DR. MAC'S COMPUTER CLINIC
No. 24

ENHANCE YOUR E-MAIL - PART 2
SETTINGS AND SIGNATURES

Dear Computer Clinic Students

Welcome to yet another "how to" on E-mail. Last time you learned how to view all your e-mail as it should be viewed - in a L A R G E window - and you learned how to personalise the fonts when you compose new mail. If you missed it, all the details are in Clinic 23

In this Clinic, let's learn how to create our own E-mail Signature ... and look at some more settings.

Do you get disconnected from the internet as soon as you've sent an e-mail ? Make the following setting to help stop that annoying behaviour :

• Open up Outlook Express
• On the top menu bar, click on "Tools" - then on "Options ..."
• On the settings box that pops up, click on the "Connections" tab at the top
• Then, UN-tick the box that says "Hang up after sending ..." - like this :

Connections tab. UN-tick box ... Then click on "Apply" below

• After un-ticking the box, you MUST click on "Apply" (bottom right of the box) otherwise your new setting will NOT take effect.

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AND ... while we are talking about e-mail and the internet - there's a lot you can do to boost your internet settings and modem speed. Full details and specific "how to ..." steps are in Clinic 18 and Clinic 19

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A "signature" refers to a "block" of information that gets automatically inserted at the end of your e-mail. It can contain your name, job title, address and telephone number if you want.

You can even create a signature that has your e-mail address hyperlinked. That means, all a person has to do is click that link and a new e-mail will open up - ready for that person to type their e-mail back to you - complete with your e-mail address already inserted. Very neat!

• Open up Outlook Express.
• On the top menu bar, click on "Tools - Options"
• When the settings box pops up, click on the "Signatures" tab at the top.
• MS Outlook users - try "Tools - Options - Mail Format tab - Signature Picker"
• When the Signatures box open up, click on "New" like this

Signatures tab.     Click on NEW

• When you click on "New" the text "Signature #1" will appear.
• CLICK ON THOSE WORDS to "highlight" them - they turn "blue"
• THEN click on the "RENAME" button like this

First - click ONCE on Signature #1   Now click Rename

• After clicking "Rename" fill in your own name. It does NOT have to be your full name, just so long as you recognise it. For this example, we will just fill in Peter.
• When you have typed your first name , click your mouse in the bottom white box.
• Now, type in the details as you want them to appear in your signature - each on a new line.
• For this example, we are using someone called Peter Jackson, he is a Landscape Gardener, he wants people to know his business telephone number, and his e-mail address.
• This is what it will look like :

  Fill in your details as you want them to appear   Then - you MUST click on APPLY

  WELL DONE ! You have just created your own E-mail Signature !

  Now let's learn how to put it into your e-mail (called - "inserting" it)

  HOW TO INSERT YOUR E-MAIL SIGNATURE

  • Type your e-mail as per normal.
  • When completed, make absolutely sure that your cursor is two lines BELOW your last sentence or salutation (the "cursor" is the horizontal line that blinks on and off)
  • How do you get your cursor there? Press the big "Enter" key twice (also called your "carriage-return" key)
  • Why should the cursor be there? Because text (or pictures) will always appear (be "inserted") where the cursor is. If the cursor is still in the body of your e-mail, that's where the signature will appear. Ugghh!
  • When your cursor is in the correct position, click on the "Insert" button on the top tool bar :

  Click once on the big INSERT button ... BUT FIRST ... Make ... sure ... your ... cursor ... is ... down HERE !

  AND BINGO! With your cursor in the correct place, and by clicking the "Insert" button, your signature appears at the end of your e-mail.

  And have you noticed that your e-mail address has become correctly hyperlinked ?

  I will NOT spoil your fun by showing you a picture of what it looks like. DO IT FOR YOURSELF - AND SEE!

  HELP! I HAVEN'T GOT THAT BIG "INSERT" BUTTON !

  • Make sure you have got an E-MAIL page opened up in front of you (in other words, NOT the main Outlook Express interface)
  • Click on "View - Toolbars - Customize"
  • In the box that pops up, look for "Insert Signature" on the LEFT side.
  • Click once on it to highlight it.
  • Now click on the "Add" button in the middle.
  • Finally, click on the "Close" button. It looks like this :

  1. Click on Insert Signature 2. Click Add 3. It appears on the RIGHT 4. Click Close

  And BINGO! The "Insert" button now appears on your tool bar!

  Well done everybody ... I know you are going to have a lot of fun with these signatures!

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  REMINDERS !
  • Remember to check for Ad-aware updates - Clinic 17
  • Remember to check for AVG viral signature file updates - Clinic 10 and 21
  • Give your PC its regular weekly Healthy MOT - full summary at the end of Clinic 19
  • If its been a month since you give your PC aDefrag - do it now - the CORRECT way! Clinic 20
  • Trouble downloading programs? Read the section at the end of
    Clinic 23

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  Thanks for visiting my Clinic!

  Next time ... a wonderful Download Manager - Spyware free ... and FREE!

  Happy Computing!

  Sincerely yours ...

  Dr. Mac

  Dr. Mac's Computer Clinic LIBRARY All the Computer Clinics that have appeared on the idf50 web-site are HERE

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