The use of a mailer like Outlook Express can greatly simply email operations. You can use Outlook Express with many mailer servers that have POP3 mail access. Most HTTP mail servers do not support the use of mailers. Check to see if other mail servers outside of Yahoo support POP3 access or otherwise support the use of a mailer. The instructions below are for Yahoo POP3 email, but most POP3 mail servers are about the same. You will also need to sign up for Yahoo Delivers email option to have POP3 access on the Yahoo mail server. One final point to touch upon is security. The use of any mailer allows a program that access the internet for you. Regardless of what program is used, it leaves a possible way for someone to take advantage of your system or programs on your system. You should keep up with security updates fro any software used on the internet and mailers are no exception to this. There is little risk from the use of Outlook Express if you keep up with security updates from Microsoft for the program, and keep a current, correctly set up antivirus program on your system. Without taking these simple steps, the benifits of using a mailer can quickly become rather moot if you end up infected with an email virus attachment due to not correctly setting up your mailer. Depending on the version of Outlook Express you have or desktop options selected, these screens may varry slightly in appearance or wording from the examples.

To start this process of setting up Outlook Express, find the Outlook Express icon on your desktop or toolbar. It will look like an envelope. You may also be able to start Outlook Express from a keyboard button (email) or from the Internet Explorer Toolbar (mail). You should see a screen about like the one to the right.

The next step would be to set up Outlook Express to access the existing email account. (the only accounts Outlook Express will set up automatically is Hotmail) Go to the TOOLS on the top of the Outlook Express screen and then selection Options as shown to the right.

This is what you will see next. Select the mail option to set up a mail account. This should open the connection wizard.

This is the next screen you should see. It would seem this would be a pretty simple item to fill out but often it is best to enter your Yahoo or account ID name here. I DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU PUT YOUR FULL REAL NAME HERE!!!  Putting you first name like John or Jane is ok. I would however avoid putting my legal name in this area. There will be people that you would not care to know all that much about you sending you email. If you happen to reply to them, they will have your real name and in many cases area where you are located to look you up personally or via phone. If for no other reason avoid putting your real name in full here as it can be used by email spammers to be sold on mail lists. Less is best in this case.

The next thing you will be asked is to enter you email address somewhat like the example shown. This is so that persons wishing to return mail you can do so. This may or may not be seen by persons you sent email to depending if they are using a mailer or not, and the settings. It however can be read in the properties of the message in anycase. ( yes the message can be traced if you enter the wrong address here, just takes a bit more work is all. Many mail servers will not accept email when this entry does not match the account name. )

This screen is where you enter the address the mailer sends mail to, or receives it from. The addresses show are for Yahoo POP3 mail access. Other email servers might be simular but some omit the "pop" on the incoming mail. Check with the Webmaster of your email server for addresses for mail servers other than Yahoo. Most will list them in a help file for the mail server you are with under POP3 or Outlook Express help. Make sure you set the correct mail server type in the first box on this screen. It will offer POP3 or HTTP as an option. HTTP is generally going to default to Hotmail account setup.

This screen is next and it is where you enter your account name and password for access to your mail account. If this is not correctly entered and the password saved one of two things will happen. The mailer will ask for the password each time it attempts to check the mail or it will come back with a failure message about checking the mail, depending on the error and mail server. Do not use the SPA option unless your Webmaster or mail server set up file instructs you to do so. Depending on the version of Outlook Express these screens may vary slightly as far as wording. Recently Yahoo Mail has indicted that you must use Secure Password Authentication (SPA) in Yahoo mail now. So you need to also check the box shown in this image file that is not checked.

This screen is what the name of the account will appear as in Outlook Express on your computer screen. It is there incase you have more than one email account so you can keep them straight. With Outlook Express you can manage several POP3 accounts at the same time, however they may need to be on different email servers to work 100% trouble free all the time.

You may or may not be sent to these screens, depending on the version of Outlook Express and if you have email set up already or not. If you see these screens chances are it is the first time you are using Outlook Express to access email accounts. If you are using a Modem that dials an ISP use the option shown. If you are using DSL or Cable modems you may need to select the LAN option as many of them connect to your computer by way of a network card. If you wish to have the greatest level of control over the program (Outlook Express) manually establishing the connection is the best option for you.

You can use this screen to set up the options for differnet dial up networks or connections for different email accounts on different networks or connections. Just be aware of the fact your connection will need to disconnect to each different network connection used.

You are finished. If you have done your work correctly it should connect and check your mail for you. There are several options about how the program can go about doing this, and the look of the messages you send with the program. To get to these options you would close this window (Finish) and then click on the TOOLS at the top of the Outlook Express Window and then OPTIONS. You should see a screen somewhat like the one show below.