is that it doesn't show who the intended recipient of incoming e-mails is. My daughter and i use e-mail a lot and with OE we're used to seeing straight away who an incoming e-mail is for. Not obvious if this is a definable option. Will look again tonight....
Thanks again.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

As you need a firewall anyway, throw out the NIS, it is a lousy program anyway and EATS up resources. Instead, install one of these following free progs: Sygate Personal Firewall, Agnitum Outpost or Zonealarm.
While you are at it, if you also have NAV installed, throw that out as well and replace it with the free AVG from www.grisoft.com

I have never installed Thunderbird, being a convinced Pegasus-user since many years.
Hence I don't know the settings, I am sure one of the many board-members with T-Bird can help you further.

Correction:
Out of curiosity I installed T-bird. (it smells of OE, judging by the looks)
At the right-hand side of the columns above the received emails is a small button, looks like a book. Click on that to select what columns to display, and select "Recipient". Now you can see for whom the email is.

 

[manwhocan]

Thunderbird progress

Hi There Guinnessman,
Have served several gallons of the blackstuff this week but my shamrock-in-the-head has gone more like a wilting lilly!

Thanks for that tip on finding the recipient button. When i finally got some time to sit down and click on everything in sight i did finally find that icon, although i could find no reference to it in the help sites. -No complaints there though, by the way. Cannot and will not adversely criticise such a powerful free piece of software. Big thanks to Mozilla! Lookin' forward to the official release of the browser...
Having used Outlook expresss for several years the OE look of T'bird is a benefit to me, so i won't comment on that. So far, now i've sorted the recipient business out, T'bird is doing okay. One slightly annoying feature though is that it keeps giving me the "Bing-bong" noise that you get when mail has come in, but when i check -there isn't any. I presume this is just the prog saying "Hey, i'm still open, using up resources."
One thing i have noticed is that it seems to have imported from OE more e-mails than i appear to actually have in OE!
I did have a wierd thing happen to the PC a year or two ago, and all my e-mails disappeared. There was a big file in Users, under Applications (or wherever) in Windows where OE stores all the e-mails but i couldn't get OE to access it, even if i 'hid' the 'current' one. Must check to see if they've come in too.
Even if they ain't. i'm still impressed at the way T'bird imports all your old OE e-mails. I've got THOUSANDS of them!

So, thanks again Realblackstuff, and to everyone else who was 'on the side' ready to offer advice if i needed it. Big thanks also to Tech Spot -hey TS i like the current reviews of DVD burners. I'm new to DVD burning and need to read reviews like you've published to 'find my feet' before i buy.
Manwhocouldnt is back to being manwhocan!
Ta! :hotbounce