Windows Mail replaced Microsofts long running Outlook Express program in Windows Vista. Outlook Express and Windows Mail are strikingly similar programs although Mail contains some extra functionality such as a junk mail filter and it would be fair to assume that Mail is a natural evolution of Outlook Express.

Windows Mail can be used to collect email from your Internet Service Provider or Work mailserver, in fact any accessable mail server that supports the common POP, IMAP and SMTP protocols. To set up your mail correctly you should know your email address, your ISP or email providers pop and smtp server names and types and your account name and password. If you do not know these details you should contact your Internet Service Provider or the mailservers administrator or support team.

When you first use Windows Mail and open it for the first time without any mail accounts configured chances are good that it will automatically run a wizard virtually identical to the one documented here without needing to take the extra steps of going to tools then internet accounts and adding an account from there. So if the wizard automatically runs when you start Windows Mail simply go to page two of this Windows Mail tutorial and start at Display Name.

So lets start by opening up Windows Mail. Click on your Start menu on the bottom left hand corner of your screen.

If Windows Mail is your default email program then you will see it on the top left hand corner of your start menu just under Internet Explorer. If it isnt there you will find it by clicking on all programs on your start menu instead. Once you have located Windows Mail click on it.

If Windows Mail has no email accounts configured it is likely to automatically run the new account wizard. If this is the case you can skip to page two of this Windows Mail tutorial. If it doesnt then once Windows Mail has opened click on the Tools menu at the top left hand corner of Mail and click on Accounts.

Internet Accounts allows you to add, remove and edit email, news and directory service accounts. If you are changing ISP's you can single click on the old email account and click on the remove button on the right hand side if you would like to delete it off your PC. To add our new email account click on the Add button.

You will be asked to select your account type. We are adding an email account so that is the option we should select by clicking on it, then click next.