Digitally signed emails in Outlook Express

How to set up Outlook Express for digitally signing emails

Getting individual email certificate from an authority (skip this if you already have one)

You can obtain a certificate from several certificate authorities; some of them issue free certificates while others offer paid-for ones. We suggest you use Comodo Group to get a free certificate (valid for one year).

• Getting a certificate from Comodo authority:
  1. Open the link http://www.comodo.com/, then click "Email security certificate"; on a new window click "Get your free email cert now" (or you can just follow the link https://secure.comodo.com/products/frontpage?area=SecureEmailCertificate)
  2. Fill up the required fields, then click "Agree and continue"
  3. A little later you will receive an email from Comodo Group; click "Click & Install Comodo Email Certificate" in the body of the message - your email certificate will be installed on Outlook Express automatically.

• Getting a certificate from the Outlook Express
  1. Start Outlook Express
  2. Select "Tools" -- "Options" -- "Security"
  3. Click "Get Digital ID..." and follow the instructions.

Note, certificate obtained from Comodo Group as described above is installed automatically.

Installing your email security certificate manually in the case you already have your own certificate and just want to install it on Outlook Express

1. Start Outlook Express
2. Go under "Tools" -- "Options" -- "Security" and there click "Digital IDs..."
3. Click "Import" to start Certificate Import Wizard, then follow the instructions to specify an appropriate certificate file and settings. If you are not sure about the settings, defaults will do just fine.

Digitally signing email messages

1. Compose an email message as usual
2. Click "Sign" button (if you cannot find the button, use "Tools" -- "Sign" on the menu)  to digitally sign the message
3. If everything has been done correctly, a red ribbon appears on the right of the "To" field
4. Click "Send"