Hi Folks, While I'm still able to do so, I'd like to thank all who rushed so promptly to my rescue, with a lot of useful-looking advice. There's a lot to follow up there (should keep me busy for what remains of my time ... !). Meanwhile, for your entertainment [?], you may like to hear of what happened when I followed Simon Hobson's advice (via linux-users & man-lug): On 25-Apr-05 Simon Hobson wrote:

Bummer !

Though my experience with BT is that I'm surprised they know what authenticated SMTP is !

Whilst I doubt if you'll get anywhere, I would be inclined to approach BT and explain that at the moment you can't/don't know how to turn on authentication for your mail setup (but are looking into it). [...]

Well, I did call their "SMTP Authentication Team" number, and was connected to a very nice Indian gentleman, who listened to me carefully. He even seemed to be more than a little aware of Linux (to the point of paying tribute to its security compared with you-know-what). The upshot was: "We are not trained in these mail clients and we are not authorised to give advice about them. I suggest you contact the Linux help desk." Well, I guess I already did that! Thanks, hot-liners, I'll be looking into your suggestions! All best wishes, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 25-Apr-05 Time: 17:42:52 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------