Set up an email program on your PC

Q When I click an email link on a website, rather than allowing me to write the email, my PC asks me to enter my name, then details of a server. Why is it doing this and where can I find out the server information?

Katharine Quirico

A If you do not have an email program set up on your PC (if you use webmail for example) Windows will ask you to set up an account when you click on a link and start the program.

If you want to use the email address with a webmail account, right-click on the link and select Copy Link in Internet Explorer or Copy Email Address in Firefox. Return to your webmail and paste the email address into a new email. Internet Explorer will include some extra bits of text that will need deleting, whereas Firefox only copies the address.

If you want to set up the email software on your PC, you need to enter your name, as that will be attached to all messages you send. Before you can send or receive any email though, you need to know the server addresses for both your incoming and outgoing email, which might be different.

You will also need to know your username and password to log in and check your mail. You should have been sent this information by post when you first signed up to your ISP.

Once you have completed the routine of setting up an email account, whenever you click an email link on a website, your PC will automatically start writing an email to that person.

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