My Outlook Express is unstable

Factual Questions
1

I use Verizon DSL service with MSN premium. Several months ago I started using OE to read my MSN mail. As time has gone on it has gotten worse and worse. The past few days I have to keep restarting OE, Its taking several seconds to delete each e-mail and I keep getting messages like this when starting OE:

Unable to poll for new messages on your HTTP server. Account: ‘http://oe.msn.msnmail.hotmail.com/cgi-bin/hmdata’, Server: ‘http://oe.msn.msnmail.hotmail.com/cgi-bin/hmdata’, Protocol: HTTPMail, Server Response: ‘Service Unavailable.’, Port: 0, Secure(SSL): No, Error Number: 0x800CCCF0

I use automatic update for Windows XP and have an antivirus running all the time. Does anyone have any ideas on how to make things more stable? I don’t really want to switch e-mail clients unless this can’t be fixed.

2

Hmm, I just tried using OE with my Gmail acct. and things are working smooth and quickly. Could it be that I have too many e-mail messages stored in my MSN account?

3

I’ve had problems with OE losing contact with Hotmail lately. It will say that there are no folders to synchronize for a while, then it’ll find the folders several minutes or hours later. Probably related to your problem because I get the same error message very frequently.

4

I don’t have any solution to your problem, but if you keep having problems with Outlook Express then you might try switching to Thunderbird, the mail client from the people who brought you the Firefox browser. I switched from Outlook to Thunderbird recently, and i don’t regret the change.

The only problem with Thunderbird is if you have a web-based email account that uses proprietary protocols then you won’t be able to read it using Thunderbird. For example, Hotmail’s protocols can’t be read by regular POP mail clients; you have to use a Microsoft product like Outlook or Outlook Express.

I don’t know anything about MSN mail, so i don’t know if it supports regular POP mail, and Thunderbird’s FAQ section doesn’t mention it. I know that Thunderbird does support Gmail.

5

I don’t synchronize my Hotmail with OE. I just click on MSN Messenger to read my Hotmail accounts. When I open my OE, Hotmail automatically logs me on and gives me an alert telling me how many messages I have. If you’re having trouble accessing the Hotmail in OE, why not try unsynchronizing?

6

How do I unsynchronize? :frowning:

7

Look at this tutorial.

It seems that you should be able to go to the folders in your OE panel, right click, and then select from the context menu:

Synchronization Settings > Don’t Synchronize

Doing this for each folder, including your Inbox, should fix the problem.

Look here also for more info.

8

Go to OE >Tools>Accounts>Remove and remove your hotmail email address. If you wish to add it go to OE>Tools>Accounts>Add and then add it.

9

Thanks barbitu8 and mhendo. I’m guessing the reason I’m having problems is because it seems MSN Premium is incompatible with OE. I found this on the Verizon web-site.

I looked on the Hotmail website and it seems their MSN Hotmail Plus service is compatible with OE:

I started another thread asking if anyone knew of an e-mail service that can do what I’m looking for. I might have to give MSN Hotmail Plus a try.