Losing background settings and e-mails in Outlook Express

[Guest]

I really need some help and don't know where to start! I have WinXP (SP2) on
a Dell Latitude D600 laptop. I am connected to the network at my place of
work and can also use it at home.

The problem is that at least 75% of the time, when starting Windows, I get
the 'Applying your personal settings' for a few seconds longer than normal
and when Windows does load I find that my wallpaper has disappeared to a
blank blue background and that all my e-mails in Outlook Express have gone.

I reset my wallpaper to a photograph from 'My Pictures' but it is not
possible to retrieve any e-mails lost. The addresses in my address book
remain though.

This does not happen all of the time and when it does not Windows will load
normally, taking a shorter amount of time to 'Apply personal settings',
displaying the correct background wallpaper and saving e-mails in Outlook.

Can anyone offer any advice? I know it is not my display settings as it does
not happen all of the time and Outlook is also affected. I am guessing it
might have something to do with the network configuration? (It happens at
home when not connected to a network and at work when connected).

Hope someone can shed some light on this! Thank you!

 

[PA Bear]

Start here: http://www.insideoe.com/problems/bugs.htm#mailgone.
~~~~~~~~~~~
DBXtract
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx

DBXtend (additional functionality)
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtend/Default.aspx

DBXpress (faster, more powerful, with even greater functionality)
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
~~~~~~~~~~~
For lost Inbox messages:
Inbox.dbx is damaged. Close OE and then Move Inbox.dbx from your store
folder (http://www.insideoe.com/files/store.htm) to another Windows (not OE)
folder and run any of the above applications on the moved file. (A new,
empty Inbox.dbx will be created when you next open OE.)

Other folders:
Close OE. Move the associated DBX file to another Windows folder and run
any of the above applications on the moved file.

If one of the above applications successfully recovers any messages, count
yourself fortunate. Do *not* import the moved DBX file back into OE!
Recovered messages may be dragged into an open OE folder, but...

Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.

Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

Disable Background Compacting [N/A in SP2] and frequently perform a manual
compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm.

Your anti-virus application's email scanning feature can also cause such
corruption. Disable it. It provides no additional protection.
--
OE6-specific newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE), AH-VSOP

Inside Outlook Express
http://www.insideoe.com