Changes to Qwest Internet

If you use Qwest internet, you have received an email from them recently stating that they were ending their partnership with MSN email and that you needed to make some changes before June 30, 2011.  The email is a bit confusing, so I thought I'd help explain it here.

If your bundled your TV, Phone, and internet with Qwest, then MSN was probably installed in your computer during the setup process.  That's because Qwest had an agreement with MSN where Qwest provided the internet service, and MSN could provide the email service.  Although you never needed to use MSN email if you didn't want to, many folks did because the setup process made it look like you did.

However, now that Qwest and MSN are going their separate ways, folks will have to make some changes to their email in order to ensure they keep getting email after June 30, 2011.  And the changes depend on your current email address.

If you were using MSN for email, your email address is something like "example@msn.com".   If your email address looks like this, then you'll have to make a choice.

1. If you want to keep your existing email address, you'll have to sign up (and pay) for a Premium MSN account.  So you'll not only be paying for Qwest internet, but also MSN email.
2. You could switch to a "example@q.com" email address and use the new Qwest internet system. 
3. You could sign up for a free Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail email account and use it instead (the advantage of doing this is that your email address will stay the same if you ever change your internet provider in the future).

If you  were using Qwest for your email, your email address was something like, "example@q.com".  If your email address looks like this, then you will need to switch to Qwest's new system (MyQwest.com).

For more information about the Qwest changes, click here.

Saving Pictures from Windows Live Mail to Your Computer

It's not uncommon to get pictures or other attachments in email these days that we'd like to save.  One of the questions I frequently hear is, "how do I save pictures in email?".  Unfortunately, the answer is different for everybody asking because the answer mostly depends on which program use for email.  Although there could be a couple of factors that affect the answer to this question too.

Generally speaking, to save pictures from email to your computer, you have to "Save the Attachment".  Some programs will tell you to "download the attachment".  These two terms basically mean that you're saving the picture (or other attachment to your computer). 

It's too difficult to try and answer this question for all the different email programs in this one post.  So the instructions below only show you how to save pictures from Windows Live Mail to your computer.  If you are using MSN or Hotmail for your email, these instructions should work for you (assuming you're using the MSN, Hotmail, or Winodws Live Mail website to check your email).

1. Log into your Email account and find the message with the pictures (or attachment) you want to save.  Note that messages with attachments usually have a paperclip next to them. 
2. Open the email message with the attachment (or pictures).
3. If you see a yellow box with a message telling you the image or attachment has been blocked for your safety, you can click the link to "show content" in that box (assuming you trust the person who sent you that email).  Once you click that link, you should see the attached picture.
4. Click the image and a small gray window should pop up.  Make sure the box to "Save the image" is checked and then click OK.

Repeat the steps above until every image (or attachment is saved).  This is where it gets tricky.  Depending on how your computer is configured, the image may be saved in one of several different places.

If you're using a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows 7, then the image was most likely saved to your "Download" folder.  To get to that folder, just click your START button (lower left corner of taskbar) and then click your Username (which is usually your name).  After you do this, you should see a list of folders, one of which is named, "Download".  Open it, and the images you downloaded should be there.

If you don't have the download folder, then your image will most likely be saved in one of other places listed below.  Check them all.

1. The Desktop (the main screen on your computer)
2. The MY PICTURE (or PICTURE) folder
3. The MY DOCUMENTS (or DOCUMENTS) folder
4. You may also have a "DOWNLOAD" folder inside the MY DOCUMENTS folder.

In most cases, your saved pictures will be in one of the places mentioned above.

Can't Receive Email from MSN?

Yesterday, many of clients reported that their MSN email accounts weren't working.  Turns out, there was a change at MSN that caused the problem.

You may have seen an email a couple of weeks ago that stated you needed to download software if you used Outlook Express in order to continue receiving email.  And if you're like most people, you weren't sure you could trust the email given today's internet scams.  Making matters worse, when you tried to search the MSN website for more information (in order to determine if the email was legit), you were unable to find anything ... resulting in you being in more hesitant to follow the email instructions.  And now you can't receive or send email from MSN.

Don't feel bad.  You were right to be cautious and hesitant about downloading software based on an email.  However, this email does appear to be legit and if you asked me MSN / Qwest could have done a lot better job of spreading the word about the upcoming changes on their site in order to ease people's fears.

Okay, so here's the scoop.  Over the past year or so Microsoft has been in the process of re-branding themselves from "MSN" to "Widows Live".  So everything is being renamed ... Windows Live Mail (instead of Outlook Express), Windows Live Messenger (instead of MSN Messenger), etc.

Also in the past, MSN did not support POP3 or SMTP (normal email systems) and so you had to use HTTP to receive email through Outlook Epxress (which was designed for POP3 and SMTP).  This created a lot of headaches for people, especially since MSN refused to support the use of their email through Outlook Express.

So now, MSN has decided to help their users out a bit.  Users now have two options in which to receive their MSN email.

The first option is to download Windows Live Mail (which is the new Outlook Express).  If you own a computer running Windows Vista, then you already have Windows Live Mail and don't need to do this.  But if your computer is running Windows XP or an earlier version of Windows, Microsoft is now letting you download and install Windows Live Mail so you can use it instead of Outlook Express.  Personally, I don't like this option.

The other option now available is to configure a POP3 and SMTP account.  The advantage of this option is that you don't have to download or install any software.  You simply create a new MSN account that uses POP3 and SMTP, change the ports, and then delete the old account.  It's simple and only takes about 5 minutes to complete.

For more information about how to configure your email accounts for MSN, click here.

If you need more help with MSN email, click here.  Notice there is a chat link at the top of the page too in case you wish to speak with an MSN agent.