OT: Outlook Express Problem, unable to send emails Options

[ChrisFoley]

After I got back from my race weekend I restarted the computer and began replying to emails but they don't go out. I can receive just fine.
Contacted my ISP and they recommended a virus scan, so I updated Norton and did a full scan - nothing found. One comment that made sense was regarding viruses contained in zip files, which I just got one from a friend with pictures from the weekend. Unfortunately I don't have an unzipper installed.
I get an error message that says "connection to the server failed" but incoming messages are fine.
What do I do next?

[r_towle]

Chris,
I am tired of waiting...I gotta get some sleep

If you cant get it fixed, PM me in the morning and Ill give you a call and walk you through it.

Basically....go to microsoft product update and download all the security patches for Windows and for outlook...

There are quite a few if you have not done it in a while...they release a security patch at least once a week it seems.

Outlook is the biggest problem right now for email programs, because of the amount of users, most of the attack programs are focused on outlook.

there is also the spam programs that might be using your system as a sort of relay host...they could be forwarding alot of email through you...
I can tell you first how to spot that and second how to stop it...

1) make sure you can ping your email servers (this is the easiest step...)
2) get all the updates from microsoft.
3) send me a pm if its still broken, I will call and get you going tommorow....I need some sleep now.

Rich