Thank you so much for that.  I look forward to Winston's additional comments, if he has any.

Just to add to the challenge:  

  a.. my son asked me to include him in my distribution list/category, but to use a different address. The only way I could find to do this was to create another contact using his nickname.  How can I select from his three email addresses when making up a category? 

  b.. Under what circumstances might one ???add to calendar??? an email message?  Does it copy the entire email, or does this only refer to a particular type of email that contains calendar-specific data? 

  c.. I was interested in the SkyDrive facility as one or two of my contacts are in the wilds of the California hills or the outback of Australia and do not have broadband.  Whenever I send out travelogues with pictures attached these contacts are waiting for ages for the message to come in and do not know why until they have received it and know that the delay was because of the size of the email/picture combination.  I had hoped that a picture email would send the message with just a link for the reader to select to see the pictures.  When I experimented by sending a picture email to myself (on my other email address) it did not work out like this, appearing as though the email and the pictures were one.  But then I am on broadband.  If someone collects a picture email on dial-up, what happens?  Do they only address SkyDrive when they open the email?  And what if they are no longer on line ??? will they be able to read the text?

I worked with computers for over 30 years, starting with a 4KB machine which had to be programmed in 8-bit object code assembler, addressing a 256-byte page, one of which formed a window on memory as a screen.  Because memory was so expensive in those days, we had to dynamically patch object code in memory and execute the modified code in loops or roll code into memory from mini-tape ??? only later did we get the luxury of an 8KB machine, with a 2.5MB (!!) disk to roll program modules in and out of memory.  But, like you, I am still learning!

"R. C. White"  wrote in message news:DOmdnYy5K9CRRqPSnZ2dnUVZ_tmdnZ2d_at_posted.grandecom... 

Hi, Roger.

To quote an old wise saying, "The only dumb question is the one not asked." 

Some of your questions I learned the answer to years ago, but some I still 

don't know about.  Winston knows more than any others of us, I think.  But 

we all learned just the way you are learning:  by trial and error and by asking questions.  So keep asking - and soon you will be the one answering. 

In another thread here you said, "...please bear with an old man!!"  While I 

might not ask your age, I'm 76 and others here might be older - and still 

learning.  ;<)  Now, I'll tell you more than you might want to know about 

WLM...

First, if you haven't already discovered it - because it is VERY well hidden 

behind the Ribbon GUI - you need to find the Windows Live Mail button and 

then the Options screen.  And then get familiar with the QAT - the Quick Action Toolbar.

That unlabeled button in the extreme upper left corner, just below the Title 

Bar and left of the word "Home" is the WLM button, but we often call it the 

No-Name button because it isn't labeled - until you hover the mouse over it 

and the oh-so-distinctive name "Windows Live Mail" appears.  Click that 

button and a VERY useful menu drops down!  Hover over any item and more 

choices appear.  Hover over "Options", then click Mail - and you've found 

the MOST USEFUL part of WLM!

This is the Options screen that Outlook Express users have been using for 

years.  It has tabs for Read, Send, Spelling, Advanced - and others.  SOME 

of these settings are accessible from buttons on the Ribbon (Get next 300 

headers is one of those), but others are not.  On the Read tab, under News, 

you'll find a check box for "Get ___ headers at a time".  The default (300) 

is already filled in, but you can change it to any number up to 1,000.  OR, 

as I do for many newsgroups, remove the check from the box and get ALL the 

headers for that NG.  (Careful; if there are 100,000 messages in the NG, it 

will take a LONG time to get them all, even at broadband speed!)

About the QAT:  almost any button you see on any Ribbon can be added to the 

QAT; just right-click and add it.  This may not be too useful for buttons on 

the Home ribbon, but for items on the View or Folders ribbon, it can save 

some clicks.  And, that oh-so-useful Options screen can be added to the QAT, 

too; just right-click when you get to Options | Mail and Add to the QAT.

Play around with these and explore, Roger; there's lots to discover in the 

Ribbon, the QAT and that WLM button!

Now, I'll try to answer at least some of your questions inline...

"rattlingroger"  wrote in message 

news:_ex%q.136535$M05.31931_at_newsfe20.ams2...

> As a newbie trying to get to grips with Windows Live Mail, please forgive 

> me if I am asking questions to which the answer should be obvious!

> 1.    "Unknown sender.  The sender is not on your contacts or your allowed 

> senders list".  I get this message for virtually every message I receive. 

> I set up a distribution list using the Category function with 32 names > from my Contacts, then sent an email to these contacts.  Many of them have 

> replied, each reply producing the above warning.  They are all in my 

> contacts - indeed, that is why they received my email.  Other emails I > have received are similarly marked, despite my having added a previous > email with the same address to my allowed senders list by clicking on the 

> 'Allowed sender' prompt.  How else do I add to the allowed sender list?

I don't know the answer to this one, so I'll let Winston handle it.  ;^}

> 2.    What do the Flag and Watch buttons do, apart from put a little flag 

> or pair of specs alongside the message?  Is there any follow up facility, 

> like in Outlook?  I deduce that the Ignore button effectively cancels a 

> Watch and Show Replies expands and groups a thread - or have I got this 

> wrong?  The Conversations view button seems to do something similar: what 

> are the differences?

Rather than use the Ignore button, you can just click in the Flag or Watch 

column to set or cancel the setting for that thread.  I haven't used either 

of these settings much.

> 3.    The 'Move to' and the 'copy to' buttons are self-explanatory: does 

> the 'Copy' button copy the message to the clipboard for subsequent action, 

> perhaps pasting elsewhere?

I've never used the Copy button, but that's what the ToolTip says.

> 4.    In the newsgroups screen, what is the difference between Delete and 

> Cancel?

Delete erases the news message from your database; in Mail it also deletes 

it from the server, I think, unless you've set that Server to "Leave a copy 

of messages on server".  (To do that, you must be in the Mail mode, then right-click that Server | Properties | Advanced.)  But this setting is not 

allowed for News; the message will stay on the server unless it was sent by 

you.  (I understand that news posts you have sent can be canceled in some 

cases, but I've never done that and don't know anything about it.)  I'm not 

sure about Cancel; that MIGHT be what I just pled ignorance about.

> 5.    I have been using ???Reply to Group??? in newsgroups.  Does ???Reply??? 

> respond to an individual, which is hidden from the newsgroup?

Reply to Group is the right response to almost all news messages.  If you 

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