If your test email is delivered to your inbox, have your friend resend her email to see if the problem was simply a server error. It’s also a good idea to verify your email address with the sender so both of you know the email address is correct. The problem may be on the sender’s end if she is the only contact having trouble.

If the email was sent with an attachment, the file may have been too large for your email client or inbox to accept. Most ISPs (Internet service providers) limit the size of your mailbox or account plan to a given amount of storage space, such as 2GB. Try removing some unwanted emails or ones with large attachments (save the attachment to your hard drive first) to free up some space. Additionally, some ISPs feature a per-message size restriction, and even though you have room in your mailbox, the attachment may be larger than your provider will allow.

In our research, we found that most ISPs allow email attachments (both sent and received) up to 10MB when you sign up for a broadband account. Web accounts also feature a per-message size limit. For example, with a free Hotmail account, the maximum size for an attachment is 10MB, and the size limit includes the message, attachment, and encoding needed to send the attachment. Hotmail also limits you to 50 attachments within one message. People with a free Gmail account can send and receive attachments up to 20MB.

Are You Set Up Correctly?

If you can’t receive any email, you may need to re-enter the email server settings supplied by your ISP. To find your settings in Windows Vista, open Windows Mail, select the Tools menu, choose Accounts, and click Mail. In Windows XP’s Outlook Express, select the Tools menu, choose Accounts, and click the Mail tab. Click the specific account you’re having trouble loading and select Properties. Double-check that you have the correct information in the tabs for Servers, Connection, Security, and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) or POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3; for Webmail accounts). Mozilla’s Thunderbird is another popular email client, and to check your account settings in Thunderbird, click the Tools menu, select Account Settings, and choose the Server Settings option for the account you want to change. If you don’t have the necessary information, contact your ISP to get the authentication data. The provider could also tell you if it has recently experienced any technical trouble that would stop you from receiving email.

For security purposes, some ISPs prefer all email going to your PC’s email client—including email from Webmail services—to run through the ISP’s servers. If this is the case with your ISP, the email client may block incoming email from your Webmail accounts. To fix the problem, you’ll need to configure your PC’s email client to send the Webmail through the ISP. With Outlook Express and Windows Mail, open the email client’s settings, select the Webmail account, and click Properties. Select the Servers tab and configure Outgoing Mail (SMTP) and Outgoing Mail Server with the server information provided by your ISP. For Thunderbird, click the Tools menu, select Account Settings, and double-click the account. Select the Outgoing Server (SMTP) field and enter the appropriate ISP server address.

Filter Blocks

If your email client appears to be set up correctly, you’ll want to check if your friend’s message was sent to another folder or into a junk folder by your email application. Most email clients—including Vista’s Windows Mail and Mozilla’s Thunderbird utilities—let you set up message rules, so your email is presorted, and unwanted messages are automatically blocked.

The default setting for Windows Mail’s Junk Email filter is Low, which allows most messages to reach your inbox. People that have switched to the High setting may find that legitimate email will more often be marked as Junk. Check the folder titled Junk E-mail for your missing messages. To stop your friend’s email from entering the Junk E-mail folder, select the email, click the Message menu, choose Junk E-mail, and click Add Sender To Safe Senders List. If you want to lower the protection level on your Junk E-mail folder, click the Tools menu and select Junk E-mail Options. You can select from No Automatic Filtering (which isn’t recommended), Low, High, and Safe List Only.

In Thunderbird, you can open the email account's settings (right-click the account and select Properties) and select Junk Settings. The easiest way to keep the sender's email from entering the Junk folder is to add the email address into the Personal Address Book and click the Do Not Mark Mail As Junk If The Sender Is In Personal Address Book checkbox. You can also select Collected Addresses (a list of all the addresses to which you have sent messages) from the drop-down menu so your safe sender list is a bit larger than just your Personal Address Book.

It’s also possible that your antivirus or firewall has blocked the email from reaching your inbox. Most popular virus scanners place suspect files (or in this case, emails) into quarantine, which you can view before the antivirus utility deletes the possible infection. Every antivirus utility varies, but there is usually a quarantine list or infection report that you can check for your lost email. Before you restore the file, try removing the infection to rescue the email, especially emails with attachments that the sender may have unknowingly passed on containing a virus.

Some firewalls (hardware devices or programs that control Web access on your PC) may also block your email client from receiving or sending email. Typically, the firewall will deliver an error message that indicates why your email client was blocked. You may need to modify your firewall’s rules to allow your incoming emails from your email client. Similar to antivirus applications, the process varies per firewall. Generally, the process involves locating an Exceptions or Programs section and making an exception for the application in question.

Inbox Management

If you’re still having trouble receiving email from a single contact, the problem may be on the sender’s end or with her ISP. In particular, the ISP may not block certain types of attachments or attachments larger than a given size, or the email may just be stuck in the ISP’s spam filter. Try having the sender use another account, such as a Webmail account, to send the email.

by Nathan Lake