Why Can't I Send Outgoing E-Mail From a Friend's House?

Why can't I send outgoing e-mail from a friend's house?

Bill Case, Belville, North Carolina

 The problem is, someone else's ISP can't be sure that you're you. Neither, for that matter, can your ISP, if the e-mail isn't coming over the service's own lines. Most spam and virus-laden messages carry fake From addresses, so the concern is understandable.

You have three strategies to consider. And even if neither of the first two options works for you, the final one surely will.

The first is to set up Secure Password Authentication for your own ISP. In Outlook 2003 (the instructions should be very similar in other POP e-mail programs), select Tools, E-mail Accounts, View or change existing e-mail accounts. In Outlook 2007, click Tools, Account Settings. In both versions, select your account and click the Change button. Check Log on using Secure Password Authentication, click Next, and then click Finish (see the image below).

Option number two is to send your outgoing mail through your friend's mail server. If you still want to be able to send mail from your home network connection, you'll need to create a new e-mail account that uses your incoming mail server and your friend's outgoing mail server. To do this, use Secure Password Authentication, as described above, with one added step: Click More Settings, OutA-going Server so you can log on with your friend's user name and password. You may need to ask your friend's ISP for help with this.

If neither of those approaches suits you, use a Web mail account when you're not at home; your ISP probably offers this service. You can integrate any POP account with your Gmail or Yahoo Mail inbox, too, so messages going to one destination also go to the other; read "Use Gmail as a Universal Inbox" for instructions for Gmail.

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