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Q:  My computer, a Dell 3000, with Windows XP, is getting 2 Emails for everyone sent. I want to know how to stop this from happening. I know it is in the system, as I watched incoming Emails download separately and then in a few seconds, each Email was shown a second time. My computer is very slow, since this started a few days ago. 

– George L.
Niceville, Florida

A: “The system” is a rather broad description, George.  I assume you mean your computer, but if the problem resides in your computer (and I’m not as sure as you are that it does) you can narrow it down to your e-mail software’s configuration.  A lot will depend on what e-mail software you’re using, and what protocol that software is using to communicate with your e-mail server.  A system as old as yours is might still be using the old Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) instead of the more modern Internet Message Access Protocol, or IMAP.  POP3 simply grabs a copy of everything on the server, and depending on how it’s configured, either leaves the mail there, or deletes it.  IMAP allows the e-mail client to more directly interact with the e-mail server, and doesn’t require handling all the e-mail en masse. Some e-mail client software supports mail-handling rules that are executed after e-mails arrive.  These include moving or copying e-mails to another folder, etc.  Misconfiguration of this feature can result in duplicate e-mails being received.  It is not a certainty that the problem lies within your e-mail configuration.  It is possible that something on your ISP’s mail server is misconfigured, or even something within your specific user account.  If you look through your e-mail client’s settings, and come up empty-handed for a solution, consider contacting your ISP and asking them to double-check all the settings applicable to your e-mail service.

Q: We recently switched from Outlook Express to Outlook 2010.  If I read everything correctly Outlook 2010 does not allow for separate address books for different users, as Outlook Express did. So my wife and I have to “share’ the same address book.  To keep mine and her people separate I have tried putting a period in front of mine which puts them at the front of the address book, however it doesn’t always work. Some with period are in her address book with the period at the end of the name rather than in front.  Can you suggest any way to separate mine form hers that will work?  

– Dennis O.
Destin, Florida

A: The first thing that came to my mind is that it sounds like you and she are using a single user account to access the computer.  That severely limits your personal configuration options.  If you were to create a separate account for each of you, not only could you have your own address book, you could each have your own wallpaper, custom Desktop, My Documents folder, and so forth.  It’s a win-win situation, and all that it adds is the step of clicking Start->Switch User when want to change from one account to the other.  If this is too radical of a step for you, I believe you can accomplish what you are trying to do by using profiles in Outlook.  Profiles encapsulate all the information for e-mail accounts and their related data files.  Creating and using them is too complicated to cover here, but if you’ll visit tinyurl.com/g3qyy I believe you’ll find everything you need.

TIP OF THE WEEK: Undo/Redo.  When working with Windows, it’s painfully easy to mess up your work through errant mouse clicks or keyboard presses.  When you accidentally delete half of the document or spreadsheet you’ve been working on for the last 2 hours, don’t panic!  In almost all cases, as long as you don’t save the file first, a simple undo command is available that will, well, UNDO the last action you took.  This feature is universal throughout the Microsoft Office Suite, and is included in most well-written Windows programs.  It is usually linked to the key combination CTRL+Z.  Oh, so you already knew about Undo?  Well did you know that there’s also a Redo?  Yes, it undoes an undo operation.  Next time you accidentally undo something, try hitting CTRL+Y.  There now.  Don’t you feel like you can be more productive in 2014?