Number 225 - February 2002

WEIRD!! An E-Mail Mystery
by Bob Thomson
I am running Windows ME on my main computer, which is connected to the Internet. (No, no, no. That is not the problem!) The day before Christmas 2001 my e-mail would not come up. All I got was the icons across the top of the screen and a blank screen with an error message that said: "Not Found     The requested object does not exist on this server. The link you followed is either outdated, inaccurate, or the server has been instructed not to let you have it."     What the heck does that mean? Somehow I had offended the Gods of AT&T or Microsoft--or both!     Being very busy with other things over the next couple of days I had time only to check the obvious things--with no resolution of the problem. I did learn, however, that I could Send messages, Reply to messages (which I did with Ray Mills for a couple of days) and that messages were coming into my machine, but I could not read them directly.     On December 27th, because the message referred to a server, I got on the phone with AT&T to try to resolve the problem. After over an hour on the phone, going from one level of technical expertise to another, checking all my addresses and connections, the AT&T Techs gave up and told me to call Microsoft since the problem seemed to be within Outlook Express.     I called Microsoft Tech Support (1-800-936-5700) and after a shorter wait got a technician who walked me through various steps. I had to slowly, verbally repeat the Error Message to him because he had never heard this one before. To make a long story shorter, he finally asked me to bring up my Outlook Express 5 mail page, (Error Message and all), click on View then Layout.	This brought up a Window in which there were several items to be checked or unchecked. One item that was checked was called Info Pane. The Microsoft Tech asked me to repeat that item's name. Apparently he did not have the Info Pane box displayed on his screen! Drawing on all of his high tech training he said "Why don't you try unchecking the Info Pane box?" I did so and Voila! in the background my mail screen suddenly filled with all my messages. Ain't Tech Support grand?     How did that obscure Info Pane box get checked? Who knows? And why is it in my version of IE5 and not on Microsoft Tech Support's machine? Perhaps I have an earlier version of Windows ME, which may need to be upgraded, or is it AT&T's version of Outlook Express? Again who knows? At least I am again able to read my e-mail.     This Window Shows My Layout Properties
Number 225 - February 2002