Outlook Express 6 start up issues

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leoliver - 29 Nov 2007 20:06 GMT

Hi Everybody,

When I start Outlook Express 6 (Win XP Pro SP2), "task manger" shows 2
instances of Outlook Express 6 in the non-responding mode. Then one Outlook
Express disappears and the other is running fine.
Also, I found 2- sets of .dbx folders, one is in "application data ( local
settings)" that contains nothing but empty folders, the other in
"application data" which contains the folder information and also is linked
to Outlook Express as the "store folder" .

When I ran msimn.exe in the "Process Explorer" utility, it translated
several possible error messages about missing .dll files , libraries failing
to initialize and two instances of Outlook Express running. I checked and all
of the .dll files are in the Outlook Express program files folder. Of course
some maybe corrupted ?
I think the problem maybe Outlook Express trying start it's self twice.
Because after just one program starts running Outlook Express runs OK.
Would it be safe to delete the empty .dbx folders ? Could duplicate .dbx
folders cause Outlook Express to try and start two programs at once?
Your feedback will be appreciated. Many of the on line Outlook Express
trouble shooting guides are for Outlook Express 5.
Thanks!

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your friend,
Larry

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Michael Santovec - 29 Nov 2007 23:21 GMT

Empty DBX files are approximately 59 KB. IF the dates on the presumably
unused DBX files are not recent, then you can probably delete them
without any consequences.

Having an extra set of DBX files would NOT cause an extra copy of OE to
run or slow down your start up.

Is your anti-virus set to scan e-mail? That could cause the problem
that you are seeing.

As long as your anti-virus software is set to scan files as they are
opened, scanning e-mail as it downloads or sends is unnecessary and
prone to problems.

With some anti-virus (and anti-spam) programs, simply disabling the
e-mail scanning function doesn't really disable it. It simply tells the
program not to flag any messages. It still processes all the messages
and may still cause send/receive failures. What you may need to do is
uninstall the anti-virus program, then reinstall it using a custom
install option and unselect the e-mail scanning component for
installation.

Signature

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm

> Hi Everybody,
>
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
> trouble shooting guides are for Outlook Express 5.
> Thanks!

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PA Bear - 29 Nov 2007 23:59 GMT

Your current Identity may be damaged, especially if its the default Main
Identity. Try one or more of your accounts in a new Named Identity (File >
Identities > Add new identity). Assuming all is well, (1) compact all
folders in the old identity, (2) import messages from the old identity into
the new one, and then (3) delete the old one (File > Identities > Manage
Identities).

To avoid such corruption in future:

- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

- Disable Background Compacting [not available in SP2] and frequently
perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

- WinXP SP2 only: Do not shut down your machine while Windows is
automatically compacting your message store.

- Your anti-virus application's email scanning feature can also cause such
corruption. Disable it. It provides no additional protection.

Signature

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)
AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
DTS-L.ORG http://66.39.69.143/

> When I start Outlook Express 6 (Win XP Pro SP2), "task manger" shows 2
> instances of Outlook Express 6 in the non-responding mode. Then one
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> trouble shooting guides are for Outlook Express 5.
> Thanks!

Reply to this Message