Hi Robin, Thanks for the suggestion. No, no update done. The only thing which I can think of that might have relevence is that I decided to work offline. This was the first time that I had done so since I last received a series opf updates from Microsoft. It is just possible that there was a small timebomb lurking in that bunch in some way, I suppose.
I had already decided to take a screen shot of the settings, as you suggest and will keep them by me just in case. Even so I'm grateful for the idea - might well have missed the wisdom of that one. I'm considering Roderunner's suggestion. I had already downloaded Thunderbird as a way to get around the mail problem for the time being, but even that created another minor headache. For some reason I cannot get the full screen up, just the inbox, no top tool bar, so that I am missing "Files" "Tools" etc.
Some time ago I put Linux Mint alongside Windows, simply because of the volume of updates from Microsoft and concerns about virus attacks, but even then, after a few days, the computer would not let me on line from there, so I returned to windows.
For what it is worth, I use the computer mainly for mail, gathering information and for writing, then it is the distribution method used for sending to a group of some 40 people.
Oh the joys of computers! Still, I'm learning, thanks to people like yourself.
