...and cant think why. i've done a test to send an email to myself, from my yahoo address to my freeserve address and vice versa. nothing. i dont get a 'failed to deliver' message or anything, just a progress bar stuck at zero. like said, i can still recieve emails, i just cant send em. i can send emails direct from yahoo and freeserve websites though... whats goin on???? thnx, gb

also i have started using a new isp, Breathe.com. could this be part of the problem? do i need to change settings for the new isp? thanks again oh, using G4 400, 9.2.2.

Some ISPs have blocks in place to prevent users accessing SMTP servers that are not their own, hence stopping you sending e-mail through the ISP. If you are trying to use the same e-mail account that you had before you changed to breath, that is possibly why you cant send, but can recieve. A workaround is to setup the breath e-mail account in outlook (Tools>Accounts>New and setup the account as per your ISP settings) and in the "reply to" field insert your old e-mail address... that way when you send an e-mail and someone clicks on "reply" it will come to your old e-mail account. If you reply to an e-mail that was sent to the old e-mail account, you need to make sure that in the "from" field you select the new breath account (Or possibly "send using"). I hope this helps. :+)

thanks for your suggestions, rich - i tried them but nothing seems to work ! am lost - any more suggestions??? *pulls hair out* cheers, gb

Uncheck both "SMTP service requires secure connection" and "SMTP server requires authentication" in the "advanced sending options" in Outlook Express. Breathe.com's SMTP server should work for you for sending mail for any account you choose to use it for. If the above options are not checked, and Breathe's SMTP server is still not working, call them to help you figure it out. James

aha! cheers james and rich - the combination of both your tricks has solved the problem. after i set up outlook to use breathe.com as default mail, somehow the 2 'smtp service...' boxes were mysteriously checked. might have been me in blind frustration ticking everytrhing the other day and i just forgot, but all is good now, except sending from outlook using any other email addy seems to be a problem. maybe breathe only lets u use their own to send..?? anyway thanks again chaps, gb