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same as if it had not been configured, which means that the Windows default setting for this parameter will apply. Sound confusing? Then look at it this way: Read the policy setting, then say the words “disable” and “enable” to help you see the action that a disable or enable setting invokes on the policy. This will help you keep the items straight as you work with them.

The trick with Local Group Policy is that you always want to choose Not Configured unless there is something specific that you want to do. Keep in mind that enabled and disabled settings write settings to the registry, which must be accessed and will thus use more Windows XP overhead. So, again, less is more. Only configure a policy that you want to invoke, and simply leave the rest alone.

tip If you are unsure of what a policy actually does, click the Explain tab to learn more.

Figure 6-32. Select the Not Configured, Enabled, or Disabled option as needed.

Configure any settings that you want to use for the available policies under Computer Configuration. You can then move on and inspect the policies available under User Configuration.

Configuring User Policy for Internet Explorer

The User Configuration node contains Internet Explorer options in two different locations:

1Expand User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Internet Explorer, and then select Internet Explorer.

2In the right pane, there are a considerable number of Internet Explorer Local Group Policy settings available and even more are organized into subfolders.

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These options include everything from home page settings to offline content. Browse through the setting configurations to see if there are any that need to be applied to your users. If you see a setting that needs to be applied, double-click it.

3You’ll see the same Not Configured, Enabled, and Disabled options as in the Computer Configuration node. Choose the desired setting and click OK.

In addition to these policy settings, you can also expand User Configuration, Windows Settings, and Internet Explorer Maintenance. Figure 6-33 shows the Browser User Interface subfolder selected with a few maintenance categories appearing in the right pane.

Figure 6-33. Internet Explorer Maintenance settings give you additional policy options.

Using these settings, you can configure policies for the browser interface, URLs, connections, security, and programs. Some of these settings are serious and substantial— others just provide ways to customize Internet Explorer cosmetically, such as giving Internet Explorer customized title bars and logos. Experiment with these settings and see if you want to apply any of them to your users. Remember to give your users the most freedom possible so they can get the most from their Internet experience.

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Chapter 7

Managing
Connectivity	182
and Accounts
Using Identities	192
in Outlook Express
Configuring	194
Outlook Express
Managing E-mail	202
Using the	215
Address Book
Using
Keyboard	217
Shortcuts

Using

Outlook Express

Advanced Features

Like many new computing advances, e-mail was once dismissed as a passing fad that had no real value, especially during the early days when the Internet was still in its infancy. Today, many people as well as corporations are dependent on e-mail, and millions of e-mail messages are sent around the globe each day. As you need a Web browser to surf the Internet, you need e-mail software, also called an e-mail client, to send, receive, and manage e-mail. Microsoft Outlook Express version 6 is the default e-mail client included with Microsoft Windows XP.

Designed to work in conjunction with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, Outlook Express provides major e-mail management functions and features that advanced users need and demand. In the past, Outlook Express was a simple e-mail client that provided a way to connect to Post Office Protocol (POP) or Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) e-mail servers and retrieve or send e-mail. Today, Outlook Express provides many advanced features, particularly for a free e-mail client. In this chapter, you can explore the advanced features Outlook Express has to offer. If you have not used Outlook Express in the past, you might be surprised to learn how much Outlook Express 6 has to offer, so read on!

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Managing Connectivity and Accounts

Outlook Express 6 is designed to work with POP3, IMAP, and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) servers so that you can get your e-mail from nearly any type

of mail server. In fact, you can configure Outlook Express with several different accounts if you are using more than one e-mail account. Generally, Outlook Express connectivity and account management is not difficult, as long as you keep the different account information straight when configuring the e-mail accounts. The next section looks at configuring an e-mail account and resolving Outlook Express connectivity issues. Configuring multiple e-mail accounts with Outlook Express is discussed thereafter.

You must have an Internet connection already configured before Outlook Express can connect to a mail server. See “Creating New Internet Connections,” page 103, to learn more about configuring an Internet connection.

Using Other E-mail Clients with Windows XP

Like Internet Explorer, Outlook Express is a default program provided in Windows XP. However, you are not required to use Outlook Express as your e-mail and news client. You can easily use another e-mail program and configure Internet Explorer to default to that program. If you have used other e-mail programs in the past, you should certainly take a look at Outlook Express 6—it has a lot to offer including access to HTTP mail, such as Hotmail. If you know for sure that you do not want to use Outlook Express as your default e-mail client, see “Setting Default Programs,” page 162, to learn more about configuring Internet Explorer to default to another e-mail client.

Windows XP Service Pack 1 lets you change your default mail program from Outlook Express to another application. In fact, some newly purchased computers that have Windows XP Service Pack 1 preinstalled might not include Outlook Express at all. For more information, see Appendix A, “Windows XP Service Pack 1.”

Configuring Connectivity and Accounts

To use Outlook Express, you must configure at least one account. This account can

be an e-mail account, but it can also be a newsgroup or a directory service. If you open Outlook Express and click Tools, Accounts, you see the Internet Accounts dialog box shown in Figure 7-1. All currently configured accounts are listed on the All tab, but you can select other tabs to configure specific types of accounts.

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Figure 7-1. The Internet Accounts dialog box is used to configure all Internet accounts in Outlook Express.

Configuring an E-mail Account

When you initially open Outlook Express 6, the Outlook Express Internet Connection Wizard might be the first screen you see. If so, skip to step 3. Otherwise, to set up an e-mail account, follow these steps:

1In Outlook Express, choose Tools, Accounts.

2In the Internet Accounts dialog box, select the Mail tab, and then click Add, Mail.

3On the Your Name page of the wizard, enter your name. This is the name that all users will be able to see when you send e-mail (it will appear in the From field of e-mail they receive from you). Click Next.

4On the Internet E-mail Address page, enter your e-mail address and click Next.

5On the E-mail Server Names page of the wizard, shown in Figure 7-2 on the next page, select the type of mail server your account uses from the box labeled My Incoming Mail Server Is A … Server. The most common type of mail server is POP3. If the server is a POP3 or IMAP server, you’ll also need to enter the incoming mail server and outgoing mail server names. These names take such forms as pop.ispname.net, mail.ispname.net, or smtp.ispname.com (where ispname is usually the name of your Internet Service Provider (ISP), but you’ll need to consult your ISP documentation for the exact name of each required server. If you are using an HTTP server (such as Hotmail), you’ll need to enter the URL to the Internet server. If you select Hotmail as your HTTP provider, the URL is completed for you. Click Next when you’ve entered these settings.

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Figure 7-2. Choose the type of mail server for your account, and enter its mail server names or URL.

6On the Internet Mail Logon page, enter your user name and password as provided by your ISP. If your ISP uses Secure Password Authentication (SPA), select the check box labeled Log On Using Secure Password Authentication (SPA). SPA is a security feature that might require you to manually log on to the mail server. You cannot use SPA unless your mail server requires it. Consult your ISP documentation for details. Click Next, and then click Finish.

The new account appears on the Mail tab of the Internet Accounts dialog box.

Once you have configured the e-mail account, you can access the account’s properties by selecting the account on the Mail tab and clicking the Properties button. There are some additional settings available to you in this dialog box that are not presented when the wizard helps you set up the account, so it is a good idea to check these settings to make sure they are accurate. Also, should any of your account information change, you can return to this dialog box and adjust the settings as needed.

An account’s properties dialog box includes these five tabs: General, Servers, Connection, Security, and Advanced.

On the General tab, shown in Figure 7-3, the Name, Organization, E-mail Address, and Reply Address fields appear. Note that the address you enter in Reply Address can be different than the address you enter in E-mail Address (the address that you send from). This can be useful if you send mail from two or more accounts but want to receive all your mail in one account. Enter that account in the Reply Address box.

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Figure 7-3. Use the General tab to configure user name and e-mail address information.

On the Servers tab, you see the server type and name or names of the mail servers. You also see your account logon name and the password field. If you want Windows XP to remember your password so that you do not have to type it each time you log on, select the Remember Password check box. Notice that the option for SPA is also included

on this tab. When you provide a user name and password in the Internet Connection Wizard, the wizard assumes that information applies to both your incoming and outgoing mail. However, some people use one account to store and retrieve their mail and another account to send it. For example, if you have your own Internet domain name and Web site, you might use that as your e-mail address but send your outbound e-mail through an ISP. In this case, you’ll have to specify the user name and password for the outbound account as well. To do so, select My Server Requires Authentication, and then click the Settings button.

Selecting this option opens the Outgoing Mail Server dialog box, shown in Figure 7-4 on the next page, where you can enter the logon information for your outgoing (SMTP) mail account. If your outbound mail server requires a different user name and password than your incoming mail, select Log On Using, and then supply the outgoing user name and password. Specify whether you want the password remembered so you don’t have to type it each time you send mail, and select the SPA option if your outgoing mail provider requires it.

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Figure 7-4. Configure security settings for the outgoing mail server if they differ from the inbound server.

On the Connection tab, you can configure Outlook Express to connect using your default Internet connection as set up in Network Connections in Control Panel, or you can select Always Connect To This Account Using, and then select an account from the list. This feature is useful if the mail account requires that a particular Internet connection be used to access it.

On the Security tab, you can configure signing and encrypting preferences if you are using a digital certificate. Use the Select buttons to choose the desired certificates. You won’t have any certificates listed unless you’ve already installed them on your computer. Outlook Express 6 supports the use of encrypted e-mail using digital certificates. You can obtain a digital certificate from a third-party provider, such as Verisign at www.verisign.com.

The Advanced tab, shown in Figure 7-5, gives you additional options arranged in these groups: Server Port Numbers, Server Timeouts, Sending, and Delivery. If your mail servers require Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connections, select the appropriate check boxes. See your ISP documentation for details.

By default, Server Timeouts is configured for one minute. This means that if the mail fails to start downloading after one minute, Outlook Express stops trying and presents a prompt to ask if you want to try again. As a general rule, the one minute setting is sufficient, but if you know your mail server is frequently slow to respond, you can increase this value.

In the Sending section of the Advanced tab, you can choose Break Apart Messages Larger Than and specify a certain value. This can be useful in cases where you need to communicate with older servers that cannot handle messages larger than 64 KB. Again, don’t use this option unless you are sure you need it.

You can also choose to leave a copy of the message on the mail server for redundancy purposes, if your mail server supports this feature. This option can be useful with a POP mail server if you travel and use a laptop to access your e-mail. You can set the

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Figure 7-5. See your ISP documentation for additional details about using these advanced features.

account on your laptop to leave a copy of your messages on the mail server, so that when you return home and download your mail, all your mail is downloaded to your main computer (and removed from the mail server at that point), enabling you to maintain a complete archive of your mail on one computer. If you do select Leave A Copy Of Messages On Server, you can then specify a time interval for keeping them, to remove them when you delete them from your Deleted Items folder, or to leave them indefinitely. The final option is your best choice if you plan to retrieve these messages later from another computer. In this scenario, on your portable computer you should select only Leave A Copy Of Messages On Server, and on your main home or office computer you would clear this check box.

Configuring a News Account

Outlook Express handles newsgroups in addition to e-mail. Your ISP service probably includes access to a news server. Newsgroups number in the tens of thousands and are a great source of information on every topic imaginable. You can configure a news account by clicking the News tab of the Internet Accounts dialog box and clicking Add, News. This action leads you through similar steps as you used to create an e-mail account (see the previous section.) Once you’ve entered the news account setup, the account appears on the News tab. You can select the account and click the Properties button to make similar refinements as with an e-mail account.

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