Help, please: to "upgrade" from Outlook 2000 to Outlook Express 6

[Mark]

Help, please...

On a pretty good XP system,

I "upgraded" from OE6 to O 2000. I'm very sorry that I did that. OE6
was slow (probably because I have some folders with several thousand
messages), but it worked. Outlook freezes.

It Did work for a few weeks, but Now, when I start Outlook, I see the
little "This product is licensed to..." window, and the remainder of
the screen is white. The perpetual "not responding" hour-glass.

In the past, Outlook used to open up... sometimes I'd see the list of
messages in the Inbox in the upper section, and the one active message
would appear in the lower section. If I tried to view any other
message, it would freeze.

So,... I posted here... was advised to Delete it, then Reinstall it.
I did that. It then worked for a while.

Then, it went back to the perpetual hour-glass... I deleted it...
re-installed it, and it does the same thing... the forever
hour-glass.

I'm thinking that I should revert back to OE6. What do you think?

How can I do that?

OR, is there a way to fix O 2000?

Help, please.

Mark S.

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Close Outlook. Find and rename outcmd.dat to .old. (If using Windows 2000
or XP, you will need to enable searching hidden and system folders.)

Once you have done so, reopen Outlook and it should open fine. You will
need to rebuild any custom toolbars or customizations as the file outcmd.dat
controls how the toolbars display. When it becomes corrupted, it will cause
Outlook to hang because it cannot create the toolbars that you expect.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
the (insert latest virus name here) virus, all mail sent to my personal
account will be deleted without reading.

After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer, Mark asked:

| Help, please...
|
| On a pretty good XP system,
|
| I "upgraded" from OE6 to O 2000. I'm very sorry that I did that. OE6
| was slow (probably because I have some folders with several thousand
| messages), but it worked. Outlook freezes.
|
| It Did work for a few weeks, but Now, when I start Outlook, I see the
| little "This product is licensed to..." window, and the remainder of
| the screen is white. The perpetual "not responding" hour-glass.
|
| In the past, Outlook used to open up... sometimes I'd see the list of
| messages in the Inbox in the upper section, and the one active message
| would appear in the lower section. If I tried to view any other
| message, it would freeze.
|
| So,... I posted here... was advised to Delete it, then Reinstall it.
| I did that. It then worked for a while.
|
| Then, it went back to the perpetual hour-glass... I deleted it...
| re-installed it, and it does the same thing... the forever
| hour-glass.
|
| I'm thinking that I should revert back to OE6. What do you think?
|
| How can I do that?
|
| OR, is there a way to fix O 2000?
|
| Help, please.
|
| Mark S.

 

[Mark]

Thanks, Milly for your reply.
Here's what happened...
For some unknown reason, Outlook 2000 woke up. It came back. Still,
I stopped it, and renamed the Outcmd.dat as you suggested. It worked
fine for a few days. Now, I just left my PC for an hour, then came
back to the PC Frozen with the "Pick a User" screen, even though
there's only 1 user profile on this PC. Alt-Ctrl-Del did nothing. I
restarted the PC. Outlook freezes. I see the small "This product is
registered to..." window, and the remainder of the screen is white.
It's frozen. Now, There is no Outcmd.dat file found. Outcmd.old is
still there.
Help, please...
Thanks very much.
Mark S.

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Is there any reason that you are using Corporate or Workgroup mode (see
Help-About, second line)?

Reason I ask is that is sounds like you have a corrupt profile. If you
don't need CW mode, reconfigure Outlook to Internet Mail Only mode. It is a
better mode for home users and allows you to select the sending account on
the fly.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
the (insert latest virus name here) virus, all mail sent to my personal
account will be deleted without reading.

After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer, Mark asked:

| Thanks, Milly for your reply.
| Here's what happened...
| For some unknown reason, Outlook 2000 woke up. It came back. Still,
| I stopped it, and renamed the Outcmd.dat as you suggested. It worked
| fine for a few days. Now, I just left my PC for an hour, then came
| back to the PC Frozen with the "Pick a User" screen, even though
| there's only 1 user profile on this PC. Alt-Ctrl-Del did nothing. I
| restarted the PC. Outlook freezes. I see the small "This product is
| registered to..." window, and the remainder of the screen is white.
| It's frozen. Now, There is no Outcmd.dat file found. Outcmd.old is
| still there.
| Help, please...
| Thanks very much.
| Mark S.

 

[Mark]

It is already in Internet Mail Only mode, Milly.

I do, though, remember doing something with that setting when I was
installing it. For some reason, I was advised to put it in CW mode.
I think that I did that. Maybe it went back to IMO mode when I had
these problems and re-installed it?

Whatever... it's now working for a while, but it's Very Unstable.
Sometimes it freezes, sometimes it takes 10 minutes to come up,
sometimes it works fine.

What to do?... what to do?...

Thanks, Milly.