Problem with email

Here's the deal: a friend uses both Firefox and IE8 for surfing in XP Pro SP3. Yesterday, he could click on a link on CraigsList (for example) and it would open in a "Compose mail" window in his Yahoo mail account, and the "send to" box would already be filled in automatically. Today, it simply opens in his Yahoo account without going the extra step to the "compose mail" window. This happens in both IE8 and Firefox. As an alternative, I tried to configure Outlook Express to use his Yahoo account. I used the POP/SMTP info at this link to no avail. I then tried to configure OE for my Yahoo account on a different PC, again, no luck. All I get is the error below. I'm sure I'm missing a setting OE, but I've tried just about every combo of SSL and no SSL, with and without secure password authentication, with and without outgoing server authentication, and every possible combo of these. I even tried swapping the port numbers back and forth! No dice.

If anyone can suggest how to get IE8 and/or Firefox to work as described above - OR - get OE working with Yahoo, please post!! THANKS!

 

That link you posted is inaccurate as far as Yahoo! Mail is concerned. The free Yahoo! Mail is not a POP-capable email account. So, an email client cannot be used with it. Yahoo! Mail Plus, which costs $19.99 per year, is POP-capable. See http://overview.mail.yahoo.com/enhancements/mailplus

 

:dood THANK YOU!!! I was going freekin' crazy! :banghead I knew I wasn't that inept! LOL

So, then how do I accomplish this part of my post above:

Thanks!

 

First, I don't know how Yahoo! Mail could be set to work as you say it was working for your friend since Yahoo! Mail (the free account) is webmail; it does not work in an email client. I know of no way to make any webmail account open a message panel in the same way as an email client when an email link on a web page is clicked since webmail is merely accessing email via web browser and responding to email links is not a normal function of web browsers. Browsers respond, i.e. advance to the page or open a new tab or window, to hyperlinks containing a URL, not an email address.

So, let's move on the scenario where an email client is installed and is being actively used for email, and let's talk specifically about craigslist. I have 3 browsers installed on my Windows 7 system; they are IE9, Firefox 3.6.18, and Opera 11.50. If I view a craigslist ad in IE or FF and click an email link to respond to an ad, my email client, which is Windows Live Mail, opens with a new message panel open and the email address already in the To: box. This is what you want. But, if I'm using Opera, clicking the email link open Windows Live Mail but that's as far as it goes. This is the same behavior of your friends computer.

I have not figured out how to make Opera handle these email links in the same manner as IE and Firefox. And, perhaps this is not relevant since your friend has IE and FF but not Opera.

You might review all the defaults related to email in Windows' Default Programs screens; click Start, Default Programs. And, if you can't get the system to open a new email panel with the email address already displayed, the best workaround seems to be to use Firefox, right click on the email link on craigslist, select Copy Email Address, and then paste it into the To box of the email client.

 

Actually, not sure if it works with Yahoo! email, but Gmail can be set as the default "email client" and it will open a Compose Gmail tab when clicking on an email link (I think in Firefox, I don't remember... been awhile since I've bothered with it).

 

I'm quite sure that's something unique to Gmail. I think it's either an add-on for Firefox or a case where a Gmail tool called Gmail Offline has been downloaded and installed. Gmail Offline is, in effect, a gmail-specific email client when downloaded and installed.

So, I"m sticking to my previous comment regarding the free Yahoo! Mail account; it's purely a webmail service and can't be configured to do what we've been talking about here.

 

You might get some 'work around' ideas from this thread dlb. If you're interested in the YPOPs mentioned: http://majorgeeks.com/YPOPs_d2153.html.

Download documentation for YPOPs: http://ypopsemail.com/documentation/37-email-configuration.