Oh man, this is NOT my day!
I downloaded the latest version of IncrediMail.
I moved my address book over from O.E.
It was all down hill from there.
I spent forever on the phone with my service provider, trying to get IncrediMail set up so that it would work. They do not deal with IncrediMail, only O.E. They are not much help. I could receive mail, but as soon as I tried to start writing a new email, I got an error message.
I fiddled with this for waaaaay too long.
IncrediMail help files were no help.
I started reading the "problems with IncrediMail" sites on the net .... whew, a lot of very unhappy people.
Finally gave up in total frustration and uninstalled IncrediMail and then used system restore to bring my computer back to yesterday.
I used this program for many years with no problems ever. I'd flip back and forth from O.E.
I think the problem is within IncrediMail because it wont let me start to write a new email.
I don't think it has anyting to do with my AVAST settings, or my Zone Alarm, or the new, big Windows update.