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3 More Common E-Mail Problems And What To Do About Them |
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As we continue to evolve into the world of e-mail that is
part of our everyday life, sometimes little problems arise
that bother the user. Previously we talked about returned
messages and lost connections, both which can be aggravating,
and supplied solutions. But there are a few more problems
that can affect an e-mail user causing frustration and we
will address these here, and again provide reasonable solutions
to over come them.
Problem 1 You Cannot Send a Message
Even when there is not a connection problem, you may attempt
to send email, but find that it continues to remain in your
outbox.
Solution
Typically this is a software problem, the result of otherwise
unapparent damage or corruption to one or more e-mail messages.
To address this problem, first copy any unsent messages as
text. Then save them on the computer's hard drive or a back-up
storage medium. After all messages have been saved, highlight
all the messages in your outbox and click on “deleteâ€
or “clearâ€. When clearing
your outbox, start over. Just copy unsent messages from the
text files, pass them into new e-mail messages and resend.
Problem 2 The E-mail is Missing an Attachment
or the Attachment Won't Open
An especially handy feature of e-mail is the ability to send
and receive attachments. Transmitting documents, photos or
other such information can save time and money compared to
the U.S. Mail or express delivery services. At the same time,
attachments can be real headaches. A common frustration is
to receive an e-mail message that refers to an attachment,
but then find nothing is there.
Solutions
Often the best solution is to request that the sender try
once again, since it is not unusual for the writer to refer
to an attachment, but then forget to attach it. Even if this
is not the case, your request might prompt the sender to re-think
the attachment's format before transmitting again. If the
problem continues, consider asking the sender to paste the
contents inside an e-mail message and try again. This may
disrupt formatting, but can be an effective way to circumvent
attachment problems.
If you see a message that the attachment has been deleted,
it may be that your anti-virus software has detected a virus,
and you're better off without it anyway. But if you find that
all attachments are indiscriminately being deleted, check
your mail properties. If a box is checked that blocks all
attachments, remove the check mark so that you can receive
attachments. If you then receive a message from an unknown
person, or if the message or attachment seems suspicious,
delete the message without opening the attachment.
A related problem is to see that an attachment has been transmitted,
but find that you are unable to open it. The causes (and thus
the solutions) vary. In some cases, the problem is that the
software used by the sender does not match that of the recipient.
As with a missing attachment, a simple fix is to ask the sender
to copy and paste the contents of the attachment within a
follow up mail message. Even if formatting is disrupted, you
can still get the gist of the information. You can also use
your own copying and pasting process to reformat the contents,
if that is important.
Another strategy is to save the document to your hard drive,
and then open the software program that was used initially
to create it. Once this program is in use, your computer may
be able to recognize what had been the attachment, and open
it. If you do not have the appropriate software loaded on
your computer, you may be able to download it from the Internet;
just follow the on screen prompts to proceed.
Problem 3 – You Have too Much Incoming
Mail or Cannot Download What You Have
If you are receiving large volumes of e-mail, you may be
vulnerable to several difficulties.
Solutions
Many Internet service providers place limits on the amount
of storage provided to each user (although some have recently
increased storage limits). If a pre-set limit is reached (perhaps
because you've gone too long without downloading your e-mail,
or have been inundated by SPAM or virus induced flood of messages),
additional messages will be bounced back to those who sent
them.
Of course the direct approach is to download your mail and
then weed it out, but a smarter move may be to access your
e-mail account via Web mail. That way you can see a listing
of all messages and quickly delete any that do not appear
to be of interest. The end result is the same, but this step
can save a great deal of downloading time if you're using
a dial up modem. It also adds an extra measure of virus protection
even if you have a broadband connection. Since you're deleting
messages from your ISP's server before they ever have a chance
to infect your computer, it's like killing mosquitoes before
they bite you – instead of afterwards.
If you do not have a Web mail account, it's easy to get one.
Simply go to a provider such as Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) or Lycos
(www.lycos.com) and register. You can also use a site such
as mail2web (www.mail2web.com) or webmail4free.com without
even registering. Go to the site and enter you e-mail address
and password. You will see a listing of all incoming mail,
which you can read and then retain for downloading, or delete,
as you choose.
A similar challenge may be caused by unusually large message.
Again, this problem is more common with dial-up modems, where
hefty messages may take an annoyingly long time to download.
In the worst cases, you may find yourself unable to receive
other messages, because the connection with the server where
your messages are stored is severed when a time limit has
been reached.
Use of Web mail can also do the trick here. Just log on to
the third-party site, peruse the list of messages in your
inbox, and choose the one that is the largest (most Web mail
programs automatically list the size of each message). If
the message seems of potential interest, open and read it,
and then delete it. Or if it is obviously spam or something
in which you have no interest, you can delete the message
without even bothering to read it. Once you have removed the
offending message, your other incoming mail will no longer
be blocked.
If you do not have Web mail, an option is to contact your
Internet Service Provider and ask for help. Once a customer
service representative deletes the offending message from
the ISP's server, you can then download all remaining messages.
Also keep in mind that retaining too much e-mail can be an
organizational problem, if not a technical one. Take time
to delete e-mail that does not need to be saved for future
reference. Allowing too many messages to accumulate wastes
storage space and makes it more difficult to find important
messages when you need to refer to them. For messages that
merit retention, create a series of folders so that they can
be readily located, and so that your inbox will not become
too full.
About the Author:
Marv Ko has many years of experience in business, marketing,
security, writing, and varied hobbies. He is is the senior
editor of www.upublish.info ... your source for free original
content articles. Authors always wanted!
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