Customize Outlook Express Start Page

The initial screen that you see in Outlook Express will show you how many new e-mail messages you have together some other basic information. What you might not know is that this Outlook Express startup screen is actually an HTML page.

The best news is that you can customize this startup page in Outlook Express. You can change it to any webpage you want, including an actual online internet page. Customizing Outlook Express for a different startup page requires you to follow the next steps:

1. From the Windows Start menu, select Run. In the Run box, type regedit and click OK.
2. In the Registry Editor, locate the following key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\<UNIQUE NUMBER>\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0
3. From the Edit menu, select New and pick String Value (SZ).
4. Enter FrontPagePath as the Name for the new value.
5. Double-click the new FrontPagePath value, and enter the path for the HTML page.
6. Next, click OK.
7. Close the Registry Editor.
8. Select Exit from the File menu.

Note: If you specify an internet page as the Outlook Express startup page, you need to realize that your internet connection needs to be active when starting Outlook Express. This will normally be the case, since you intent on checking e-mail or RSS feeds, but it is good to realize this in case of problems.
The speed of the internet connection can also have an impact on the startup speed for Outlook Express if you use an internet startup page. If the page is loading slow, it can delay the Outlook Express startup time.