Delete function is out in OE 6.0...

Hello, I know I have a long list of infections, hijackings...you name it, but while I'm trying to fix all of this, could anyone tell me if they came across this new problem? Delete button doesn't want to work anymore on one of my 2 emails in OE 6.0. The other is ok...so far. I've win98se and IE 6.0.

Thanks ever so much for any help. Adela

 

Adela--Here is one solution
http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/faqs/why.htm#cantdel
Another would be to Repair Internet Explorer (OE and IE are related).
Start|Programs|Accessories|System Tools|System Information|Tools|Internet Explorer Repair Tool|Wait|Reboot

 

Delete function is out in OE 6.0... Reply to Thread

Helo Welshjim and thanks so much for the suggestions.

The 2 times I clicked on the link you gave me it crashed! So I followed your 2nd suggestion, but got this message:

"Internet Explorer 6 cannot be repaired due to the following error:
Version 8.0.7820.0 of file MSXML3A.DLL exists but the version needs to be greater than the 8.0.7916.0" II wish I knew what this means...)

The above msg appeared when I clicked on "Repair Internet Explorer" though it was not marked with dot in circle. The one that was marked: "Repair the Previous Windows Configuration" asked questions I didn't know how to answer.

Any other suggestions??? Thanks again... Adela

 

Adela--Have you been to Windows Update recently? There have been a couple of cumulative updates for IE/OE since last October--yes, even for Win98!!

Not sure I understand that. But it seems you did the right thing (dot the circle and click OK) based on that message you got. Let's first see if Windows Update is of any help.

Do you mean clicking on the link crashed IE, or following the instructions caused the crash? Here is what the link says
"Why can't I delete messages inside OE?

That can happen if the Deleted Items folder is damaged. Move all messages you might want to keep out of the Deleted Items folder and into another mail folder you create. Close OE, then delete the file Deleted Items.dbx in your Identity's store folder. OE will create a new one when you re-open OE "

 

Hi Welshjim:

To answer the first question: Ever since I have this multiple problem, I update to the maximum everything and frequently, including the windows.

<<Do you mean clicking on the link crashed IE, or following the instructions caused the crash? Here is what the link says
"Why can't I delete messages inside OE? >>

Only clicking on the link caused the crash. I wonder, if that link was for a question at the BBS, could I find it if you tell me in which category it is?

<<That can happen if the Deleted Items folder is damaged. Move all messages you might want to keep out of the Deleted Items folder and into another mail folder you create. Close OE, then delete the file Deleted Items.dbx in your Identity's store folder. OE will create a new one when you re-open OE ">>

I followed the above thus:
(1) Opened a new folder "DEL. SUBSTITUTE ".
(2) Transferred all items in my old "Delete" folder into the new one.
(3) Closed OE.
(4) Went to "Identity Store" folder to delete "Deleted Items.dbx" but didn't find it.
(5) So went to "Find" from the "Start" button.
(6) Found 6 "Deleted Items.dbx" and deleted them all.
(7) Went to delete the "Delete" folder (now empty)...but it wouldn't delete.
(8) Results:

"DEL. SUBSTITUTE" folder which I expected to see filled with the old deleted files...was instead filled with all my "Inbox" files (???).
"Inbox" folder was empty, but filling up as new msgs came in...
Old "Delete" folder still empty and can't be deleted, but the newly deleted items do go to the same old "delete" folder.

What did I do wrong, Welshjim??? I suspect I deleted the wrong things at the "Find" window??? Please let me know if there's hope to fix my additional mess then?

Thanks so much again! Adela

P.S. After re-reading your instructions, and since I didn't find any "Identity Store" in my "Identities" window, I went again to "Find" and typed "Identity Store ". I got a whole bunch of things I didn't know what to do with, but let it go rather than delete...

 

Adela--

Maybe I am misunderstanding, but you seem to be saying that your Delete.dbx file is now working.
If that is the case, then read no further.
However, if that is not the case:
If you have IE6 installed you should have the right version of msxml*.dll installed. (This is a file from the XML Parser program.) But since the message says you do not, I suggest you try installing the latest version of IE
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=http://www.microsoft.com/ie
Does that help?
If that does not help, I am a little concerned that what you have done so far may have deleted some or all of your mail files. Have you rebooted (not just closed OE) at anytime during this? What email files are working? Do you care if you lose all your old messages as long as everything works from now on?
However, the fact that clicking on the link I provided earlier (not a WindowsBBS link) causes IE to crash, suggests that you have problems more widespread than OE. (Are you able to successfully click on other links?)
Have you scanned recently with a spyware detector such as AdAware or SpybotS&D?
http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Before scanning with either, be sure to get the latest reference file updates.
I assume that you have an antivirus program installed and that you also frequently update its reference files.

 

Adela--I have been thinking a little more about your last post.
The fact that you could not find Deleted Items.dbx in your Store Folder, could explain the original problem. You may have lost it somehow, and that would explain why your Delete button did not work.
I hope your earlier steps have not complicated this matter, but do you have any Deleted Files.dbx folders remaining--perhaps even in the Recycle Bin? If so you might try moving one into the Store Folder.
And again, have you rebooted at any point in the last day or so?

 

Hi Welshjim:

<<Maybe I am misunderstanding, but you seem to be saying that your Delete.dbx file is now working.>>
I don't know what the "Delete.dbx" file is. Is it the regular Delete folder at the left of the OE email? Could my following sentence made you think that "Delete.dbx" is now working?:

<<Old "Delete" folder still empty and can't be deleted, but the newly deleted items do go to the same old "delete" folder.>> I was trying to delete the empty "Delete" folder by clicking on it but apparently it cannot be done.

I'll reinstall IE6 in a bit (http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=...rosoft.com/ie) but would you kindly tell me (before you finish reading this msg) if this will cause my msgs in both my OE emails and Yahoo emails to be lost? Also, should I UNinstall the present one before downloading the new one? Thank you!

<<Have you rebooted (not just closed OE) at anytime during this? >>
No, I haven't, just the OE only.

<<What email files are working?>>
Do you mean what emails, like OE, or Yahoo?

<<Do you care if you lose all your old messages as long as everything works from now on?>>
If by "old messages" you mean all my deleted ones, no, I don't care. But if you mean all my others msgs from my 3 email accounts, the application Word, etc. and others...yes I do care. But, if I'm going to lose everything, I may as well reinstall the OS which I read somewhere will solve almost 100% of the problems...is it true?

<<(Are you able to successfully click on other links?)>>
Yes, all the time! This was an isolated case.

<<Have you scanned recently with a spyware detector such as AdAware or SpybotS&D?>>
I update and scan these and a few more all the time and frequently! And yes, I do have Norton Anti-Virus and I have it update and run daily!

Adela

 

Hi again Welshjim:

<<The fact that you could not find Deleted Items.dbx in your Store Folder,...>>
Actually what I couldn't find was the "Store Folder" itself in the Identities. The Deleted Items.dbx I found in the "Find" function by clicking "Start ", and it was when I deleted them.

<<...do you have any Deleted Files.dbx folders remaining--perhaps even in the Recycle Bin? If so you might try moving one into the Store Folder.>>
You're brilliant Welshjim! I forgot about the Recycle Bin! Yes, I have all 7 of them, shall I restore all of them back, or only one as you suggest? But you say "...moving into the Store Folder "... where is this Store Folder???

<<And again, have you rebooted at any point in the last day or so?>>
Luckily no. I haven't rebooted the computer since I made my irresponsible changes. Adela

 

Adela
I think you've misunderstood something here. The name of the folder you're looking for isn't "store folder ". That's just a generic term for where the files are stored. Follow Pete's advice and you'll find the name of the folder that they're located in. The idea is to open that folder and delete the file named deleted items.dbx. Before you do this though, you should open OE and make sure there's nothing in it that you want to keep. Also, you can't have OE open when you delete the file.

Now; before you started all of this, was it just a couple emails that wouldn't delete and the rest deleted without problem? If so, it may not be the deleted items.dbx that's the problem but it can't hurt to try that route first. If that doesn't do it, create a new folder in OE, name it whatever you want and then move any emails into it from the inbox that you want to keep. Then close OE and go back to the folder where your dbx files are located and try deleting the inbox.dbx. A new one will be created when you start OE the next time. Then, if you want, you can move the emails back into the inbox that you moved out of it before.

 

Delete function is out in OE 6.0..

Hello Welshjim, PeteC and Zander:

Thanks so very much for all your help. I'm keeping it all for any future needs too. Meantime, I found the "Store Folder "! I must've been blind not to see it before! I clicked on it, and it showed this:

Your personal message store is located in the following folder:
C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Identities\{2BF049E3-A70D-11D7-9644-0048541BFE36}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

I opened it and found both, Inbox.dbx (now empty as I transferred contents into a temp folder), and also Delete Items.dbx. Should I try deleting both? When I tried deleting Inbox.dbx though, it said "too big a file for the recycle bin, do you want to delete it permanently?" Should I delete it permanently then?

Thanks again and please forgive all this ignorance! Adela

 

Also, if the inbox.dbx is to large to fit in the recycle bin it's probably time to compact your folders. When you delete something in an OE folder the file for that folder doesn't get any smaller. The email will get deleted but the file size stays the same. This is true for any folders you have in OE including the deleted items folder. Compacting them will get them down to the smallest size possible. To compact all folders, in OE click file>folder>compact all folders. To compact only the one you currently have open you do the same thing except select compact instead of compact all folders. If you use OE at all for viewing newsgroups choosing compact all will get those too. If you do this I suspect you'll find that the inbox.dbx will then fit in the recycle bin. You should compact your folders on a regular bases. Especially your inbox folder. If it gets to large it'll cause OE to open very slowly if you have it set to open to your inbox.

If you haven't already deleted the inbox.dbx you can see what I mean by checking the size of the file and then compacting it in OE. Then check the size of the file again. In fact even if you've deleted the inbox.dbx already you can do it with another one just to see what I'm talking about.

 

Hi Zander:

Thanks again so much for the new info you give me on compacting the folders of which I had no cue before! I'll do it with all my OE folders.

I am now able to delete the messages from my email so all those steps have worked. Thanks so much to you, Welshjim and PeterC for great help and great patience!!! ) Adela

 

Adela--Always good to hear of a happy ending to a problem.