Q.  Every time I open Outlook Express a dialog box appears prompting me to connect to the Internet via dial up networking. Is there a way of switching this off?

Both Outlook Express and Internet Explorer use dial up networking to connect to the Internet when required. This is handy since it means that you do not have to manually connect to the Internet whenever you want to check mail or surf the Web.

It is possible to turn off this feature, however if you turn it off in Outlook Express you will automatically turn it off in Internet Explorer. To alter the dial up networking settings in Internet Explorer go to Tools, Options Connections.

Press the Change button to open the Internet Properties dialogue then select the Connections tab. In the Dial-up settings section you can alter the dial up settings for each of your connections, add a new connection or remove an unused connection. You can also specify when dial up networking will establish the connection. By choosing "Never dial a connection", dial up networking will not attempt to establish the connection and you will not be bothered with the connection dialogue box again.

If you select "Dial whenever a network connection is not present" dial up network will only establish a connection if you are not already connected to the Internet. This setting is handy for laptop users who may sometimes connect to the Internet via a corporate network and at other times dial up through an ISP.

The last setting of "Always dial my default connection" will cause dial up networking to attempt a connection whenever you open Internet Explorer or Outlook Express.

Remember, though, that if you do select "Never dial a connection" you will have to navigate through several menus to manually establish the connection using dial up networking.

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