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Troubleshooting the WebMail System and More

by Sabrina C. Fullhart

To Articles & FAQs/Input, Links on:

Our WebMail system is a bit touchy....

....and sometimes gives us problems.  In this section, you'll find out what some of these problems are, what might cause them, and what steps you can take if you're experiencing troubles with the WebMail.


What Browser Should I Use?

At the time of this writing, I have had the WebMail system work adequately in the following browsers:

    Internet Explorer v. 6.0 on Windows 2000 and Windows XP     Mozilla Firefox v. 1.0.7 on Mac OSX, Windows 2000, and Windows XP

And I have consistantly failed trying to use it in the following browsers/systems:

    Safari 2.0.3 on a Mac laptop running OSX


Okay, so now that you've got it open in the right browser and everything "should" be working, what can go wrong?


Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Wonderful Spam!

Yeah, we get a LOT of spam.  These just need to be deleted, that's all.  Feel free to delete any/all spam messages you find, if you like.


The Story of the 'Probably Trash' Folder

You may see a folder named 'Probably Trash' from time to time.  We don't know where it came from.  We've tried to get rid of it.  Just when we think it's gone for good, it makes another appearance.  It just won't go away....

Our general rule of thumb is PLEASE don't use the 'Probably Trash' folder.  If you think it's trash, it's trash.  Send it to the 'Deleted' folder.  We trust your judgment!


Some queries don't have a "tray".

The "tray" is the space in an email in our system that gives us the option to reply to it, among other things.  Once in a while, you may find a query that doesn't have this "tray", no matter how many times you try to open it.  To be quite honest, I have NO idea why this happens. 

What's even more confusing is that there are some systems/configurations that seem to let us see this tray, and some that don't.  For example, my HP laptop running Windows XP allows me to see and use this tray, but three desktops and a Mac laptop using various configurations do not.

If you get or find a query that does not have a tray, please leave it in the correct folder (Freshwater, Marine....) and send an email to the Crew's mailing list (you'll collect these addresses with time, don't worry!).  Thus far, it seems that AdamC and I can see these trays.


Sometimes a reply disappears.

Picture this:  you've taken a question into your folder and hit 'Reply'.  The window popped up, and you've just spent 20 minutes explaining, at length, exactly what the querier needs to do to bring their fish back from the brink of death.  You hit 'Send', and all of a sudden you get this big, fat error message, and your reply is gone!  ARGH!

This happens if the WebMail system logs you out while you're taking your time on a reply.  I think it does it maliciously at the most inopportune times.

To prevent this from happening, you can check the "Remember Me" box on the login page, but please DON'T check that box on ANY "public" machines, or even your machine at work if you can avoid it.

A better solution is to copy the text of the query into a Microsoft Word or other word processing software window and add your reply there.  Once you've completed your reply, you can just copy the whole thing again and paste it into the reply window of the WebMail.  This way, if you lose the reply, you have only to re-open the reply window and copy/paste again.  The other benefit to this is that you can use a spell checker to help you along your way, if you like.


When WebMail Goes Wonky

If you are completely unable to login to WebMail, or if you are unable to use/navigate WebMail, please first see if it works for you in a different browser, then try the following instructions to clear your browser cache....


CLEARING YOUR CACHE

Why Clear Your Browser Cache?

Your web browser stores copies of old pages to make them come up faster for you when you're looking at sites that you regularly visit.  If your browser cache gets "full", it can cause a lot of strange things to happen when you're surfing the 'net that may not often be "visible" to you but can cause things like the WebMail to not work.  Clearing your browser cache may help the WebMail to function properly.

Please find your browser type below and follow the instructions to clear the cache.  

Internet Explorer

Note:  This was written for version 6.0 on Windows XP.  Your version may be different; if so and you have trouble figuring it out, please email me (Sabrina) or look up instructions in Google.

1.  Open an Internet Explorer window.

2.  Click "Tools" in the menu across the top.

3.  Click "Internet Options" in the Tools menu.

4.  On the "General" tab, click "Delete Files."

5.  On the "Delete Files" dialogue box, check the box that says "Delete all offline content".

6.  Click "Okay".

Note:  This may take a few to several minutes if you haven't cleared your cache in a long time.  Go have a cup of coffee.

7.  Try loading the WebMail again in this browser window.

You can find more support for Internet Explorer here:  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx

Mozilla Firefox

Note:  This was written for version 1.0.7 on Windows XP.  Your version may be different; if so and you have trouble figuring it out, please email me (Sabrina) or look up instructions in Google.

1.  Open a Mozilla Firefox window.

2.  Click "Tools" in the menu across the top.

3.  Click "Options...." in the Tools menu.

4.  Click the "Privacy" lock icon.

5.  Click the "Clear" button next to Cache.

Note:  This may take a few to several minutes if you haven't cleared your cache in a long time.  Go have a beer.

6.  Try loading the WebMail again in this browser window.

You can find more support for Mozilla Firefox here:  http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/


Clearing Your Cache Didn't Help?

If clearing your browser cache didn't help, then please at least try a different browser.  If that fails, contact me, and we will try to get it figured out together.  I will need to know the following:

Your ISP

What operating system you use (Windows 2000, XP, etc., Mac OSX, Linux....)

What browser(s) you've tried

What, if any, error messages you get

What results you get when you try to access WebMail

What you've tried to resolve the problem

Try to email me with answers to these and I'll do what I can to figure the problem out.  Please include your phone number if it's okay for me to call you.


Anything I Missed?

If you can think of any other problems that you've experienced that should be addressed here, please contact me with details and I'll add them to this page as soon as possible.

Also, if you have any questions about problems with the WebMail, let me know those as well.




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