Windows Mail hangs the system

[andrew]

When I start Windows Mail, it often hangs the whole system for a minute or
so. Even Ctrl-Shft-Esc won't work to help me see what's going on. Finally,
everything jumps back into action!

I tracked down a log entry that says "A request to write to the file
"C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Mail\Backup\temp\WindowsMail.MSMessageStore" at offset 0 (0x0000000000000000)
for 2097152 (0x00200000) bytes succeeded, but took an abnormally long time
(61 seconds) to be serviced by the OS. This problem is likely due to faulty
hardware. Please contact your hardware vendor for further assistance
diagnosing the problem."

A hardware problem seems unlikely, as everything else works fine....and I'd
need a bit more information to go back to my 'hardware vendor' anyway!

Does anyone have any ideas, please? Thanks in advance

 

[Guest]

When I start Windows Mail, it often hangs the whole system for a minute or
so. Even Ctrl-Shft-Esc won't work to help me see what's going on. Finally,
everything jumps back into action!

I tracked down a log entry that says "A request to write to the file
"C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Mail\Backup\temp\WindowsMail.MSMessageStore" at offset 0
(0x0000000000000000)
for 2097152 (0x00200000) bytes succeeded, but took an abnormally long time
(61 seconds) to be serviced by the OS. This problem is likely due to
faulty
hardware. Please contact your hardware vendor for further assistance
diagnosing the problem."

A hardware problem seems unlikely, as everything else works fine....and
I'd
need a bit more information to go back to my 'hardware vendor' anyway!

Does anyone have any ideas, please? Thanks in advance

What if any antivirus programs do you have? Some of them cause assorted
problems in Windows Mail, although seldom immediately.

Does your computer have a hardware test program that came with it?
If so, try running that program.

 

[andrew]

Thanks for responding, Robert.

I'm using the AVG (free edition) antivirus, which I finally switched to
after Norton caused endless problems, not least with Outlook Express!

I've tried a memory scan (no problems reported) but am unaware of any
further hardware checks I can do?

 

[andrew]

I should have added:

The hang takes place between the Windows Mail spash screen and the
application window appearing. At this point I've not got as far as sending or
receiving anything.

 

[Guest]

After you uninstalled Norton, did you run the cleanup program to
handle what the uninstall left behind?

<http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039>

Sometimes you even have to remove your email account under
Windows Mail, then restart Windows Mail and create the account
again.

When you installed AVG, did you use the standard install? If so, it
may help to uninstall it and then do a custom install where you tell it
to leave out the part that scans email.

Outlook Express won't run under Vista.

The hardware test procedures usually depend on what type of PC
you have. You may have to ask the company that made it for
more hardware test programs you can run.

 

[Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM]

I should have added:

The hang takes place between the Windows Mail spash screen and the
application window appearing. At this point I've not got as far as sending
or
receiving anything.

Make sure email scanning is turned off in AVG.

 

[dado]

I had the same problem and I also tried to use Thunderbird and other email
clients and now it is ok as I discovered that I had a lot of email adresses (
about 7.000 )
now I have imported only those that I really needs and the problem was gone

 

[andrew]

Thanks, dado.
I don't have many email addresses (I don't think I know 70 people, much less
7000!)...but I DO have a lot of saved messages. I'll try to get around to
exporting or weeding them and see if it helps.

Thanks Frank, too, for your thought of turning off email scanning. I'm
trying that...but it's hard to test as the problem isn't consistent. It seems
to depend on what else Vista might be doing at the time (presumably it's
sometimes busy with something far more interesting than launching Windows
Mail..!)

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

On the chance that this problem is being caused by something in
your Windows Mail, you may want to try switching to Windows Live
Mail: http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview

 

[andrew]

After further experimentation, I've found that:

- Disabling the AVG email scanner doesn't change the situation
- Windows Live Mail has a similar problem
- Whether the hang takes place or not seems to be related solely to how soon
after boot-up I start the mail program. If I leave the machine alone for 5
minutes or more, then there's not a problem - but the hang takes place if I
try it much before this.

So it seems to be linked to some of the many activities that Vista decides
to do 'behind the scenes' on bootup. I've had a go at disabling a few
(non-OS) startups, but it's noticeable that heavy hard drive activity
continues for several minutes after boot-up. I've not managed to determine
exactly what's going on, even with Task Manager.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

How did you disable the AVG email scanner?

Did you try it without any antivirus installed?