Ports blocked *AS SHIPPED* - VOSTRO 1710

Mike Preston1,

Have you tried disabling the firewall in your wireless router?

Some FREE WiFi spots disable certain ports so emails cannot be downloaded. You can check your emnails on the webserver but not using an email program like Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, or many of the other email programs.

Without giving your email address, what email program are you using and the last part of your email address, like aol.com, comcast.net, hotmail.com, etc...? We can see if you have the correct settings.

Rick

Thanks for the reply.  I've figured it out (see below).

I neglected to say that I have a different laptop, right next to the first, which functions perfectly and is theoretically set up the same way.

So, no, it isn't possible that it is the router.

Not using WIFI (since I'm at home).

Correct settings? Of what? Telnet?  No, I'm very familiar with the pop3 and smtp and imap server addresses.

Anyway, here is the scoop. The devil was the McAfee Total Protection.  I couldn't order this machine without it pre-installed.  So, I just let it lapse.  The icon in the icon bar was just sitting there (innocent enough, right?).  Of course, every time I tried to access any portion of the McAfee program it would tell me that the program was disabled and then give me an offer to buy a continuation license.

But it was a LIE.  The program wasn't disabled. In fact, it was blocking my port access.  Worst of all, it wouldn't let me adjust the settings (which I guess came shipped with the unit that way) now that the trial period has expired.

What a ripoff.  If a protection program goes out of subscription, it should either automatically disable itself COMPLETELY or continue to give you the opportunity to do so.  But to imply that it is completely disabled, when in fact it is not disabled and then preclude you from disabling it yourself, is the kind of "marketing" decision that should get the company a one way ticket to bankruptcy.

I hope nobody buys another McAfee product.  Ever.  I know I surely won't.

Oh, yeah, the solution? Obliterate (uninstall) McAfee Total Security and any other McAfee programs through Control Panel.

Problem solved.

In my opinion, this is Dell's fault, as well, since they shipped this unit with a software product that was set so as to partially disable the machine if no action by the computer user is taken.  That is a "consumer crime" in my book.

Mike Preston1,

GREAT JOB! :emotion-21: Thanks for posting back. You'd be surprised how many people sometimes have the wrong ports, something checked in their email settings that were wrong. I'm glad you figured out it was McAffee.

Rick