Outlook Express

[burntout]

I have windows XP, with IE 8 and Outlook Express 6. For months now when I

first open OE it freezes for several minutes. There is no repair option in

either OE or IE 8. There is no particular email preventing OE from starting,

and my computer does not have any virus. The only issue I have is when first

opening OE. I have seen so many posting about this. Some require such

complicated repairs I cannot understand them, and others say all emails must

be deleted. Is there a way to repair this issue without losing all my

emails? If I click on any of the folders within OE, it says ( not

responding) and takes several more minutes to open AFTER asking if I want to

send an error report.

 

[Bruce Hagen]

[Crossposted to OE General]



This has nothing to do with Internet Explorer.



Start here.



When OE crashes or won't start:

http://www.insideoe.com/problems/errors.htm#crash



When you get it open, do a little repair work.



1: Do not archive mail in the Inbox or Sent Items. Create your own user

defined folders and move the messages you wish to save to them. Empty

Deleted Items folder daily. Although dbx files have a theoretical capacity

of 2GB, I recommend about a 300MB max for less chance of corruption.



Information about the maximum file size of the .dbx files that are used by

Outlook Express:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=903095



2: After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually while

working *offline* and do it often.



Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders are

open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in the

Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything

until the compacting is completed.



3: Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant

layer of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems

such as time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program

will continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:

http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3



For some programs, turning it off is not enough. You may have to uninstall

it and reinstall in Custom Mode and opt out of e-mail scanning when

offered.

--

Bruce Hagen

MS-MVP [Mail]

Imperial Beach, CA





"burntout" wrote in message

news:545AE6CD-B785-4477-97A9-1AC5DB34C846@microsoft.com...

>I have windows XP, with IE 8 and Outlook Express 6. For months now when

>I

> first open OE it freezes for several minutes. There is no repair option

> in

> either OE or IE 8. There is no particular email preventing OE from

> starting,

> and my computer does not have any virus. The only issue I have is when

> first

> opening OE. I have seen so many posting about this. Some require such

> complicated repairs I cannot understand them, and others say all emails

> must

> be deleted. Is there a way to repair this issue without losing all my

> emails? If I click on any of the folders within OE, it says ( not

> responding) and takes several more minutes to open AFTER asking if I

> want to

> send an error report.