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General discussion

Outlook Express 6 - Known problem?

Apr 23, 2004 12:42AM PDT

Problem: Recently I noticed that Outlook Express 6 stopped displaying anything in the preview pane. Also, when I open an email, no body copy is displayed. I've found that I can at least gain access to the email's subject matter by going through the properties setting. Not very glorious, but at least it allowed me to see an otherwise "un-viewable" email.

Environment: My home system uses Win 98. Internet connection is a cable modem with router/firewall. Email is provided by my local cable company.

I updated everything that I could via Windows/Microsoft. No luck in correcting the problem. So I called my cable company/Internet provider. They said they have received many calls about this but that they have neither a solid answer regarding why this is happening nor a "fix". I tend to believe them that the issue is NOT with the IP since I've been able to successfully use their (albeit, crude) remote email viewer utility. To further prove the theory, I downloaded Eudora 6.1 to see if the emails would display and they did.

I checked Microsofts knowledge base and the OE home page but it said nothing about a known problem. I checked via Google to see if I could pick up any buzz, nothing. I have even glanced through the forums here and there is no word of similar experience. So my question is.......has anyone else experienced anything similar to the described situation, and if so, can you elaborate on what might be happening?

Thanks in advance.
Gary D

Discussion is locked

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Re:Outlook Express 6 - Known problem?
Apr 23, 2004 4:54AM PDT

Gary,

First of all, because of the large number of viruses that will automatically enable when the "Preview Pane" is use, it's not safe to use the "Preview Pane" at all. Most users no longer use it because of safety issues.

That said, do you have the settings changed for the "Preview Pane" so its' not "downloading automatically"? Check this: Open Outlook Express, click on 'Tools", then "Options". Click on the "Read" tab and make sure there is a CHECK mark in the "Automatically download message when viewing in the Preview Pane". Click on "Apply", then OK.

HOpe this helps.

Grif

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And If That Doesn't Help...
Apr 23, 2004 5:12AM PDT

GAry,

It sounds like you need to uninstall, then reinstall Outlook Express. Try doing it like this;

Remove Outlook Express via the Control Panel, Add/Remove Software and scroll to Outlook Express 6 and click Remove. Reboot the machine. Shut down all running programs, particularly virus checkers, crash
protectors, etc., and do a Ctrl-Al-Del and End Task on everything except Systray and Explorer (may have to do multiple times since some programs are persistent). Then open Control Panel, Add/Remove Software and
scroll to Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and Tools and click Remove. From the popup menu, select Add a Component and choose Outlook Express. After the re-install is complete, reboot and check to see if the problem goes away. Your mail and settings should remain intact. If you can't reinstall using this method, you can do it from the Internet Explorer 6 link below and do a "custom" install and select for Outlook Express only.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/critical/ie6sp1/download.asp

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Re:And If That Doesn't Help...
Apr 23, 2004 6:59AM PDT

Grif,

Many thanks for responding and for the tips. I had already tried option #1 on my own without success. Before I uninstalled OE I wanted to make sure that I had one working email porgram (Eudora). Now that I have that, I'll feel safer trying your uninstall/re-install method. I wasn't aware of the preview pane being a security hole (until recently) so I'll disable this feature going forward.

Again.....many thanks.

Gary D