Right, I didn’t realise there were people out there using Outlook Express, but I had a quick poke around and here’s a cool trick you might like to try:

Open the correct folder in Outlook Express and arrange the window so it only takes up half of the screen. Hold down the Ctrl button and left-click on all the emails that you want to save.

Click on the Start button and then My Documents to open a Windows Explorer window. Then create a new folder for the selected emails. Drag and drop the emails into this folder to create a copy. If you don’t want them in Outlook Express any more, they can now be deleted.

There you go, it doesn’t matter if your email is invitation to a non 12 step program or just a collection of jokes, you can now treat them as normal file system objects and back them up by making copies of them.

I came across this question online and thought it merited an answer here, as I had actually helped someone deal with something similar a few years ago. The reason the attachments won’t open is because of a security setting in Outlook Express. Microsoft, in their wisdom, decided to block an avenue that helps viruses and other malicious programs spread; by turning on a setting in Outlook Express that blocks people from opening any attachment. (Which is a bit like trying to prevent a bank robbery by preventing customers from coming in the door).

Here’s hope you can rectify the problem. Open the security options window in Outlook Express by clicking Tools in the top menu and then Options. Look for the option “Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened…”, which will have a tick in front of it. Untick this option and click Apply.

The reality is, unless you have custom software written for you, you’ll always be at the mercy of a software provider to change settings at will. But the great thing is that you can usually search online and find a way to rectify the problem.

The decision to remove .jpg files from emails was a response to a particular type of malicious attack common in emails a few years ago. It centers around the fact that based on your settings, most people hide the extension of files that windows can recognise. This means that you may have an executable for example, that is called x.jpg.exe .. Windows hides the .exe in the extension and a user things he’s dealing with a .jpg file. This way, people could be persuaded to execute a malicious file, thinking they were clicking on an image.

Unfortunately, once software manufacturers take a decision like this, everyone is affected, even if they only use email to send photos of their loved ones. It’s one of these cases when actions by a few affect many. Email is used for a variety of purposes nowadays, from hoax emails and adverts for nuphedra all the way to emails from Nigeria and solicitations for everything under the sun. However, it’s also used for family to communicate with one another, work and all sorts of useful purposes. Just make sure you have a virus scanner and you’ll be safe wherever you go.

The Windows Address Book is kept in a slightly different place to the email files and here’s how you can find it. Start Outlook Express, click on the Tools menu and then on the Address Book. The Address Book window will now appear. Click on the Help menu and then on About Address Book. The file box shows the location and name of the Address Book file. You can then find this location on your computer and take a backup from there.

It’s worth keeping in mind that you should really try to clean up your Address Book before you take a backup and this can make your backup file smaller and therefore easier to manage. So, if you have email address of contacts you know you’ll never speak to again (like the mate who ran off with your girlfriend), or ones you know you’ll never use again (like the guy who promised you the best fat burners on the planet)

I got this message from a friend who spends quite a bit of time online messing around reading about his favourite sport, shooting. He was going on about receiving information about Nightforce rifle scopes and how he couldn’t just click the link in the email and how “his computer wasn’t working properly”. Well, the problem he described is caused by not having an association set up which can interpret the link. This can sometimes happen when you try a different browser then uninstall it. These leaves your operating system without an association for web pages because the old associations now don’t point anywhere.

You can solve this problem by associating your links back with Internet Explorer. Here’s how you do this:

• Click Start, the Control Panel
• Double-click on Internet Options
• Click on the Programs Tab
• If there is a button marked “Make Default” click this
• Otherwise click in the box labeled “Internet Explorer should check to see if it is the default”
• Click OK
• Start Internet Explorer and choose Yes when asked if it should be the default browser.

That should solve the problem for you, but feel free to give me a shout if you still have problems.