How To Set Up Your Email in Windows Live Mail 2011 and Outlook 2010

• Windows Live Mail 2011
• Outlook 2010

Windows Live Mail 2011

1. Start Windows Live Mail (henceforth, Live Mail) from the Start Menu.
2. Once it loads, click on the "Accounts" tab along the top edge of the Live Mail screen.
3. Click on the "Email" icon in the upper left corner of the Live Mail screen.
4. When the "Add your email accounts" dialog appears, type in the email address you wish to set up in the "Email Address" box.
5. Next, type into the "Password" box the password you use to access this account. If this is the first time you've set up this account for email access, use the password you created when you established this account.
6. Check the "Remember this password" checkbox beneath the "Password" box.
7. Type in the name you wish for others to associate and identify with this email address in the "Display name for your sent messages" box.
8. If you wish to make this your primary email account, check the "Make this my default email account" checkbox.
9. Check the "Manually configure server settings" checkbox to fill in the blanks yourself from this self-help tutorial and click on the Next button.
10. On the "Configure server settings" dialog, decide whether you want to set up a POP (post office protocol) account or IMAP (Internet message access protocol) account. With the former, all your messages will be removed from the server whenever they are downloaded into Live Mail on your local computer; with the latter, Live Mail will synchronize the messages on your local computer with the messages and folders on the email server, thus creating a mirror on both your local computer and the email server. If you're setting up a Windows Live Hotmail account, Live Mail will automatically configure these settings for you, assuming you already have a Windows Live Hotmail account setup with Microsoft. If you don't already have this account setup, you'll need to do that first.
11. Next, type in the email server's incoming and outgoing address in the "Server address" box for each. You may need to get this from your email service provider, but you can sometimes guess these settings by using the domain name for your email account. For instance, if your email service is provided by winmail.com (a fictitious domain as of 11 January 2012), you can use pop.winmail.com as the incoming POP setting and smtp.winmail.com as the outgoing SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol) setting. Of course, this will differ if you use an IMAP account. In the case of IMAP, mail.winmail.com will probably work for both incoming and outgoing server settings. The mail.winmail.com setting also works sometimes for the POP/SMTP settings, though you will have to experiment to see if it works. Leave the default Port settings as they are.
12. Leave the "Requires a secure connection (SSL)" checkbox unchecked on both the incoming and outgoing servers, but check the "Requires authentication" checkbox beneath the outgoing server address box. Leave the default "Authenticate using" option set at "Clear text." (Unless you know for certain that your email server requires a secure connection, the default settings here are usually acceptable, but if sending a test messaging fails, read the error message(s) and make the necessary corrections to comply with the specified requirements.)
13. Once you finish this setup, you can create a new email message, put your own email address (the one you just finished setting up) in the To box, and send it to see if it succeeds. After the send process completes, wait at least two full minutes, then press the F5 key to initiate a check for new messages. If your test message downloads into your Inbox, you know your settings are all correct. If you are unable to send a message FROM this address, however, it may be because your email server requires your full email address instead of the shortened username. To edit this setting, click on the "Accounts" tab at the top of your Live Mail screen and then click on the "Properties" icon at the upper left corner of your Live Mail screen. When the "Properties" dialog appears, click on the "Servers" tab, and add the rest of your email address to the "Email username" box. Click on the "OK" button to close the "Properties" dialog, and you should now be able to send messages from your new account. If you are STILL unable to send or receive messages from this account, consult your email service provider or find a local geek to help you sort it out.

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Microsoft Outlook 2010

1. Start Outlook from the Start Menu.
2. When you install Outlook, it will offer to take you through these steps the first time you start it, though they might differ slightly from what I've written here.
3. Once Outlook loads, click on the "File" tab along the top of your Outlook screen.
4. Next, click on the "Add account" button.
5. On the "Add New Account" dialog, select the "Manually configure server settings or additional server types" radio button (the last option near the bottom of the dialog window).
6. Choose the "Internet E-mail" radio button (the first option near the top of the dialog window; it will likely already be selected for you by default) and click the "Next" button.
7. Complete the name and email address textboxes under the "User Information" section for the account you're creating (be sure to use the EXACT information provided to you by your email service provider, or this won't work!).
8. Under the "Server Information" section, select the type of account from the "Account Type" drop-down menu; select POP, the most common for personal accounts (where all of your emails are downloaded onto your local computer every time you check your email, leaving nothing on the host email server), or IMAP, if you want to have a synchronous account where all your emails remain on the host server and are synchronized with this account by your Outlook client each time you start it (be aware that if your email service provider has a maximum size for your account, IMAP is not the option to choose, as this will quickly use up all your allowable storage space!).
9. Next to complete under the "Server Information" section is the Incoming/Outgoing server details. Here, one of the two most frequently used configurations will usually work. In the "Incoming mail server" box, type pop.domainname.tld, where domainname and tld are your email service provider's domain name and top level domain extension, such as pop.bestmail.com (purely fictitious at the time of this writing). You may also type mail.domainname.tld, where the domain name and TLD are your email service provider's domain name and extension.
10. For the "Outgoing mail server" information, type either smtp.domainname.tld or mail.domainname.tld, just as you did for the "Incoming mail server" information.
11. Under the "Logon Information" section, type the user name and password for the email account you're creating (again, be sure to use the EXACT information provided to you by your email service provider, or this won't work!). Sometimes the user name is the full email address, and sometimes it's only the portion preceding the at ("@") symbol. If the partial user name doesn't work, try typing the entire email address as the user name. If that fails, contact your email service provider for assistance.
12. Check the "Remember password" checkbox to record your password in Outlook, or else you'll have to provide it every time Outlook checks this email account.
13. Leave the "Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA)" checkbox unchecked, unless you know for certain that it is required (again, check with your email service provider for clarification/help with this).
14. Under the "Test Account Settings" section, leave the "Test Account Settings by clicking the Next button" checked, unless you wish to manually test the account by clicking on the "Test Account Settings ..." button now.
15. Under the "Deliver new messages to ..." section, leave the "New Outlook Data File" radio button selected.
16. Next, click on the "More Settings" button, and when the "Internet E-Mail Settings" dialog appears, decide whether you want to type a more identifiable name in the "Mail Account" textbox on the "General" tab. You may also wish to type the name of your organization, if you're creating this account for a workplace or other organization where you volunteer or work.
17. Next, click on the "Outgoing Server" tab, check the "My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication" checkbox, and select the "Use same settings as my incoming mail server" radio button, since many email service providers will require this setting for you to be able to send emails.
18. Next, click on the "Connection" tab and select the way you connect to the Internet. If you have a DSL or cable modem hook-up, select the LAN option, and then click on the "Advanced" tab. You should leave everything alone on this dialog, except you should uncheck the "Leave a copy of messages on the server" checkbox. Why Microsoft thought it a good idea to make this the default is anybody's guess, but once again, if your email service provider has a maximum size for your email storage, this will quickly use it up!
19. If you're a LAN user, skip from here to the conclusion of this article. However, if you're one of those unfortuate souls who must still connect via dial-up through your phone, go back to the "Connection" tab and select the "Connect using my phone line" radio button.
20. If you selected the phone line (or dial-up) option, you will notice the "Use the following Dial-Up Networking connection" drop-down menu became available.
21. Next, click on the "Add" button, and when the "Set up a new connection" dialog appears, click on the "Dial-up" option.
22. When the next screen of this dialog appears, type the telephone number for your Internet Service Provider (ISP) -- you must obtain this number from your ISP -- and type the name of the connection in the "Destination name" textbox (such as AOL or whatever your local ISP is named). Leave the other checkboxes unchecked.
23. Click on the "Dialing Rules" hyperlink to the righthand side of the "Telephone Number" box.
24. When the "Phone and Modem" dialog appears, click the "Edit" button to edit the "My Location" connection (if shown) or click on the "New" button to create a new dial-up connection rule.
25. On the "General" tab of both the "Edit Location" and "New Location" dialogs, you may type a new name for the location, if you like, such as the name of your ISP.
26. Change the area code to the current area code from which you'll be dialing. If you live outside the United States, choose your country of residence and change the area code accordingly.
27. Under the "Dialing Rules" section, the first two options apply only if your phone system requires you to dial a number for an outside line for either local or long distance calling, such as a commercial or hotel phone system. The last two options apply only if you use a special long distance carrier.
28. If your phone service plan includes call waiting, you will want to disable this feature while using your dial-up connection, since an incoming call will often interrupt or interfere with your connection. This can be a bad thing if you're in the middle of a lengthy download! Choose the call waiting disable code in accordance with your phone service provider's instructions.
29. Although practically every phone system in the U. S. uses tone dialing, there may yet be some in both the U. S. and outside the U. S. that use pulse dialing. How do you know which you have? If you hear a tone when you press a key on your phone, you have tone dialing.
30. If you need to set up special rules for your area code, you can click on the "New" button on the "Area Code Rules" tab. This will not apply to most users, but if it happens to apply to you, read Outlook's Help files for more details.
31. If you want to use a calling card with your dial-up connection, click on the "Calling Card" tab and scroll through the list of cards on the "Card Types" list. If your card isn't listed, click on the "New" button to add the information for your calling card. Enter your account number and PIN to use the card in the appropriate boxes.
32. Once you've finished completing all the information on the "Edit Location" or "New Location" dialog, click on the "OK" button, and then click the "OK" button on the "Phone and Modem" dialog.
33. Now, you should be back to the "Set up a new connection" dialog. Click on the "Next" button to go to the next screen.
34. Type in your user name and password for your ISP account (get this from your ISP, if you aren't sure). If you want to be able to read the characters in your password box, you can check the "Show characters" checkbox. If you don't want to have to type in your password every time you connect, check the "Remember this password" checkbox.
35. Next, click on the "Create" button, and Outlook will return you to the "Internet E-mail Settings" dialog.
36. Now, click on the drop-down menu under the "Modem" section, and choose the connection you just created, if it isn't already selected.
37. Finally, click on the "Advanced" tab on the "Internet E-Mail Settings" dialog and uncheck the "Leave a copy of messages on the server" checkbox, unless you already did that above





LAN Users Resume Reading Here:

38. Next, click the "OK" button on the "Internet E-mail Settings" dialog, and Outlook will take you back to the "Add New Account" dialog.
39. Now, click the "Next" button. Depending on your connection, Outlook will attempt to test your account settings by trying to connect to your account using the setting you've input. If that is successful, Outlook will then send a test message to your account to test whether those settings are correct. If you're using a LAN connection, this will go much faster, assuming all your settings are correct. If you're using a dial-up connection, however, Outlook will attempt to connect using your phone line. You must insure that you have an active phone line connected to your computer's phone modem beforehand. Assuming you have input all of your settings correctly, Outlook will follow the same steps to test your account settings as described for the LAN user above. If either of the tests fail, Outlook will alert you to what is incorrect, and you can go back and edit your settings.
40. Now, assuming everything has worked out well, you may click the "OK" button, and you're all done!

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