Per PC Fix
If, like many people, you choose to use Microsoft Outlook Express as your client for sending and receiving mail, you may have come across a 0x800cccod error at some point.
This error usually restricts a user from sending email, despite still being able to receive new mail from the POP server. You may receive an error that mentions invalid passwords, or invalid usernames. In some cases, receiving mail is also disabled and the user may have difficulty in connecting to the ISP’s mail servers.
The first step to take should be to evaluate whether the problem still exists with a firewall disabled. Many anti-Virus suites, for example, will try to scan new mail and they may alter the username and password leading to an error when it gets sent to the server. This is a simple problem to troubleshoot.
Temporarily disable the protection, try to send your message, and if it goes through successfully, you know that the anti-Virus software is causing a collision. It’s possible to disable the firewall for email services but that’s a drastic measure to take. Especially given that many viruses are spread through email communications.
You can breathe a sigh of relief though because even when you do download a virus via email attachment, most anti-Virus programmes will spot the file when you try to copy it across to the hard drive. It has to be downloaded, remember.
Most firewalls are easily accessible through the control panel of your anti-Virus software. There should be an option for “email scanning”. Turn this off and you will notice that sending and receiving mail becomes a lot quicker, not just in connecting but in downloading files too.
Another possibility – and probably more likely scenario – is that you’ve already been affected by a virus. There are many malicious applications which mess with the outgoing email, preventing a user from sending and in some cases, receiving too. Some viruses are easy to spot, while others are much more discrete. It’s not always viruses that cause the problems either.
A 0x800cccod error can even be triggered by spyware and adware. To prevent this kind of corruption, you should run a regular scan of your system. There are many free scanning utilities available on the web, and it’ll reduce the likelihood of an email problem if you have a clean hard drive.
If a system clean-up isn’t enough to solve the 0x800cccod error, you may want to re-enter your account details for the email client. This can sometimes reset the connection so that you can send to the SMTP server, and receive with POP.
Ensure that the details of the mail server settings are correct. If you are unsure of this, you will have to contact your ISP and retrieve the correct information. It’s possible – but wholly unlikely – that the ISP might change your log-in details without informing you. While we’d be surprised if this is the case, it would certainly explain why you can’t connect to send or receive mail! Such problems will usually be marked with an Invalid Username / Password message.
