Sunday, February 24, 2008

IE 7.0 and Outlook Express related problem

This was the problem:

The computer [Windows XP Sp2] was disconnected to remedy some building related problem and was reconnected after 3 days.

These strange happenings were noticed:

The IE 7.0 comes up and goes down immediately.The Outlook Express 6.0 comes up and goes down immediately.

I thought I would go back to a previous restore point but the System Restore shows up in flash and goes away.

Fortunately FireFox is working.

Contacted Comcast my ISP:
I had a brief chat with one of the rudest of Comcast's agents. His only response was asking me to contact Microsoft. He did not want to look into some of my suggestions. Before I could offer my suggestions he had vacated the chat room. This is 24 X 7 Service!

Some simple tests:
Next I carried out a few tests. I opened one of the *.eml files from hard drive with Outlook Express. It not only stayed up but also I could send a email. Trying to receive one made the application to disappear. Similarly, trying to open an html file from the C: drive was also successful, but any attempt to get to an internet address resulted in its disappearance.

Checking for viruses:
I have McAfee security from my ISP as well as for emails I have a copy of AVG Free Edition Ver. 7.5 turned. I ran both these programs for two whole nights and there were no viruses of any kind. I concluded that some how the files in the login account were corrupted.

The Solution:
The solution I then tried was successful. I created a new user with the Administrator's privileges. Logged in with the new user, and now I could go to System Restore and restore it to an earlier date when I had no such problem. Some how the IE came up with a Japanese version (I still have no clue why) although the Regional Language page showed only English. But then I logged off, and logged in with my account that had become corrupted. Now everything is fine. The first screen that came up was the System Restore with the message that the computer has been reverted to an earlier date.

I have seen some web references which mention that the Outlook Express gets corrupted and bleeds into IE. I am not sure this was the case.

Lesson learnt: Patience

1 comment:

Alex said...

Some days ago I changed my store folder for my mails in OE,and something happened...And my mails were deleted.But fortunately myself helped-how to open .dbx,which I found on a forum,it is free as far as I remember.In addition utility can item compatible with Windows 2003, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows Vista, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows XP, Windows XP SP2 and any version of Outlook Express.

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