Serious Outlook Problem

[Dianah]

Help!
Outlook 2003 is behaving badly.

Outlook opens, and downloads emails, but I can't send, forward reply to or
open emails. The only thing I can do is read my emails through the preview
pane.

I've tried a repair and took Word off as the word processor and rebooted,
but it didn't help.

My virus software is up to date. It's a good thing my outlook express is
still working.

Can someone help?
Thanks.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

What error do you get when you try to send?

--
Roady [MVP]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Creating Signatures
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[Roady [MVP]]

Do you have any add-ins installed? Does is work when you use Outlook in safe
mode? To do this start Outlook by using Start-> Run and add the /safe
switch.

--
Roady [MVP]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Creating Signatures
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

 

[Dianah]

I have Qurb spam blocker. It loads with my Outlook.
Diana

message Do you have any add-ins installed? Does is work when you use Outlook in safe
mode? To do this start Outlook by using Start-> Run and add the /safe
switch.

--
Roady [MVP]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Creating Signatures
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

 

[Dianah]

Roady ... the safe switch worked.

I can't remember how to disable the spam blocker. Can you point me to where
I disable it.

I don't mind disabling and reinstalled or whatever. There might even be an
update to it. It's a good product ... this is the first time I've noticed
any problems, but it's obviously the culprit.

message Do you have any add-ins installed? Does is work when you use Outlook in safe
mode? To do this start Outlook by using Start-> Run and add the /safe
switch.

--
Roady [MVP]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Creating Signatures
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

 

[Dianah]

ps ..

the /safe did not disable anything (help, about ... disabled items), but it
allowed me to open emails ... any thoughts. I also (few minutes ago) ran a
repair, right from the CD but it didnt' help. When I reload without the
safe switch, the problem returns.

Maybe I should do a complete reinstall?
Diana



message Do you have any add-ins installed? Does is work when you use Outlook in safe
mode? To do this start Outlook by using Start-> Run and add the /safe
switch.

--
Roady [MVP]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Creating Signatures
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

 

[Dianah]

ok Rody
I uninstalled Qurb (spam filter software) and rebooted, but it didn't help.
I'll leave Qurb uninstalled for now ... until I get this working. It's
frustrating to not be able to use my outlook. I use OE for the newsgroups,
but, like many others, the reply email address that I use for it is bogus,
because of the incredible amount of spam that resulted from using the Real
McCoy. So, I'll use webmail to send email.

I now plan to uninstall the office and reinstall, but I'll wait until you
reply with something miraculous that might fix it without having to do it.
I don't mind having to uninstall/reinstall, but I have lots of work to do
right now and would prefer not to, but if that's what it'll take, that's
what I'll do.

Catch you later. Thanks again for your help.
Diana

message Do you have any add-ins installed? Does is work when you use Outlook in safe
mode? To do this start Outlook by using Start-> Run and add the /safe
switch.

--
Roady [MVP]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Creating Signatures
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Wow, you've took massive action already ;-)

Re-installing doesn't delete (much) settings.

See if the add-in ins't listed anymore in Tools-> Options-> tab Other->
button Advanced Options-> button Add-In Manager... and/or COM Add-Ins

In addition to that you might need to rename outcmd.dat and extend.dat to
outcmd.old and extend.old to reset the Toolbar and Add-In settings

You should get it to work now!

--
Roady [MVP]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Creating Signatures
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

 

[Roady [MVP]]

You're welcome!

--
Roady [MVP]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Creating Signatures
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

 

[Guest]

I've been following your prob with hope - I have same problem with not being able to send, but I can receive and open emails . Can also do both from OE from the same server I can't reach from Outlook. Disabled add-ins, rebooted, but no luck, still can't send. Checked with ISP, etc. all settings correct. Help? I'm down going on a week

----- Roady [MVP] wrote: ----

You're welcome! :-

--
Roady [MVP
www.howto-outlook.co

Tips of the month
-Creating Signature
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack

----

Yes, I did take a lot of action and wanted to let you know, so that yo
didn't waste time explaining what I already knew

Here's the scoop

1. Renaming outcmd.dat did not hel
2. Thanks for the steps to find the add-ins - there were three (see th
print screen of them pasted in this message)

I'm glad I waited until you replied. I disabled all three of the add-in

and everything tested ok. I added back the a/v add-in and am elated that
i
wasn't the culprit! I then added the others back, one at a time, an
Outlook continued to behave normally. Whatever it was - must have bee
related to those add-ins. Something obviously got reset, when I disabled
then enabled them. I re-disable the Exchange Extensions property pages
an
the Fax Server Extension. I don't believe I need them for my purposes a
home

You were so right about the reinstall ... didn't change a thing
Soooooo .... thanks so much, roady. You were a great help. Everything i

happy again!!
Diani
message Wow, you've took massive action already ;-

Re-installing doesn't delete (much) settings
See if the add-in ins't listed anymore in Tools-> Options-> tab Other->> button Advanced Options-> button Add-In Manager... and/or COM Add-In
In addition to that you might need to rename outcmd.dat and extend.dat t

outcmd.old and extend.old to reset the Toolbar and Add-In setting

You should get it to work now! :-
--

Roady [MVP
www.howto-outlook.co

Tips of the month

-Creating Signature
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack

----

ok Rod
I uninstalled Qurb (spam filter software) and rebooted, but it didn'
help
I'll leave Qurb uninstalled for now ... until I get this working. It'
frustrating to not be able to use my outlook. I use OE for th
newsgroups
but, like many others, the reply email address that I use for it is
bogus
because of the incredible amount of spam that resulted from using the
Rea
McCoy. So, I'll use webmail to send email

I now plan to uninstall the office and reinstall, but I'll wait until yo

reply with something miraculous that might fix it without having to do
it
I don't mind having to uninstall/reinstall, but I have lots of work to d
right now and would prefer not to, but if that's what it'll take, that'
what I'll do

Catch you later. Thanks again for your help Dian
"Roady [MVP]" <newsgroups_DELETE_@_DELETE_sparnaaij_NO_._SPAM_net> wrot

i
message Do you have any add-ins installed? Does is work when you use Outlook i
saf
mode? To do this start Outlook by using Start-> Run and add the /saf
switch

--

Roady [MVP
www.howto-outlook.co

Tips of the month:

-Creating Signatures
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

-----

I don't get any errors ... that's the wierd part of it all. However, I
just
realized that a new screen does sort of open, but I can't get at it.
When
I
click onto outlook in my taskbar, I can see that there's a new message,
and
there's a message I tried to open, but it won't display on the screen.
I
see that the same thing is happening when I try to open an email. It's
showing up in the outlook group, in the task bar, but I can't get at it.
I'll put a paste of an error in my event viewer that relates to outlook.
If
it helps, I also compacted my email, in case it was misrepresented. I'm
mystified by this. I hope that something I wrote here will help. This
is
most frustrating. By the way, Word does open and seems to be working
ok.
I
use Word (2003) as my wordprocessor for Outlook, and I had disabled it,
in
case it was the problem, but it doesn't appear to be the problem.
Thanks if you can offer any suggestions. Diana
in
message --
Roady [MVP]
www.howto-outlook.com
Tips of the month:
-Creating Signatures
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3
-----
Help!
Outlook 2003 is behaving badly.
Outlook opens, and downloads emails, but I can't send, forward reply to
or
open emails. The only thing I can do is read my emails through the
preview
pane.
I've tried a repair and took Word off as the word processor and
rebooted,
but it didn't help.
My virus software is up to date. It's a good thing my outlook express
is
still working.
Can someone help?
Thanks.

 

[Dianah]

Richard,
After getting my outlook working, my outlook express stopped working. It
wouldn't even display. It would show the flash screen, then sit on the task
bar. This started last night. I tried everything ... downloaded OE6 from
MS site, reinstalled. Uninstalled from windows component ... nuttin'.

This evening I just remembered that I had disabled my A/V software from
checking my emails (incoming/outgoing). I re-enabled it and my outlook
express is now working.

You might want to try disabling then re-enabling. Maybe it'll help you. I
know your frustration. Good luck. Diana

I've been following your prob with hope - I have same problem with not being
able to send, but I can receive and open emails . Can also do both from OE
from the same server I can't reach from Outlook. Disabled add-ins,
rebooted, but no luck, still can't send. Checked with ISP, etc. all
settings correct. Help? I'm down going on a week.

----- Roady [MVP] wrote: -----

You're welcome!

--
Roady [MVP]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Creating Signatures
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

-----

Yes, I did take a lot of action and wanted to let you know, so that you
didn't waste time explaining what I already knew.
1. Renaming outcmd.dat did not help
2. Thanks for the steps to find the add-ins - there were three (see the
print screen of them pasted in this message). add-ins
and everything tested ok. I added back the a/v add-in and am elated that
it
wasn't the culprit! I then added the others back, one at a time, and
Outlook continued to behave normally. Whatever it was - must have been
related to those add-ins. Something obviously got reset, when I disabled,
then enabled them. I re-disable the Exchange Extensions property pages
and
the Fax Server Extension. I don't believe I need them for my purposes at
home. Everything is
happy again!!!
Diana

in
message Wow, you've took massive action already ;-)

Other->> button Advanced Options-> button Add-In Manager... and/or COM
Add-Ins

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the support, I already had outgoing disabled and have tried disabling Norton completely, but still nothing. I'm praying for an answer..

Richard

 

[Brian Tillman]

I've been following your prob with hope - I have same problem with
not being able to send, but I can receive and open emails . Can also
do both from OE from the same server I can't reach from Outlook.
Disabled add-ins, rebooted, but no luck, still can't send. Checked
with ISP, etc. all settings correct. Help? I'm down going on a
week.

Are you properly authenticating to your outbound server?

 

[Brian Tillman]

After getting my outlook working, my outlook express stopped working.
It wouldn't even display. It would show the flash screen, then sit
on the task bar. This started last night. I tried everything ...
downloaded OE6 from MS site, reinstalled. Uninstalled from windows
component ... nuttin'.

This evening I just remembered that I had disabled my A/V software
from checking my emails (incoming/outgoing). I re-enabled it and my
outlook express is now working.

You really don't need to integrate your A/V with your outgoing Email, since
your have an real-time scanner always watching your file accesses.

 

[Dianah]

Brian, I'm quite curious about your statement and a little afraid to believe
.... no insult intended ... just a little scared to remove it.

When I open email that's got a virus attached to it ... my A/V tells me
before I even open the email ... as it arrives.
If I disable the email scan, will my A/V program tell me before I try to
access the infected file ... does that make sense. I don't want to open an
infected file, then be told it contains a virus.

Thanks for you feedback Brian.
Diana

After getting my outlook working, my outlook express stopped working.
It wouldn't even display. It would show the flash screen, then sit
on the task bar. This started last night. I tried everything ...
downloaded OE6 from MS site, reinstalled. Uninstalled from windows
component ... nuttin'.

This evening I just remembered that I had disabled my A/V software
from checking my emails (incoming/outgoing). I re-enabled it and my
outlook express is now working.

You really don't need to integrate your A/V with your outgoing Email, since
your have an real-time scanner always watching your file accesses.

 

[Brian Tillman]

If I disable the email scan, will my A/V program tell me before I try
to access the infected file ... does that make sense. I don't want
to open an infected file, then be told it contains a virus.

It doesn't warn you before you try to access it. It warns you when the file
is placed on disk. For example, if you receive a message with a ".scr"
attachment and had no mail scanner, but did have an on-access (or real-time)
scanner, then when you try to save the attachment, you'd be warned.
Likewise, if you were to try to open it, the attachement would be
automatically saved to a temporary location and then you'd be warned.

The best practice is never open ANY attachment within mail. If you don't
recognize the sender, delete the message. If you don't recognize the
attachment file type, delete the message. Otherwise, ALWAYS attempt to save
it to disk first so that your on-access scanner has a chance to review it.

 

[Dianah]

Absolutely Brian ... I delete all suspicious email and don't open suspicious
attachments. I have third party spam filter working and my ISP also has a
filter, so I've got double-duty trimming most of the suspects ... right at
the get-go.

On opening email attachment before saving them ... I'm definitely guilty. I
only open from known senders, however, I know that, that's anything but
foolproof! With me wanting to continue this practice (because I get so
much email), although I really do see your point, well made and taken,
perhaps I'll leave the email scanner in place ... at least for now. I'll
certainly give your suggestion some deserved consideration. It's probably
the safest way to go ...

Thanks again.

If I disable the email scan, will my A/V program tell me before I try
to access the infected file ... does that make sense. I don't want
to open an infected file, then be told it contains a virus.

It doesn't warn you before you try to access it. It warns you when the file
is placed on disk. For example, if you receive a message with a ".scr"
attachment and had no mail scanner, but did have an on-access (or real-time)
scanner, then when you try to save the attachment, you'd be warned.
Likewise, if you were to try to open it, the attachement would be
automatically saved to a temporary location and then you'd be warned.

The best practice is never open ANY attachment within mail. If you don't
recognize the sender, delete the message. If you don't recognize the
attachment file type, delete the message. Otherwise, ALWAYS attempt to save
it to disk first so that your on-access scanner has a chance to review it.