Whenever you receive a new e-mail with Outlook 2003, a pop-up Desktop Alert near the right side of the Windows Taskbar appears, providing you with a brief synopsis of the e-mail and a quick opportunity to click the e-mail to read its contents. However, this notification appears in a semi-transparent block, making it hard for some people to read the e-mail synopsis. To remove this transparency from Outlook 2003:

1. Click "Tools", selecting "Options".

2. When the "Options" multi-tabbed dialog box appears, click the "Preferences" tab.

3. Click the "E-Mail Options" button.

4. When the "E-Mail Options" dialog box appears, click "Advanced E-Mail Options".

5. When the "Advanced E-Mail Options" dialog appears, click "Desktop Alert Settings".

6. When the "Desktop Alert Settings" dialog appears, move the "Transparency" slider all the way to the left ("Solid").

7. Click the "Preview" button, if desired, to preview your settings.

8. Click "OK" on the four dialog boxes to close them.

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