Use Live Mail instead of Outlook Express

Q I use Windows XP Professional and Outlook Express. I installed the Student Edition of Office 2007 on the computer and now when I write an email the spell checker will only work in the French language.

I cannot apply the English dictionary when I write emails.

Peter Rhodes

A Although you don’t say which version of Outlook Express you are using, this is a known problem with Outlook Express 6.0.

It’s caused because the English language packs installed with Office 2007 are incompatible with Outlook Express’ spell checker and, unfortunately, there is no easy fix. Microsoft acknowledges this problem in a Knowledgebase article.

Our advice is to replace Outlook Express with another email client with its own spell checker and language files.

We recommend using Windows Live Mail, part of the Windows Live Suite. It can import your settings and email from Outlook Express so you have to expend the minimum of effort to get it working.

Download the Windows Live Suite from our downloads section. Double-click on the file when it has downloaded and follow the installation wizard to install Windows Mail. Deselect any of the other Windows Live Suite programs that you do not want or need. This will not affect Live Mail.

Once Live Mail has been installed, click on the Start button, All Programs, Windows Live and then Windows Live Mail. Click on Yes if Windows Live Mail asks to be set as the default email program.

Your email settings from Outlook Express should be visible on the right-hand side of the software along with emails you have received.

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