Mozilla Thunderbird

[pjm007]

Hello, I'm having problems getting my Thunderbird account to work properly. I have only just set it up, when I open the program it says 'An error occurred with the POP3 mail server' and when I try to get mail it comes up with 'connection to server timed out'. Also, when I try to send an e-mail it says 'The message could not be sent because connecting to SMTP server failed'.
Can anyone help me to get it all working properly please ?
Many thanks.

[brooklyn77]

It sounds like that your email account details have not been set up properly.

But I can try and solve the issue.

1) Double check you have inout the details correctly (by going to to 'tools' and then 'account settings'

2) If you do not know your details, were you using Outlook Express prior to Thunderbird? Go to (In outlook) 'tools' then 'accounts' then click the 'mail' tab, then highlight what was the default account, (this will only be there if you did not delete it) then click 'properties' then go through all the tabs and cross reference all the information with the information in the Thunderbird application, is it all the same? It should be, I know the Thunderbird and Oulook apps are set up differently but you will still require the same information, some things on Thunderbird are not on Outlook, if you see something you dont understand dont change it.

After you have done this, see if this all works. If I have just taught you to such eggs then let me know also, I will see if I can come up with another solution.

By the way, I use Thunderbird and it is excellent and better than outlook I think, just like Mozilla Firefox is better than IE

The reason I think you have not entered the details correctly is because those messages are the ones I get when I have enetered email details incorrectly...what email address you got...is it hotmail, freeserve/wanadoo or Aol or other?

[brooklyn77]

My spelling is awful, thats

input the details correctly
not
inout the details correctly

and

suck eggs
not
such eggs

[d0gsb0dy]

I should say that you have not got Thunderbird configured correctly. The easiest way, if you are unsure, would be to get a knowleadgable friend to configure it for you. To configure it, you need your pop3 and smpt details plus the password for your main account. Go to Tools / account settings and take a close look at the entries by highlighting the items in the left-hand panel.
I always keep these details on paper, as, otherwise, it can make life difficult if you have a PC crash.
When you finally get it up and running open up Account Settings and make a note of all the server information you have put in. Makes it easier in future.
Good luck.

[pjm007]

I have a Hotmail address, Is that the address I need to put into my account details ?
I have only ever used Hotmail as an e-mail client and I never use Microsoft Outlook.
Would I need to re-Install Thunderbird now and enter my Hotmail adress instead ?

Thanks.

[brooklyn77]

As far as I am aware Thunderbird does not take Hotmail.

If it does, you will still need to contact the Hotmail team and ask for your....no..just thought that wont work, Hotmail is not a POP3 account, I only know about POP3 accounts. I dont think Thunderbird caters for Hotmail.

Unless anyone wants to correct me?