# Why won't Outlook Express work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2002, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-outlook-express-work/115210 "2002-06-21T05:17:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![riserius1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@riserius1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/riserius1)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-outlook-express-work/115210/1 "2002-06-21T05:17:20Z")
I can’t get my Outlook Express to work. Every time I try to log in it keeps asking me for ID; I give it the same ID and password I use for my MSN account and it keeps asking for it again and again. If I tell it to cancel, it tells me: Unable to logon to the server using Secure Password Authentication. Account: ‘MSN Mail’, Server: ‘[pop3.email.msn.com](http://pop3.email.msn.com)’, Protocol: POP3, Server Response: ‘-ERR Permission denied’, Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 0x800CCC90, Error Number: 0x800CCC18 I use MSN explorer for my browser, and the Outlook Express is version 6. Can anyone help? I used to use OE for newsgroups/usenet and now I’m forced to use Google, which doesn’t have binaries, and is otherwise too unwieldy to use. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-outlook-express-work/115210/2 "2002-06-21T08:15:22Z")
It’s asking you for your username and password for checking your internet mail. If you are using the wrong user/pass, or if the MSN authentication is playing up, then you will get that error. Investigate. ---
**Author:** ![sigSEGV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@sigSEGV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sigSEGV)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-outlook-express-work/115210/3 "2002-06-21T15:06:54Z")
Are you sure MSN uses Secure Password Authentication? Unfortunately most ISPs do not. You’ll need to uncheck “Log on using Secure Password Authentication (SPA)” in your account setup. ---
**Author:** ![ForbiddenFruitsalad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@ForbiddenFruitsalad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ForbiddenFruitsalad)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-outlook-express-work/115210/4 "2002-06-21T15:59:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sigSEGV \* > **Are you sure MSN uses Secure Password Authentication? Unfortunately most ISPs do not.** Most mail servers do not support SPA, but there are very good reasons not to. Secure Password Authentication is a proprietary Microsoft protocol that **does not add any significant amount of security** (I can’t remember the technical details, but basically it’s “security through obscurity”). APOP and CRAM-MD5 are alternative authentication methods that are better than SPA. TLS/SSL secured connections are even better. ---
**Author:** ![riserius1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@riserius1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/riserius1)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-outlook-express-work/115210/5 "2002-06-22T02:39:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sigSEGV \* > \*\*Are you sure MSN uses Secure Password Authentication? Unfortunately most ISPs do not. You’ll need to uncheck “Log on using Secure Password Authentication (SPA)” in your account setup. \*\* How do i do that? Is this in Outlook Express you’re referring to, or do I do this on my MSN start up window? Chris W ---
**Author:** ![ForbiddenFruitsalad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@ForbiddenFruitsalad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ForbiddenFruitsalad)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-outlook-express-work/115210/6 "2002-06-22T03:34:49Z")
It’s in Outlook Express. Select **Accounts…** under the **Tools** menu, then select the account you are having problems with under the **Mail** tab in the Internet Accounts dialog box. Press the **Properties** button. In the property sheet shown, you’ll find the option **Log on using Secure Password Authentication** under the **Servers** tab. Hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![ForbiddenFruitsalad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@ForbiddenFruitsalad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ForbiddenFruitsalad)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-outlook-express-work/115210/7 "2002-06-22T04:26:28Z")
I’ve never actually used MSN so I’m not sure, but a quick Google-powered investigation seems to imply that the MSN mail servers do indeed use SPA (it is Microsoft, after all), and so I doubt the above will help. ☹ Unfortunately I can’t think of anything else to try based on your problem description. Perhaps there are other MSN users around here with a clue as to what could be the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-outlook-express-work/115210/8 "2002-06-22T05:07:18Z")
Unfortunately, I am an MSN user, as my phone company has entered into an unholy and demonic alliance with MSN. What I’ve found is that MSN will not support POP email with DSL, so if you have DSL you are forced to use Hotmail. You can read Hotmail through Outlook Express, which I do, but you need to synchronize the accounts. Do a search in MSN Help or Hotmail Help for Outlook Express. ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-outlook-express-work/115210/9 "2002-06-22T22:58:02Z")
**Squish** if you are talking about Qwest, you DO NOT have to use MSN. I have Qwest’s DSL, through and through. I pay about $45 a month for the DSL line and to use them for my ISP. So far (since December) so good. I rarely have problems and when I do I have only one number to call rather than battling between companies as to what the problem is. \< I can’t comment on the email question though, I don’t use it. You might try calling MSN and finding out if your settings are correct. \> ---
**Author:** ![riserius1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@riserius1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/riserius1)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-outlook-express-work/115210/10 "2002-06-23T07:24:43Z")
My apologies if I wasn’t clear in my OP; I read my regular mail fine, it’s newsgroups/usenet that i’m after. If Outlook Express requires the ID and there’s no way around that, fine, but how can I find out what the right ID/password is? Or am I totally SOL here? Chris W