When it works well, e-mail can be great. It's hard to beat e-mail for everything
from staying in touch with family to requesting information from businesses or other
organizations. Want to send the same message to several people? Communicate with
someone across the continent? Transmit photos, manuscripts or other information?
For speed and efficiency, this virtually instantaneous medium is one of the most
convenient features of modern life.
But e-mail is not without problems. If you key in the name of an intended recipient
but your message keeps bouncing back, you might not be singing e-mail's praises.
Ditto for attachments that won't open or other such nuisances. With just a little
patience, though, you can readily overcome most e-mail problems. What follows are
4 common e-mail problems along with solutions for overcoming them.
Problem - Returned Messages
This may be the most frustrating of all e-mail problems. After taking the time
to create a message, you click on the "send" button and consider your task accomplished.
But the next thing you know, the message pops up in your in-box with a heading that
it did not reach its intended recipient.
Solutions
First, take the simple step of checking to see that the address of your recipient
has been entered correctly. This may seem obvious, but sometimes the only thing
wrong is a misplaced letter, the use of "com" instead of "net", or some similar
error. If you know the correct address, this is a straightforward matter of double
checking each character. If not, you might need to experiment by sending multiple
messages, or by entering alternative addresses with slight variations. Under this
approach, you simply keep track of which messages are bounced back and compare them
with the overall list of addresses you used. If you sent four variations but only
three were returned, you have solved the problem by the process of elimination.
Sometimes the source of your problem lies with the recipient. If messages to
other addresses go through but fail here, try to contact the intended recipient
by other means and report the situation. The cause may range from a temporary problem
with the recipient's server to a switch to another e-mail provider, to a full in
box. In this case, simply waiting may be the best recourse. Or a phone call or other
communication may be required on your part to obtain the correct e-mail address.
If all your messages are being returned, you may have a connection problem. See
below for more details.
Problem 2 - You Have Lost Your Connection
Sometimes a failure to send or receive e-mail can be traced to a lost connection
with your Internet service provider.
Solutions
If you see a "failure to connect" or "no response" message or have otherwise
determined that you have failed to connect, double check to make certain there are
no physical problems.
First, check your cables and connections. If you use a dial-up modem, listen
to make sure it produces the normal high-pitched dialing sound. If not, the problem
could be a loose connection. Locate the phone cord that runs from the back of your
computer to the phone jack, and then make sure that each end is plugged in snugly.
If you will don't hear the expected dialing sound, check to make sure your phone
cord is undamaged. If it seems worn, replace it with a new one. Other steps include
making certain the line is plugged into the right port, and checking the phone jack
by plugging the cord into a different jack. If you hear the dialing sound after
any of these steps, you have made a successful connection.
Connection problems may be more common with dial-up modems than with broadband
connections, but the latter are also dependent on physical connections. A loose
wire or poorly connected cable can easily be problematic. Sometimes a glitch occurs
that can be best addressed by repeating portions of the initial set-up process.
A simple fix touted by Verizon technical service reps for some DSL (digital subscriber
line) customers is to disconnect the three lines from the back of the modem and
then reconnect them in a specified order. When this action is taken, the online
connection is immediately regained.
If you are online but keep getting bumped off, the lost connection can be the
result of an unintended software command. In Outlook Express, for example, you will
find the command "Hang up when finished." If the box in front of this phrase is
checked, the connection will automatically be severed each time you send or download
e-mail. Sometimes a misdirected click of your mouse will cause you to place a check
in the box even though you do not realize it. Simply click on the check mark to
make it disappear, and the hang-ups will cease.
These 2 common e-mail problems are quite easy to determine and when rectified
will make your emailing experience more enjoyable.
