Have been away from my pc for a few days.
So, thanks for info so far. Have tried playing around with Norton AV settings, and removed Outlook Express from the list. OE didn't unfortunately ask for permission to access the net, although it will dial in ok, but just won't connect to the various servers, unless I disable Norton
Norton did update recently alright, and on reflection it was about that time that the problems started, but I haven't managed to fix it yet.
Any other suggestions?? Please
Regards
HJ