"Adventures in Outlook Express et al...."

[MrsLop]

Evening All,

Well, it has been quite the week.  I have not had a very good time of it.
  My ISP has non existent support, that is, when they can be reached!  I finally got through to them tonight .  I have not had consistent email or online connection to the Web since Sunday.
Frankly, I am tired of 3AM nights and wearing myself out to do a job for which they are paid.  I finally got IE up and did a back door entrance to get some email.  None too soon, it seems, as my service was interrupted again.
Tonight, I was informed that I would have to download another OE!  I have lost count of the many times they have tol me to get another download of IE and/or OE, but it is once too many and has caused me a great deal of trouble with my poor little baby, Mac.
The drill is : Unplug the modem, plug it back in, restart the Mac.  What was really galling was the idea that upon finally get to a site where Outlook Express help was, I learned that the problem was corrupt files, which after all the downloads I had done, compounded the problem exponentially.  Apparently, though they use Outlook Express and will not answer questions about any other way to connect with another email service, they don't have the foggiest  idea of how it is supposed to work with the Mac.  I never received any information from them that was really useful.  They could have told me, for example to locate the identities folder, and where it was, for example.  They could have told me to copy OE to my hard drive when doing the reinstall, I could go on but I am sure that you get the picture.
Though admittedly, I accept half the resposibility for going along with their suggestions to download still another version of Outlook, they never really helped me to get to the root of the problem.
Essentially, I will be ditching either one or both of these highly overrated "services"- and I am using the term loosely, as soon as is pratical for me to do so.
I checked with Netscape, but my Mac OS doesn't meet their minimum requirements for a free download.  I ran into this before when researching other providers.
    Just speaking as a person with very little experience with either computers or the Internet using a "real" computer, I must say that it has not been the most enjoyable experience of my life.  It is certainly challenging.  It can be disheartening to work so hard and  then be thwarted by a "buggy" email server.  I lost my pictures of my grandson and my address book, as well.
All my email went to email "Heaven".  
Well, that was all the bad news.  The good news is, the Mac has survived! It is intact and doing pretty well.  I expect I will have to clean up a real mess by the time I leave this ISP.  As long as I have TS to help me up when I fall down, I know that things will turn out well.  

For those of you on the left coast have a good evening.

MrsLop

[ljocampo]

This may not be any consolation, but the more problems you conquer, the more Internet savvy you become.  Most Macintosh people never have the problems you encountered.  Today, a person can buy an iMac and have it running right out of the box, and OS X 10.2x comes with most of the programs normal people use already installed and ready to go.  The problems start, when people try to get everything they can out of old technology.  You wouldn't have had that much trouble, if any, with Apple's mail app and Safari Internet browser, and your grand-children's photos would still be in iPhoto ready to enjoy.  Unfortunately, the experiences you are having give computers, and especially Macintoshes, a bad rap.

 

[MrsLop]

ljocampo,

If I had known what I was doing, during the first  installation,
it may have worked out just fine.
It would have helped if I knew what the Mac was about and required
before venturing into the installation of High Speed Internet.
The Cox CD for the installation was supplied.
My issue was mostly about Cox Tech Support.  The fact is, on more
than one occasion, I have been given incomplete answers, and I did not
know that I didn't have complete information necessary to get my email
to function properly.
While I ventilated (mostly) in my openning statements of this topic, I
did qualify it by admitting my ignorance of computers and how installations
are supposed to be done.
There are people who know even less than I do, if that is possible),
and have no idea at all about their PC's or the Internet.  I would include
myself in this group.  Therefore, my question is: What do we do when we
are faced with lack of support?  It becomes a vicious circle of actions
and reactions, which never seem to find and correct the problem at its
root level.  The lack of Mac Tech Support at Cox was my core issue.
If they allow users who meet their Systems requirements to hook up
to their service, then they should back it up with Tech Support.
As for computers and Mac and giving it a bad rap, I certainly do not
want to leave anyone with that impression.  
Thank you for your reply.  In my haste to ventilate my frustrations
about all of the problems I was having, I didn't realize that others
would interpret it to mean that I was giving computers or Macs a bad
rap.  
I worked hard and long and logged over 72 hours this week trying to
get things done to get my email working.
I hope that this clarifies things.

MrsLop

[kelly]

Me. I'd put 95% on your ISP.

You are paying them aren't you?

They're willing to take your money?

I'd put up with that about once and go somewhere else.

Give Beacher's book a read when you get it.

It might make your life a little easier.

[MrsLop]

Hello kelly,

I thank you for your kindness toward me.  With the help of my Mentor, Dick,
I was able to do a download of Netscape.  Today was a Holy Day of
Obligation, so I couldn't complete all of the process, as yet, because I
needed to get to Mass.

I am on a version of IE 4.01 which the Dialog Box told me that I needed in
order to use my Cox.Net to get to the TS Board.

Hopefully, I can get onto Netscape and Communicator once I complete the
process of installation.

I am glad that I am able to be back online again, however ancient the version
may be.

My husband was more upset that I was not getting any rest or remembering
to take my Chemotherapy pills, than he was at not having Internet Service.
I had to be reminded that nothing is worth ruining my already fragile health.

I will try to get back to the TS Board when I can complete the process of
installing Netscape and possibly for some help from TS with the rest of the
installation process, if Dick is unavailable.

As for Cox, well, I am thinking about this work around through Navigator.
 As long as I can use the service to get me to Netscape I could care less
 about whether they support Netscape or not.  They do little to "support"
as it is, the OE and IE that they provided me!

I need to get some much needed rest at some point.  

Myrna  

[ljocampo]

MrsLop:

First, I want to apologize for my ignorance in not realizing your situation.  I often end up putting my foot into my mouth, while forgetting that not everyone is as lucky as I am to have the best equipment or has as much computer experience as I do.  It was insensitive of me.  I do apologize publicly and personally to you.

About your statment, "I didn't realize that others would interpret it to mean that I was giving computers or Macs a bad rap."  I really didn't mean you personally, although I it did seem that way.  I was trying to make a general statment in that post about those people who DO have the means to get better equipment, but just complain about the technology instead.  This is stereotipical Mac bashing.

You do not fall into that category, and I should have made that clearer.  I think you have come along way in the learning curve, and someday, you'll be the TS expect.

Leo