Erratic Windows Mail Behaviour

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Windows Mail has always behaved erratically since it was started on my Dell
Vista machine. After transferring all my old Outlook Express messages to
Mail, the program would do things such as not display the contents of folders
or keep saying there was nothing in folders when there was, etc.

I came across a third party shareware utility program called WMUtil from the
OEHelp.com website that was designed to repair corrupted Mail databases.
This corrected the problem for awhile but I would still have to run the
utility every three weeks or so. Now, after about five months of this, the
utility doesn't help all that much and Mail becomes more erratic. At times
it would not even send or receive messages. The only way to get it working
again would be to get out of Mail and run the program again, sometimes three
or four times.

Is there any permanent solution to this problem?

If not, are there other e-mail programs that run on Vista that are a better
substitute to Mail?

Thanks,
Ed
 
As always, you need to correct the root cause for the problem first.
Otherwise the same thing will keep happening over and over again.

Windows Mail is not compatible with most McAfee
and Norton security programs. Those will need to be
uninstalled, not just disabled.

After uninstalling your non-compatible antivirus, download
and install a more compatible antivirus like the free Avast:
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

Even compatible antivirus programs will need to have their
email scanning option turned off. For more on this topic see
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3
 
Ed from Ottawa said:
Windows Mail has always behaved erratically since it was started on my
Dell
Vista machine. After transferring all my old Outlook Express messages to
Mail, the program would do things such as not display the contents of
folders
or keep saying there was nothing in folders when there was, etc.

I came across a third party shareware utility program called WMUtil from
the
OEHelp.com website that was designed to repair corrupted Mail databases.
This corrected the problem for awhile but I would still have to run the
utility every three weeks or so. Now, after about five months of this,
the
utility doesn't help all that much and Mail becomes more erratic. At
times
it would not even send or receive messages. The only way to get it
working
again would be to get out of Mail and run the program again, sometimes
three
or four times.

Is there any permanent solution to this problem?

If not, are there other e-mail programs that run on Vista that are a
better
substitute to Mail?

Thanks,
Ed
Click to expand...
This fix replaces most of what WMUtil did, and should be downloaded
and installed with Windows Mail not running:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/941090

Although it's labelled as for mail stuck in the Outbox, it also
works in other folders. If you don't know whether to use
the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version, try the 32-bit
version first. Many common antivirus programs, such
as most of those from Norton or McAfee, or a recent
one from Trend, keep bringing problems back in
Windows Mail and need to be uninstalled for a
permanent solution.

You may also need to delete your email account in
Windows Mail, restart it, and then recreate the
account. This gets rid of some problems the
antivirus programs leave behind.

If even this is not enough, you can download and
install Windows Live Mail:

http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview
 
[email protected] said:
This fix replaces most of what WMUtil did, and should be downloaded
and installed with Windows Mail not running:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/941090

Although it's labelled as for mail stuck in the Outbox, it also
works in other folders. If you don't know whether to use
the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version, try the 32-bit
version first. Many common antivirus programs, such
as most of those from Norton or McAfee, or a recent
one from Trend, keep bringing problems back in
Windows Mail and need to be uninstalled for a
permanent solution.

You may also need to delete your email account in
Windows Mail, restart it, and then recreate the
account. This gets rid of some problems the
antivirus programs leave behind.

If even this is not enough, you can download and
install Windows Live Mail:

http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview
Click to expand...

Thanks all for your help. I decided to dump Mail and get Live Mail rather
than going throught the trouble of trying to "fix" Mail. From you comments
it appears it would be a continous fight between Mail and McAfee. So far the
Live Mail is working well.

I find it a bit surprising that a program like Mail would have compatibility
problems with major antivirus programs such as McAfee and Norton, the former
of which was preinstalled on my computer when I bought it from Dell. I would
have thought Mail would have at least been made to work with such common
programs. Anyway, Live Mail seems to work so problem is solved.

Thanks,
Ed
 
Ed from Ottawa said:
Thanks all for your help. I decided to dump Mail and get Live Mail rather
than going throught the trouble of trying to "fix" Mail. From you
comments
it appears it would be a continous fight between Mail and McAfee. So far
the
Live Mail is working well.

I find it a bit surprising that a program like Mail would have
compatibility
problems with major antivirus programs such as McAfee and Norton, the
former
of which was preinstalled on my computer when I bought it from Dell. I
would
have thought Mail would have at least been made to work with such common
programs. Anyway, Live Mail seems to work so problem is solved.

Thanks,
Ed
Click to expand...

You're welcome.
 
Back
Top