Black screen in Windows Mail

[Pepper]

I have recently begun having problems with email. When I open Windows Mail,
I sometimes get a black screen. Sometimes when I open a message, I get a
partially black screen or a blank distorted window. Could this be the
result of low RAM? Or, is something else happening?

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Pepper,

More information is needed. Is this black screen the full screen or just the
window? Does it do it every time or just intermittently? Are you able to
recover by closing it or do you need to shut down a restart the system? Have
you made any recent changes to your system? What antivirus product is
installed and is email scanning enabled?

It's probbably not low ram. It's more likely to be either interference from
another program or corrupt system files. That interference could be in the
form of a virus or other malware, so a full system scan in safe mode would
be a wise idea as a precaution.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Pepper]

Thank you for your response. The black is just in the window, not the full
screen. It does happen intermittently and is usually resolved by rebooting.
My computer company has done an automated computer check and not detected any
problems with it. I scan regularly for viruses and spyware. I have McAfee
Security Center and Spy Sweeper for MSN. I also run Super Antispyware Free
Edition every couple of weeks. Email scanning is enabled. I have made no
changes to my system recently.
--
Thank you for your help.
Pepper

Hi Pepper,

More information is needed. Is this black screen the full screen or just the
window? Does it do it every time or just intermittently? Are you able to
recover by closing it or do you need to shut down a restart the system? Have
you made any recent changes to your system? What antivirus product is
installed and is email scanning enabled?

It's probbably not low ram. It's more likely to be either interference from
another program or corrupt system files. That interference could be in the
form of a virus or other malware, so a full system scan in safe mode would
be a wise idea as a precaution.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Pepper,

These are the steps I would take:

a) Update your video drivers to the most recent release from the
manufacturer. Do not rely on Windows Update for this.

b) Disable email scanning in the antivirus solution temporarily. Sometimes
these routines are the cause, not the cure, for email issues.

c) Open an elevated command prompt and run "sfc /scannow". To open one, type
CMD into the start/search line, then right click the entry that appears in
the start menu and select the option to 'run as admin'.

d) Make sure the scans you are running are done after restarting in Safe
mode. If you run them in normal mode they can easily miss active malware
that is running and masking itself from detection.

e) As it's intermittent, I would watch for any coinciding incidents or
commonalities. What I mean by this is seeing if this problem reoccurs after
running a spyware scan, or after a certain program is used.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

Thank you for your response. The black is just in the window, not the
full
screen. It does happen intermittently and is usually resolved by
rebooting.
My computer company has done an automated computer check and not detected
any
problems with it. I scan regularly for viruses and spyware. I have
McAfee
Security Center and Spy Sweeper for MSN. I also run Super Antispyware
Free
Edition every couple of weeks. Email scanning is enabled. I have made no
changes to my system recently.

 

[uvbogden]

McAfee Security Center does spyware/malware scanning along with virus
scanning. Running other spyware/malware programs along with McAfee can cause
conflicts and problems. You should also look at your Repair Vista Options.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/101393-repair-vista-options-preferred-sequence.html

 

[Pepper]

Your suggestions were helpful. I suspected that it was a bad idea to run the
other antispyware programs along with the McAfee, but I was following someone
else's advice. I shut them down and have not had a problem thus far today,
so they may have been the culprit. I added the website you suggested for
repairing Vista to my IE favorites and will try that later if needed. You
said that I should run all my scans in safe mofe, but McAfee won't open in
that. I followed the detailed steps you gave to open the elevated command
prompt (in safe mode), but when I got to the part about running
"sfc/scannow", I realized that I don't know how to make it "run". What
exactly to I type in the command prompt box?

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Pepper,

To run that from the prompt, simply type:

sfc /scannow

and hit <enter>.

I find it odd that McAfee won't run in safe mode, as that is usually a basic
troubleshooting step. I do not and have not used McAfee's software in many
years as I find it to be far too much an encumbrance to good system
performance. If it won't run in Safe mode, then that to me is just one more
reason not to use it.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Pepper]

After starting that system scan, I got a message saying that corrupted files
were found & that Windows was unable to repair some of them. I contacted a
Dell tech, and he was able to fix my registry. Thank you so much for
informing me of that useful tool and for explaining things in a manner I
could understand!