Applemac (iMac) problems

[#1]

Thanks Mr. AOE. This may sound daft to you but I have no idea how to go about uninstalling Internet Explorer. The notes in Firefox say it has taken over all the stuff that IE did but doesn't say anything about getting rid of the original. Please tell me what to do!
Also. I have two Firefox icons (are they called?) on the desktop. One is an orange and blue thing called Firefox which I click on to get on to the internet; the other is ike a piece of paper with disc inside it and under it it says Friefox 2.0.0.11dmg. If I click on this it asks to accept or decline conditions. Does this have to be there or can I hide it?
I did say I was an absolute novice; so nice to have you and the other helpful people around.

[#2]

Hi there
One of the icons is the program Firefox and the other, with the disc asking you to accept terms and conditions is the file you downloaded.
Firefox should take over everything that internet explorer did.
I am pleased it has resolved the issue.
Emma

[#3]

Thanks Ruslyn, Assos and now Emma. Sorry if I appeared to overlook your latest responses, but I hadn't realised this exchange has now gone on to two pages and I was only looking at the end of page one.
As I said earlier this community forum is absolutely great; and I've been singing the praises of Plusnet to others I hope will join.

[#4]

You will be quite safe in simply dragging Internet Explorer to the Trash, I've done it many times at work - simply because I want no Microsoft apps anywhere near our Macs!! The last version of IE was 5.2.3 and is now over 5 years old so it's no wonder it doesn't work with many of today's websites.
I currently use Camino as my browser, which is based on Mozilla's code - however, I see this only runs on OS X 10.3 or higher, so that rules you out. Firefox is probably you're best bet, as it's regularly updated to fix any security holes.
As for email, Apple's Mail will do you fine and it links in nicely with the built-in Address Book. Microsoft never released a version of Outlook Express for Mac OS X, so it's not been updated since OS 9 days, if you want to run this under OS X it will have to run in Classic mode (which is OS 9 emulation). I really wouldn't recommend this, you'd be much better off with Apple's Mail or if you want to stick with Microsoft then you'll have to buy Entourage - available with MS Office X for Mac or also can be bought separately. This is the nearest equivalent to Outlook Express, and is probably the reason why Outlook Express was never updated past OS 9 days. As Apple's Mail is included free why not give it a go - it also has built-in Junk mail filtering which is very effective once you've trained it for a few weeks (this isn't enabled by default, but you can switch it on in Mail's preferences, under the Mail menu).
Your question about the 2 Firefox icons on your desktop... well, this is a common query, but is quite simple to explain. Pretty much all Mac software is downloaded as a disk image file, which will have the .dmg extension. Double-clicking this will mount the virtual disk onto the desktop (after asking you to accept the disclaimer notice). Then, they'll either be an installer on the disk image, or as is more common you'll simply drag the actual application across onto your "Applications" folder to copy it onto your Mac. Once you've done that, drag the mounted virtual disk to the Trash to eject it - you can also delete the .dmg file too (unless you want to keep it somewhere safe in case you need it again). Hope this clears up the confusion.

[#5]

Thanks again for all your advice.
No problem now with getting on to the internet using Firefox; but I'm now stuck getting e-mail properly functioining. I'm using Mac's Mail, as advised. I can send e-mails but can't receive them!.
Message comes up to say the username and password signified in Mail preferences were not accepted by the server. Check the settings again!
Is my username the bit that comes before .plus.com in the e-mail address? Is the password supposed to be the same as I use for logging on to Plusnet or can I choose  a quite separate one?
If I want to add my missis as another e-mail account should she have a separate password.
Sorry if I seem a dimwit but it's puzzling that with the settings I have I can send e-mails but not receive them.
I have the incoming server as: mail.plus.net . . . and the outgoing server as: relay.plus.net.
Shall be pleased to receive any help from others who have experiened this.

[#6]

Quote from: Hallstean

Is my username the bit that comes before .plus.com in the e-mail address? Is the password supposed to be the same as I use for logging on to Plusnet or can I choose  a quite separate one?

This depends... if the email address is your default PlusNet one (for example: your-user-name@your-user-name.plus.com) then the password will be the same as the one you log-on to PlusNet's Member Centre. If you've added a new mailbox then it will use the password you used to create that. If you're not sure what that is, log-in to PlusNet's Member Centre, go to "Email Settings" and click on the "Manage My Mail" button. Under the "Mailboxes" tab, click the "edit" link next to your mailbox, and then change the password to something you can remember. Retype this into Apple's Mail next time you check your email and it should stick this time.

Quote from: Hallstean

If I want to add my missis as another e-mail account should she have a separate password.

Yes, definitely. Follow the advice above to "Manage My Mail", then create a new mailbox (for example: wife@your-user-name.plus.com), give this a unique password. Then in Apple's Mail, go to Preferences > Accounts and click the little | + | button at the bottom to create a new account. The wizard should take you through the necessary steps to add your wife's new email account. In the "Username" field, you need to enter your main username followed by a plus sign and then the mailbox name (using the example above, this would be: your-user-name+wife)
The Incoming server should be: mail.plus.net
and the Outgoing server is: relay.plus.net
Hope that helps.

[#7]

Many thanks, Steven Harrington that was.
Fingers crossed, I think with your help I've finally cracked it. I've sent e-mails to friends and asked them to reply, so if their replies do come in I'm there.
This correspondence about Apple Macs and Firefox and Apple Mail seems to have been read by an awful lot of people; so there must be others with Apple problems and I hope they've found all the responses useful.
Best regards to all who have helped.

[#8]

As you have now been converted (to Firefox) , you may wish to try some add-ons, google for Firefox Add-Ons and the Google Toolbar for Firefox. Add-ons I use are Adblock (allows you to choose to block certain ads that you choose to on a website), British English Dictionary (spell checks as you type into replies like this one) ColorfulTabs (Firefox allows for a number of open tabs, this add-on colours each of them differently) PDF Download (allows you to choose what to do with a pdf, download, view in browser, view with external viewer like adobe reader). Enjoy