problem win2000 remembering password

Hi, I've installed win2000 and sp1 and ie5.5 on my Compaq Armada E500 since last
week. Everything works more or less ok, apart from the fact, that the computer
apparently does not save/remember my password of my Outlook Express account. When
Iopen OE, the first message is "OE is not your default mail client", even when I
click yes, and check it in the options, if I restart OE, I get again the same
message. Secondly, the second message is "the server has rejected your login", so
I enter my email password and check "save password", and then it works, I even
tried recreating the account, and I'm sure that the password I entered at account
creation is correct, however, when I restart OE, I get "server ejected login".
Relatedproblem, when starting IE5.5, I always get the prompt " enter proxy user
name and password, even when I click "remember password", and I restatr IE, I have to type the pwd again.

So, in short, he's not remembering anything.
I only have this inwindows 2000, not in NT4, not in 98.
Can anyone please help me with this one.
Many thanks in advance.