When I am at a site and want to email them I click on the âcontact usâ link.
The page that pops up is some kind of âpassport password requiredâ message. I
get it when Iâm on my computer, library computers, & other computers. How
can I email them without this?
The computer youâre using is set to use Hotmail as its default mail
program. Passport is (or was) the mechanism to login to a Hotmail account. In
order to send the email that you indicated you want to send, you need to login
to your Hotmail account to do so.
Even as Hotmail transitions to Windows Live Mail, and the login screen looks
less like Passport and more like something else, the fact is thereâs
still a login screen.
What if thatâs not what you were expecting? What if you donât use
Hotmail?
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The link you clicked on is called a âmailtoâ link. Itâs a way that web pages
can encode an address to make it easy for you to send email without having to
type that address in by hand. Hereâs an example:
(I use a bogus address because email addresses encoded this way are
harvested by spammers. That address will now start getting spam.)
If you click on that link your default mail program should start, and it will open a
compose window with the âTo:â line already filled in with
âspam@ask-leo.comâ.
If your system is configured to use Hotmail or Windows Live Mail as your
default mail program, then youâll most likely need to login first. Thatâs where
the Passport or other login screen comes from. Once you login to your Hotmail
account you should be taken to a compose window with that same âTo:â line
already filled in.
Since thatâs not what you were expecting, youâre probably not using Hotmail.
I see two scenarios you need to be concerned about.
to send, you need to login to your Hotmail account to do so.â
Your own machine
The âdefault mail programâ is just a setting, and on your own machine you
should simply change that to be whatever mail program you do use. This article
covers how to do so: How do I change the
âmailto:â or default mail program?
Once you make that change, clicking on a mailto or âcontact usâ link using
mailto should open the mail program you expect.
Someone elseâs machine
To be honest, Iâm not sure exactly what you would expect to have happen
here. Once again, I see two possibilities:
-
If you donât use web-based email ⊠well, this is someone elseâs
machine, so your email program simply wonât be here. Youâll need to find a
different way to send your email. Typically that means either temporarily using
web-based email, like Hotmail, so the Passport or login screen is totally
expected, or saving the email address and sending your email later from your
own machine. -
If you do use web-based email, then even though you could use it,
you should think twice about using it on someone elseâs machine anyway.
Depending on your level of trust, they could have spyware or worse to intercept
your login ID and password. In any case, youâll need to save the email address
that youâre wanting to send to. If you do want to login to your own web-based
email, then do so and compose your message as you normally would by typing or
pasting that email address into the âTo:â line by hand.
Capturing the email address
The one piece thatâs missing so far is how to get the email address that
might be behind that âcontact usâ link without clicking on it and getting some
email program you donât know or want.
Right click on it, and select âCopy Shortcutâ, âCopy Link Locationâ, or
whatever equivalent your browser provides.
If you want to send mail, fire up your mail program, compose a new message
and click in the âTo:â line, and hit paste. Youâll see something line this get
inserted:
mailto:spam@ask-leo.com
Youâll need to manually delete the âmailto:â part of that, and youâre good
to go.
If youâd rather not send mail, but just want to know what the link was, then
open notepad instead and paste into there. Youâll see the same text and you
can record the email address thatâs referenced.
maybe this also helps for those looking to disable that annoying pop-up login in box, esp when it repeatly and without reason goes off, i asked you once and was the reason i subscribed to your excellent newsletter,Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Folders\Msonsext.dll- rename msonsext.dll to old or something else and the pop up disappears for good and with no other consequence
I do not use MS Outlook for email at all, only the web based email. Receiving
and sending email works fine. The problem I have is that if I select an
embedded email link from a webpage, I am asked to login in, then a window is
opened in loginnet.passport.com and I get the following message:
Fatal Login Error. hr = 80041035, f = -2147217355
My expectation is that an email message window will open with the linked
address as the recipient.
problem is not being able to send some emails,with out getting fatal error message from passport login area.forgotten usner name / password.