When I click on my outlook express it starts to retrieve mail and then says there is an error. The messages that do come through are old ones and there are 4-5 copies of each email. What do you think is the problem? I checked my antivirus for updates and it says I am up to date but I'm wondering if it may have expired.

By Ginny~moderator on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 05:27 am:

Paula, can you access your email on line? I can, by going to my ISP's website, going to my account and typing in my username and password. Sometimes you can solve that kind of problem by dealing with the problem email on line instead of in your inbox. It may be too large a download, or that someone is sending you an email with suspicious stuff in it, and your ISP is hanging it up.

I doubt it is a virus, because your anti-virus program would tell you if your subscription needs renewing and would prompt you to renew if you are out of date.

However, if you haven't downloaded Spybot and the free version of AdAware, and checked for spyware, I suggest that you do. Sometimes spyware, because it tracks your internet travels, can be calling in lots of ads and spam that you don't want. And, ZoneAlarm's free firewall will block both incoming and outgoing attempts to attack or use your computer system. Here's a link to an earlier post of mine that describes how to get and use these free programs in detail.
http://www.momsview.com/discus/messages/41/31965.html#POST187613