Can computer check email in sleep?

[brett]

I use Outlook Express to check email on my POP account. I put my
computer in sleep before leaving for work. OE is still open when the
computer goes into sleep. The problem is that I can't check the same
POP email at work. I get a "Can't get lock. Mail box in use" error.
My mail provider said this is caused if two applications try to check
the mail box.

That makes sense because I leave OE open at home and it polls the box
every 5 minutes. However, the machine is in sleep. Can OE still poll?

When I get home, none of that day's email has downloaded. Once the
first email poll occurs after the computer wakes, the email is
downloaded. I let OE at home and work keep email on the server for 6
six days so I can grab it from different locations.

Thanks,
Brett

 

[Guest]

I don't think so. Would it make any sense that it could?

You can have it autocheck mail as soon as you startup or open mail program,
once connected to Internet or network, though.

 

[Phillips]

Try closing OE before you leave for work and see if the Pop acct. is still
blocked.
To prevent OE to access acct, try Do not connect seeting in the drop-down
box in Options/General tab.
Michael

 

[Doug Kanter]

I use Outlook Express to check email on my POP account. I put my
computer in sleep before leaving for work. OE is still open when the
computer goes into sleep. The problem is that I can't check the same
POP email at work. I get a "Can't get lock. Mail box in use" error.
My mail provider said this is caused if two applications try to check
the mail box.

That makes sense because I leave OE open at home and it polls the box
every 5 minutes. However, the machine is in sleep. Can OE still poll?

When I get home, none of that day's email has downloaded. Once the
first email poll occurs after the computer wakes, the email is
downloaded. I let OE at home and work keep email on the server for 6
six days so I can grab it from different locations.

Thanks,
Brett

I assume that by "sleep", you mean that Windows has simply shut down with
the workspace intact as you left it. But, it *is* off, right? No fans, no
disks spinning? If that's correct, have you stuck around for more than one
or two 5-minute cycles to see if the machine lights up to check email?

 

[brett]

By sleep, I mean "stand by" in WinXP Pro. No fans, no disks sprinning.
Just a blinking power light. I haven't hung around after manually
putting it into stand by to see if OE wakes it up. Is that possible?

When I get home, the computer is still in stand by so I'd imagine OE
isn't functioning. Is that is true, I have no idea what else is
checking the email account and causing it to lock.

Thanks,
Brett

 

[Doug Kanter]

By sleep, I mean "stand by" in WinXP Pro. No fans, no disks sprinning.
Just a blinking power light. I haven't hung around after manually
putting it into stand by to see if OE wakes it up. Is that possible?

When I get home, the computer is still in stand by so I'd imagine OE
isn't functioning. Is that is true, I have no idea what else is
checking the email account and causing it to lock.

Thanks,
Brett

Go back and read the question and suggestion from Phillips. The answer to
his question is very important in terms of understanding what's happening.

 

[brett]

I will try it but will have to wait until tomorrow. I'll post back
here unless the hosting company can find that something else is wrong.
I'm working with them on it too.

Thanks,
Brett

 

[Malke]

I will try it but will have to wait until tomorrow. I'll post back
here unless the hosting company can find that something else is wrong.
I'm working with them on it too.

Thanks,
Brett

It is highly unlikely that the problem is on the hosting company's end.
For whatever device you use to connect to the Internet (ethernet
network adapter, usb network adapter - and I assume of course that you
aren't using dialup) go to Device Manager (System applet in Control
Panel) and find the device. Double-click it to get its Properties. Look
on the Power Management tab and uncheck "Allow Windows to turn off this
device when not in use". See if that helps.

If not, then consider not putting your computer in standby. Just let it
run with a blank screen. If it's a desktop, turn the monitor off. It
won't hurt your computer to be on all day.

Malke

 

[brett]

Right - I'm on cable modem. When into device manager for the network
card and under advanced tab, I have a Power Save Mode. It has three
options:
- Disabled (currently selected)
- High Performance
- Max Power Savings

I'm not sure what Max Power Savings will do to the network card.

What do you mean by not putting the "laptop" in stand by? Whether I
put it in stand by or not at this point doesn't matter. When it is in
stand by, I have the mail check issue. Not putting it in stand by
definitely allows what is causing the issue to stay alive. I believe
the problem is making sure OE is shutdown when I'm away.

Thanks,
Brett

 

[Ron Sommer]

Are you automatically scanning email for viruses?
Turn it off. It only causes problems.

Try creating a new Identity.
If that solves the problem, import the old messages and delete the old
Identity.

 

[Doug Kanter]

Are you automatically scanning email for viruses?
Turn it off. It only causes problems.

What sorts of problems does it create?

 

[Ron Sommer]

What sorts of problems does it create?

Corruption of the OE dbx files
Problems sending
Problems downloading

 

[Doug Kanter]

Corruption of the OE dbx files
Problems sending
Problems downloading

I haven't experienced this, after 4 years of using NAV. Is it more prevalent
with some AV software?

 

[PA Bear]

I haven't experienced this, after 4 years of using NAV. Is it more
prevalent with some AV software?

1. Just because email scanning hasn't affected you (yet) doesn't mean it's
without risks:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx

2. If you read http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=813514, you'll see email
scanning can be the cause of many OE problems.

3. Email scanning provides no additional protection and even Symantec says
it's not necessary:

<paste>
Disabling Email Scanning does not leave you unprotected against viruses that
are distributed as email attachments. Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect scans
incoming files as they are saved to your hard drive, including email and
email attachments. Email Scanning is just another layer on top of this. To
make sure that Auto-Protect is providing the maximum protection, keep
Auto-Protect enabled and run LiveUpdate regularly to ensure that you have
the most recent virus definitions.
</paste>
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2002111812533106

It'd be much more appropriate to discuss all of this in...

OE6-specific newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress
OE General newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general

 

[Doug Kanter]

1. Just because email scanning hasn't affected you (yet) doesn't mean it's
without risks:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx

2. If you read http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=813514, you'll see email
scanning can be the cause of many OE problems.

Interesting. Thank you.

 

[brett]

Here's an update: I put the home laptop into standby before leaving.
There is a button on the laptop to turn off the network card. It's lit
up when the card is on. I noticed the light went off when the machine
was in stand by. I don't think there is any way OE can check email
and cause the locking issue since the network card is not working.
Additionally, I shut down OE before putting the laptop into stand by.

At work, I still have the locking problem. It isn't an OE specific
issue. When I try to access my email through the hosting company's
webmail interface, I get the locking error that OE gives:

Connection Failed: Can't get lock. Mailbox in use - [mydomain].com Mail
Login

Everything always works fine from home. I'm thinking this has to be
something with the setup here at work. The hosting company says it
works fine for them. I think they have given up. It does seem to be
on my end but I have no idea what it is.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Brett

 

[brett]

The network people here at worked check this problem and couldn't
figure it out. People using web based email have no restrictions. The
hosting company said it's as if OE is opening a connection and not
closing it, so I get the can't get lock error. I rebooted my machine
and still get the error.

Brett

 

[Doug Kanter]

The network people here at worked check this problem and couldn't
figure it out. People using web based email have no restrictions. The
hosting company said it's as if OE is opening a connection and not
closing it, so I get the can't get lock error. I rebooted my machine
and still get the error.

Brett

Brett, something is seriously wrong here. My first suggestion would be to
ask your boss to allow you to tie your network people to their chairs, get a
revolver, remove all but one round, and start pulling the trigger until they
start using their heads.

Of course, you'll have to give them a bit of a chance. At home, shut down
OE, shut down Windows (not Standby, but Shut Down), and disconnect the
network connection PHYSICALLY. Pull the plug, in other words. Now, if your
network shmexperts tell you that YOUR computer, running OE, is causing the
problem, keep pulling that trigger.

 

[brett]

I'm not that violent of a guy. Besides, the network people sometimes
bring nice gifts to the Christmas party. If nothing else, there'll be
a few more bodies to get the dreaded white elephant.

I shut down the laptop at home and unplugged the cable modem before
leaving for work. Yesterday when I left work, I shut down this
computer also. This morning I came in, booted up the work desktop
machine and opened OE. It pulled down email. I thought this is good,
no more issues. Then the second time I tried to check email, I got the
lock error again. I give up!

I'm going to use another service for email - mail2web.com. I can log
into their free section and check my email with no problems. I'll use
their paid service so I can check through my domain via their IMAP
service. I much prefer IMAP over POP. I'm just not sure how that will
work with my domain name (website) at one hosting service and email for
the same domain with another hosting service. Hopefully, I only need
to give the website hosting service mail2web.com's MX record info and
all will be well.

Brett

 

[PA Bear]

<ROFL>

Brett, something is seriously wrong here. My first suggestion would be to
ask your boss to allow you to tie your network people to their chairs,
get a revolver, remove all but one round, and start pulling the trigger
until they start using their heads.

Of course, you'll have to give them a bit of a chance. At home, shut down
OE, shut down Windows (not Standby, but Shut Down), and disconnect the
network connection PHYSICALLY. Pull the plug, in other words. Now, if your
network shmexperts tell you that YOUR computer, running OE, is causing the
problem, keep pulling that trigger.