OL97: How to Control Your Dial UP Internet Connection With IMEP

The Internet Mail Enhancement Patch (IMEP) for Microsoft Outlook 97 allows for better control over your Internet Dial Up connection. This article describes how you can configure Outlook 97 with IMEP to remain connected or automatically disconnect from your Internet Dial Up Networking connection after you deliver mail.

When you use Outlook to check Internet mail, Outlook makes a modem Dial Up Network connection, delivers incoming and outgoing mail, and then automatically disconnects the Dial Up Network connection. This is the default behavior of the Internet Mail Service provided with Outlook 97.

You can modify this behavior when you install the Internet Mail Enhancement Patch. The IMEP allows you to specify whether the Dial Up Networking connection keeps your modem connected after you choose to deliver mail in Outlook. This functionality is also available in the Microsoft Office 97 SR- 1 patch.

NOTE: The steps below assume you have installed the IMEP or the Office SR-1 patch.

To control how IMEP behaves when you use a Dial Up Networking connection and deliver mail, do the following:

1. Start Outlook.
2. On the Tools menu, click Services.
3. On the Services Tab, click to select "Internet E-mail - mail account name" and click Properties.
4. Click the Connection tab.
5. Make sure "I use a modem to access my e-mail" is selected. Click to clear "Disconnect when finished sending and receiving" if you want to keep your Dial Up Networking connection after you deliver mail. Click to select this setting if you want Outlook to disconnect after you deliver mail. This setting has a check by default.
6. Click OK.
7. Click OK to confirm the message, "The configuration changes you have made will not take effect until the next time you log on to Internet E-mail."
8. Click OK to close the Services dialog box.
9. On the File menu, click "Exit and Log Off."

When you restart Outlook your changes will take effect.

For more information on improvements in IMEP, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: