Emails diverted to Drafts folder

[Anna]

Windows Mail: I'm seeing incoming mail going into the Drafts folder, and
outgoing mail saved to the Drafts folder. Not all mail, but a lot of it.
The same is happening in Windows 7 with Live Mail using a POP3 ISP
account, not Hotmail.

On the computers on which I've seen it, it's a relatively recent problem
that didn't exist before. Possibly related to some Windows Update?

I have some very irritated people badgering me about this and just can't
find an answer. Any light on the subject would be warmly welcomed.

 

[Gary VanderMolen [MVP]]

I have not heard of this particular problem before. If it was caused by
Windows Update, we'd be seeing many more reports like yours.

Which antivirus are you running? Some of them cause problems with
Windows Mail over time. Make sure your antivirus is not configured to
scan emails. As a test, you should also temporarily disable any third
party security software and downloaded toolbars, just to see if it makes
a difference.

What do you mean by "Live Mail", Windows Live Hotmail or Windows Live Mail?

 

[Anna]

I have not heard of this particular problem before. If it was caused by
Windows Update, we'd be seeing many more reports like yours.

Which antivirus are you running? Some of them cause problems with
Windows Mail over time. Make sure your antivirus is not configured to
scan emails. As a test, you should also temporarily disable any third
party security software and downloaded toolbars, just to see if it makes
a difference.

What do you mean by "Live Mail", Windows Live Hotmail or Windows Live Mail?

Thank you so much for responding. I'm sorry to have taken time to get
back to you, but I needed to contact the people concerned, get them to
disable email scanning and test the result for a few days. I'm sorry to
say, it has made no difference to incoming/outgoing email being diverted
to Drafts.

To address your points:

I appreciate that if a Windows Update were the cause, you would have
seen more comments about it.

The people concerned aren't all using the same antivirus program. Mostly
AVG or Avast.

None of them has any third-party browser toolbars. I know this because I
look after their computers and make sure they don't!

None of them has any further security software except Windows Defender
installed by default.

One has a computer barely one month old, which doesn't quite comply with
problems between Windows Mail and antivirus arising 'over time'

By "Live Mail" I meant Windows Live Mail configured to use an ISP POP3
account.

I do realise this is a very obscure and seemingly rare problem. In a lot
of googling I've seen only a few references to it, and none of the
technical groups to which I'm subscribed can come up with a solution,
but it's a major headache! If I can't find any answer, I guess my best
option is to switch those users over to another email program, such as
the one I use which has never exhibited such strange behaviour.

 

[Gary VanderMolen [MVP]]

Thanks for your very thorough responses.

I assume you've looked for message rules that could divert incoming
emails to other folders. One thing you might try is to create a new
folder called Incoming, then create a message rule that diverts all
incoming messages to the new Incoming folder.

I'm not at all certain that an antivirus program could cause this
peculiar problem, but I've run out of ideas as to what else might cause it.
I do know that antivirus email scanning can cause some bizarre problems.
Both Avast and AVG by default install mail scanning modules. Although
those can ostensibly be turned off, the bad side effects can continue.
A solution that is effective is to uninstall the antivirus, reboot, then reinstall,
but select 'custom' install, which then allows you to unselect installing the
troublesome mail scanning module. Another option is to switch to a free
antivirus that is 100% compatible:
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

 

[Anna]

Thanks for your very thorough responses.

I assume you've looked for message rules that could divert incoming
emails to other folders. One thing you might try is to create a new
folder called Incoming, then create a message rule that diverts all
incoming messages to the new Incoming folder.

I'm not at all certain that an antivirus program could cause this
peculiar problem, but I've run out of ideas as to what else might cause it.
I do know that antivirus email scanning can cause some bizarre problems.
Both Avast and AVG by default install mail scanning modules. Although
those can ostensibly be turned off, the bad side effects can continue.
A solution that is effective is to uninstall the antivirus, reboot, then reinstall,
but select 'custom' install, which then allows you to unselect installing the
troublesome mail scanning module. Another option is to switch to a free
antivirus that is 100% compatible:
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Thank you again. Yes, about the first thing I looked at was message
rules, there are none. Creating a new Incoming folder, with appropriate
rule, might solve the problem of incoming mail being diverted to Drafts,
but it wouldn't solve the problem of outgoing mail being saved to Drafts
rather than the Sent folder.

I'm not at all certain that an antivirus program could cause this
peculiar problem, but I've run out of ideas as to what else might cause it.

What refreshing honesty!

I will pursue your other suggestions, and I do appreciate your efforts,
but it will take some time for me to do it and report back. Personally I
think some gremlin has taken against me for my sinful ways and delivered
me customers with a problem nobody else has!

 

[Gary VanderMolen [MVP]]

You're very welcome. Thanks for reporting back.

 

[Kåre helland]

Thank you so much for responding. I'm sorry to have taken time to get
back to you, but I needed to contact the people concerned, get them to
disable email scanning and test the result for a few days. I'm sorry to
say, it has made no difference to incoming/outgoing email being diverted
to Drafts.

To address your points:

I appreciate that if a Windows Update were the cause, you would have
seen more comments about it.

The people concerned aren't all using the same antivirus program. Mostly
AVG or Avast.

None of them has any third-party browser toolbars. I know this because I
look after their computers and make sure they don't!

None of them has any further security software except Windows Defender
installed by default.

One has a computer barely one month old, which doesn't quite comply with
problems between Windows Mail and antivirus arising 'over time'

By "Live Mail" I meant Windows Live Mail configured to use an ISP POP3
account.

I do realise this is a very obscure and seemingly rare problem. In a lot
of googling I've seen only a few references to it, and none of the
technical groups to which I'm subscribed can come up with a solution,
but it's a major headache! If I can't find any answer, I guess my best
option is to switch those users over to another email program, such as
the one I use which has never exhibited such strange behaviour.