Earthlink total access 2005

[jimscott]

I use this ISP and am also using it for Popup Blocker, Spamblocker, Accelerator, and Email. I used to have the version 2004 version and things were going alright for awhile. The only complaint that I had was that I couldn't see "open Email" at work, if I opened it at home. My co-worker talked me through going into my Outlook Express account and I checked the box for "leave copy on server". Problem solved, until one day, two of my friends were mysteriously blocked and I had to manually bring them from Suspect Mail into the Inbox.

Then, the 2005 version introduced and did an update. That took care of the mysterious blocking, but created new problems. A minor nuisance was that every time I checked my mail, a message appeared about some error with my password. It didn't matter what I did to affect changes - nothing worked. Also, I could no longer see the "opened Email" again. I made sure that the "leave copy on server was checked in Outlook Express, but I couldn't access the opened Email. I did the online chat thing with two different Earthlink techs and both times they recommended uninstalling and reinstalling. Nothing was corrected, either time and I ended up frustrating friends by having to "reinvent the wheel", manually bringing them into the Inbox, along with that recurring password problem. So I went into the Earthlink account and tried checking the box for "leave copy on server". But it won't let me. Instead, it gives me a message about the account and identity already existing, and that needed to choose another. I tried choosing another and got confused.

I've lived with this and have even taken to copy & paste Emails to TF Notes and then re-copy & paste to a fresh Email at work.

Two nights ago, I was logged on and did my usual and then shut down for the night. In the morning, when I tried getting into my Email, all of a sudden, I get this message about some Smptauth thing and basically, I no longer had access to Total Access. Two Emails that I intended to reply to, in the morning - vanished and I can't retrieve them, either on Earthlink or Outlook.

I tried to update to some 2005.2 and everytime I do so, the computer turns itself off, after going through the motions of updating, not accomplishing a thing.

Am I the only one experiencing this? Is there some words of advice, other than the obvious - "Dump Earthlink!"

 

[seedjar]

Hmm... something besides getting rid of Earthlink... Get rid of Outlook? I'd pick up a hitchhiker before I'd put Microsoft products on my machine. As for Earthlink, they bought my local ISP back when I lived in Portland and we had terrible experiences with them... they made AOL look like quality service.
Generally speaking, I'd recommend against using those all-in-one internet utilities, or any computer product that tries to do more than one thing or integrate with other products. Integration can be handy, and is very tempting, but you have to keep in mind that when those tools are developed, they're usually designed so that you have no choice but to use it exactly as the developer intended and for nothing else. If you want to do something unusual, or use it with nonstandard equipment, it will give you trouble, because the people who made it want you to buy more of their products and not someone else's. I believe that in the marketing buisness, this is sometimes referred to as cross-merchandising.
Since computers became consumer electronics, the quality of software in general has taken a real nosedive. I can't tell you how many products and services I've bought for my computer that came with shoddy, malfunctioning software.
I get the impression that most of these products are made with absolute novices in mind, with no consideration for the user who actually knows what they want to do and tries to do it for themselves. For the time being, you might consider doing a reinstall, but I don't know what kind of setup you have so I can't say how thorough you'd have to be.
Best luck,
~Joe

 

[pinkerton]

get a free account from google, yahoo, hotmail, or anyone else. can keep earthlink as your internet provider if you like, but you don't HAVE to use thier e-mail system.
outlook is evil.
-julie

 

[Amateur_Expert]

Sent you a g-mail invite.

 

[adnedarn]

I used outlook for a few years and never experienced any problems. Although recently I went to Mozilla Thunderbird to compliment my Mozilla firefox browser... I like it. Have had no problems. Thunderbird is as simular to Outlook as firefox is to Internet Explorer as far as useablility goes... So it was easy to learn... I wish you luck on how ever you choose to solve the problem though.

Andrew

P.S.
Oh, if you do decided to try Mozilla Thunderbird, since you are having problems with Outlook.... When installing Thunderbird it will ask what settings do you want to bring over from Outlook Express... Although it would suck to not have your old messages and such there, i would recomend not brining over any settings... Just incase your problem is a setting. You don't want to bring the same problem over right from the start.

 

[schloaty]

Huh. The only problems I've had with earthlink was the customer service. Never really had a problem with the application, other than it sometimes generates a pop-up window asking if I want to dial on (meanwhile I'm on DSL). But that's a minor nuisance, and I'm sure there's some option or other that I have selected that I shouldn't.

 

[jimscott]

Last night, for some strange reason I had access to Tatoal Access and the toolbar and all the trimmings - except for the two lost Emails. But this morning, it was all gone again. It is schizoid! Jekyll & Hyde!

I am contemplating Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail. Just not sure how to integrate things. All I want to do is see that opened messages at work and have the blockers.

 

[seedjar]

Most modern email clients have spam filters built in, and most browsers have popup blockers built in (or you can just turn off JavaScript, which isn't a bad idea to begin with.) Hope that helps!
~Joe

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Have you run a virus check? Or scanned for adware, etc. Might be another program of this type running in the background causing a conflict with Total Access. Just a wild guess.

 

[jimscott]

I haven't checked for a virus, but I don't think I have one. I do have Ad-Aware and run that. So far no problems.

 

[RL7836]

Quote[/b] (BigCarnivourKid @ June 23 2005,12:07)]Have you run a virus check? Or scanned for adware, etc. Might be another program of this type running in the background causing a conflict with Total Access. Just a wild guess.

Before doing anything radical - I would strongly recommend doing a virus scan. If you don't have one of the services (McAfee, Symantec or other) - get one.

Consider enabling your firewall if you haven't already.

In addition to Adaware - get Spybot (also free). I run both but Spybot seems much more sensitive (and they're both highly rated).

When I had to reload windows several months ago, I received a rude awakening on how many evil things are trying to infect my computer. Anyone who doesn't have an auto-updating reputable virus scan (as a minimum requirement) probably has multiple infections and some may be insidious (I had one that redirected my browser to a sophisticated phishing site when I attempted to reload my virus scanner). Completely amazing what's out there now...

As others on this thread - I'm not a fan of the Redmond monopoly either (for many reasons) but one reason is that they are a huge target of all the bad guys who want to steal stuff from you (or harm you or your system). Your IE and OE are major targets which leave you open to bad things happening.

Good luck resolving your problems...

 

[jimscott]

I'd say my weakest security link would be my Mcaffee. So I'll have to look into getting the latest and greatest. I tried having 2 Spyware removal last year and the pc promptly locked up. I have been using Zone Alarm right along.

For grins and chuckles, Earthlink adsvertized an upgrade to 2005.2, so I did the upgrade to see what that would do, before I do something radical. I have access to Total Access again. Just can't figure out how "leave copy on server", even though the box is checked in Outlook. Any ideas on that?

I do thank you all for your input!