My computer is running Outlook Express 6 on Windows XP SP3. Recently, I seemed to have experienced a two-week email drought where I kept getting the “No new messages” message, although I was able to send emails. When it became clear that I wasn’t just unpopular but that people were trying to send emails to me, I contacted my ISP who, through various trial and error means, determined that the emails were leaving their server, but were somehow not making it into the Inbox. There is no spam or message rules operating on Outlook Express or through security software, and the problem was rectified by deleting the email account and then re-adding it as a new email account (with exactly the same settings!) so that email is now being received. Is there any way that I can find the missing emails which, according to my ISP, were downloaded but which never appeared in our Inbox? From one of your earlier hints I tried compacting the message folders, but to no avail! (more…)

In a previous Tip of the Week I mentioned the Image Resizer Power Toy. This is an excellent utility which places an item in the context (right-click) menu for images, allowing you to easily resize such images. Unfortunately the Microsoft released Power Toy only works in Windows XP. However, this utility has been cloned and extended by another developer to work on other versions of Windows, including Windows Vista and 7. Recently the website for the Image Resizer Power Toy Clone has been moved, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to mention this tip again. If you would like to download this excellent utility the new website is located at www.codeplex.com/ImageResizer .

When trying to use Mac Mail on my Apple iMac to check my ISPs email a message appears saying that my password is incorrect. I have verified the password with my ISP but it still does not work. (more…)

Since upgrading to Windows XP Service Pack 3 I have found that Google Earth crashes. The program worked fine in the past so I cannot understand why it no longer works. I have reinstalled Google Earth several times but this has not resolved the problem. The computer meets the minimum requirements for Google Earth. (more…)

For those users who like to try the latest and greatest, the Office 2010 beta is available. This allows users to download and try a beta version of Office 2010, the latest version of the Microsoft Office suite. The download is free and could provide some interesting insight into the next version of Office. More information is available at www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/default.aspx . The beta edition of Office 2010 expires on 31st October 2010.