I'd like to thank everyone who responded to my bleg. The first comment, by Jack Brickwell, solved my problem. While in Outlook Express, I clicked on Tools, Accounts, Properties, and Advanced. I checked the boxes labeled "Leave a copy of messages on server" and "Remove from server when deleted from 'Deleted Items.'" I've seen these boxes before, but didn't understand what they were for. Now I know. When I set up my UTA e-mail account several years ago, I was told not to check the box labeled "Leave a copy of messages on server." I can see why. It would take up a lot of space on the university's server. I don't want to do that, obviously, so, in addition to checking the first box this morning, I checked the second box as well. When I'm done reading a particular e-mail, I delete it, and when I leave Outlook Express, it gets deleted from Outlook Express. I now have it set so that it gets deleted from the server as well. The messages that I leave in my inbox appear on both of my computers, which is exactly what I wanted.
Those of you who recommended that I get a G-mail account or switch to Outlook weren't helping me to solve my problem. You were trying to get me to avoid the problem. But I didn't want to avoid the problem; I wanted to solve the problem. One of the things young philosophers learn is to accept problems as they are framed and to solve them as simply as possible. (It's an application of Ockham's Razor.) For example, if I ask how evil is compatible with an all-powerful, all-knowing, perfectly good being, it is evasive to say that evil doesn't exist. The problem, as posed, assumes that evil exists and asks how there can be a being with those properties. Another (more homely) example is this: Suppose my car won't start and I ask you for help. The last thing you should do is tell me to buy a new car. I don't want a new car. I want my existing car fixed. A third example: You should not kill an ant with a cannon. Yes, a cannon will kill an ant, but so will a pea shooter. A fourth example comes from the law. A judge should decide a case on the narrowest possible ground. Don't decide a case on constitutional grounds if you can decide it on statutory grounds. You should always solve problems as simply and as easily as possible.
I love Outlook Express. I don't want any other e-mail program.
