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- ------------------------------------------------------------
- README for Microsoft Internet Mail and
- Microsoft Internet News
- Beta 2
- June l996
- ------------------------------------------------------------
-
- (c) Copyright Microsoft Corporation, 1996
-
-
- This document provides complementary or late-breaking information to
- supplement the documentation.
-
-
- ------------------------
- HOW TO USE THIS DOCUMENT
- ------------------------
-
- To view Mailnews.txt on screen in Notepad, maximize the Notepad window.
-
- To print Mailnews.txt, open it in Notepad or another word processor,
- then use the Print command on the File menu.
-
-
- CONTENTS
- ========
-
- WHAT'S NEW IN THIS RELEASE
-
- MICROSOFT INTERNET MAIL
-
- MICROSOFT INTERNET NEWS
-
- KNOWN ISSUES IN THIS RELEASE
-
- TROUBLSHOOTING
-
- TIPS AND TRICKS
- Minimizing Connection Time
- Customizing Internet Mail and News
- Other Tips
-
- SUPPORT FOR MICROSOFT INTERNET MAIL AND NEWS
-
- PRODUCT SUPPORT WITHIN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA
- Microsoft AnswerPoint
- Information Services
- AnswerPoint Standard
- AnswerPoint Priority
- Text Telephone
-
- PRODUCT SUPPORT WORLDWIDE
- Microsoft TechNet, Technical Information Network
-
-
- WHAT'S NEW IN THIS RELEASE
- ==========================
-
- - An Address Book for keeping track of people that you frequently
- send mail to.
-
- - Improved performance for News over a dialup line. You now have the
- option to leave preview pane on, but download only the body of the
- message on demand. Also, news headers and messages are cached, so
- only the new message headers are downloaded each time you access a
- newsgroup.
-
- - Full headers are now displayed for News.
-
- - You can now print messages.
-
- - Your user-defined signature is displayed in the message window and
- can automatically be added to messages that you forward or reply to.
-
- - Mail folders are now compacted to reclaim space.
-
- - The Newsgroup subscription dialog box has changed. You can also
- resize it.
-
- - Download status indicators now keep you posted when you are updating
- groups or downloading messages.
-
- - You can now define the line length at which you want text to wrap.
-
- - Internet Mail supports multiple character sets.
-
- - An NT 4.0 version is now available.
- System requirements: NT version 4.0 build 1314.
-
- - You can remove the icons from the desktop.
-
- - You can cancel posted news messages.
-
- - You can also mark as read cross-posted articles in all newsgroups.
-
- - You can choose where to install message storage.
-
- - Numerous bug fixes have been included. Thanks to everyone
- who provided feedback!
-
-
- MICROSOFT INTERNET MAIL
- =======================
-
- You can use Microsoft Internet Mail to send and receive mail using
- SMTP and POP3 servers. MS Mail, cc:Mail, The Microsoft Network (MSN),
- CompuServe, America OnLine (AOL), and Microsoft Exchange Server do
- not provide SMTP and POP3 support at this time. If you are in doubt
- about whether your system provides these services, contact your
- administrator or your Internet service provider.
-
-
- MICROSOFT INTERNET NEWS
- =======================
-
- Microsoft Internet News enables you to read bulletin board discussion
- groups, such as the Usenet, using NNTP-based news servers.
-
- This product can be used for support on a variety of Microsoft
- products via msnews.microsoft.com.
-
-
- KNOWN ISSUES IN THIS RELEASE
- ============================
-
- Note: Some of the features that are not yet implemented already have
- menu commands in the interface. These commands are unavailable.
-
- - Find messages. The Find function is not yet implemented; however,
- you can search for text within the body of a message.
-
- - Distribution lists in the address book are not implemented in this
- release.
-
- - Formatted text in messages. Fonts will not show up in sent messages.
-
- - There is currently no view that shows all groups and the number of
- unread messages.
-
- - Renaming folders. Although this feature is not yet available, you
- can work around this by creating a new folder, moving the messages
- into it, and then deleting the original folder.
-
- - If your mail server times out while you are sending mail, you might
- get an error message indicating that a recipient is unknown. If this
- happens, you should increase the timeout for your server. To do this,
- carry out the following steps:
-
- 1. Click the Mail menu, and then click Options.
- 2. Click the Server tab, and then click Advanced Settings.
- 3. Drag the slider to increase the timeout for your server.
-
- - You cannot currently limit the newsgroups cache to a certain size
- or a percentage of your hard disk. However, you can use the Purge
- Cached Messages command on the News menu to reduce the size of the
- cache for a newsgroup.
-
- - International character sets are available only for German and
- French.
-
- - Printing while composing a new note is not implemented.
-
- - You cannot cancel a download in progress.
-
- - By default, the spelling checker works only with U.S. dictionaries.
- For information about how to use other dictionaries, see the Web
- page.
-
- - Full offline support is not currently available.
-
- - For this release, you cannot import or export address books or
- messages.
-
- - You must enter a recognizable Internet e-mail address (that is,
- user@server) to send e-mail to someone who is not in your address
- book.
-
- - The address book recognizes a name only if the full name matches.
- If you type only the first name, it is not recognized.
-
- - The Reply To Author and Forward functions might have problems
- if Internet Mail is not set as the default mail application.
-
-
- TROUBLESHOOTING
- ===============
-
- - Check your connection to your Internet service provider.
-
- - If you're having trouble connecting with your modem, see the
- Modem Troubleshooter in Windows Help. To start the troubleshooter,
- carry out the following steps:
-
- 1. Click the Start button, and then click Help.
- 2. In Help Contents, double-click Troubleshooting.
- 3. Click "If you're having trouble using your modem."
-
- - If you think your modem is fine but you are having trouble
- getting Microsoft Internet Mail and Internet News to connect
- to your service provider, try the Dial-Up Networking Troubleshooter.
- To start the troubleshooter, carry out the following steps:
-
- 1. Click the Start button, and then click Help.
- 2. In Help Contents, double-click Troubleshooting.
- 3. Click "If you're having trouble using Dial-Up Networking."
-
- - If you can run Microsoft Internet Mail and Internet News but
- you cannot connect to your news server or POP3/SMTP server(s), check
- your settings for these servers. To do this, carry out the following
- steps in either program:
-
- 1. Click the Mail or News menu, and then click Options.
- 2. Click the Server tab, and then check the settings against those
- provided by your service provider.
- 3. If everything looks fine, contact your service provider to verify
- that you have the correct settings and that their servers are
- working properly.
-
- - If you are unable to send or receive mail, check the following:
-
- - The TCP/IP protocol is installed on your computer.
- - All cables are properly connected to your computer, modem,
- or LAN.
- - Your Internet provider or LAN server supports PPP, SMTP, or
- POP3.
- - Your modem communication parameters (baud rate and type of
- protocol) are set correctly.
-
- - For this release, you must either (1) establish the connection to
- your Internet provider manually before attempting to send or receive
- mail, or (2) use AutoDial (double-click the Internet icon in Control
- Panel).
-
- NOTE: AutoDial is available only if you have already installed
- Internet Explorer or Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95.
-
- - If you use AutoDial to establish your network connection and you
- either cancel the connection or the connection fails, you need
- to either (1) manually establish your Internet connection, or
- (2) restart your computer.
-
- - Microsoft Internet Mail and Internet News ships with a new version
- of Comctl32.dll, which can be found in your Windows directory.
- There are no known compatibility problems with this .dll; however,
- if you discover a problem, you can go back to your original
- Windows 95 version by carrying out the following steps:
-
- 1. Download Comctl32.dll from the following location:
- ftp://transfer.microsoft.com/msbeta/mailnews
- and save it on your hard disk.
- 2. Uninstall Internet Mail and Internet News by double-clicking
- the Add/Remove Programs icon in Control Panel.
- 3. Shut down your computer and restart it in MS-DOS mode.
- 4. Change to your Windows\System directory.
- 5. Copy the Comctl32.dll file that you downloaded over the
- Comctl32.dll file that is in your Windows\System directory.
-
- - Make sure that you use an account name and password for a news
- server only if it requires them. If you use an account name and
- password and they are not required, you will not be able to connect
- to the news server.
-
- - If you need to remove the cached news files, go to the News
- directory and delete all the *.nch files. To locate these files,
- carry out the following steps:
-
- 1. Click the Start button, and then point to Find.
- 2. Click Files Or Folders.
- 3. In the Name box, type *.nch, and then click Find Now.
-
-
- TIPS AND TRICKS
- ===============
-
- Minimizing Connection Time
- --------------------------
- You can improve performance by turning off the preview pane. To do
- this, carry out the following steps:
-
- 1. On the News menu, click Options, and then click the Read tab.
- 2. Clear the following check box: Automatically Download Article
- Into The Preview Pane.
-
- Customizing Internet Mail and News
- ----------------------------------
- - You can change the sound that notifies you that you have received
- new mail. To do this, open Control Panel, and then double-click the
- Sounds icon.
-
- - You can move the icon bar the same way you move the Windows 95
- taskbar. You can also turn the icon bar off, and turn the regular
- toolbar on.
-
- - Try resizing the preview pane or the message list by dragging the
- divider between the two preview pane and the message list.
-
- - You can change how the preview pane splits, or turn it off entirely.
-
- - You can specify that you want to see only unread News messages. To
- do this, click the View menu, and then click Unread Messages Only.
-
-
- Other Tips
- ----------
- - You can leave a copy of your messages on the server.
-
- - You can do multiple-word searches in Internet News, and you can
- also search descriptions.
-
- - To use the drop-down list to switch newsgroups, click the News
- menu, and then point to Go To Newsgroup.
-
- - You can specify the font to use for quoted reply text.
-
- - Try specifying that all threads should be expanded by default.
- To do this, click the Mail menu, and then click Options. On the
- Read tab, select the Auto Expand Topics check box.
-
- - You can have your signature added to all messages, including to
- messages that you reply to or forward.
-
- - To switch to your Inbox, you can press CTRL+I.
-
- - You can drag and drop column headings.
-
-
- SUPPORT FOR MICROSOFT INTERNET MAIL AND NEWS
- ============================================
-
- Because this is a beta release, no formal product support is available
- from Microsoft at this time. However, two new newsgroups are dedicated
- to the discussion of Microsoft Internet Mail and News and provide a
- great deal of informal support:
-
- - news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.internet.mail
- - news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.internet.news
-
- To read them, carry out the following procedure:
-
- 1. Click the Mail or News menu, and then click Options.
- 2. Click the Server tab, and then click Add.
- 3. Type msnews.microsoft.com as the name of the server.
-
- You do not need to enter an account name or password. This site is
- the best place to go if you are experiencing a problem, as the
- solution may already be posted by someone else who experienced the
- same problem.
-
- You can also submit bugs at the following sites:
-
- - http://www.microsoft.com/ie/feedback/imail.htm (for Mail)
- - http://www.microsoft.com/ie/feedback/inews.htm (for News)
-
-
-