Outlook Express extremely slow

Hello, can anyone help me with this problem?

When I open Outlook Express it takes about 2 or 3 minutes to display the messages and to respond in general. It almost freezes everything else.

I have a Dell 5190 computer running on XP. I bought it a few weeks ago and imported the messages from the old computer. BUT BEFORE THE IMPORTATION it was already slow.

If I try to go for instance to messages sent, again it takes some minutes before it can work on that folder. It doesn't matter the size of the folfer, it may contain just one email and it will still take ages to open. This problem happens with all of the folders I have.

Once it has opened the folder I can see everything, enter any email and everything works fine as long as I don't change to a different folder because I'll have to wait a long time before I can work.

Thank you very much for your help.

Jose

 

Are you up to date on Windows Updates? Have you deleted Cookies, Temp Files both on and off line and done a Disc Cleanup. Have you done a Defrag lately? Have you let OE compact all messages when it asked to?

 

Thank you for answering. I suppose I do have all of the windows updates since this is an entirely new machine, just bought. On the other hand, OE is the ONLY program not working or having that problem. I have deleted cookies and temp files and nothing has changed. I have not defrag because it's only three weeks old and because OE is the only software with problems. Many thanks for your help.

 

A new computer likely won't have all, if any, updates. My parents got a new computer two weeks ago, and I spent almost two hours downloading all the updates. Do you have the yellow sheild in the bottom right of your screen? Go to the control panel and double click on the security centre icon. Are Automatic Updates on? If not, try that to see if you need updates.

I don't know what dell's policy is, but I assume they would have used a disk to install windows XP, and then that's it. I don't think they would have got all the updates.

You could try this:

To compact and back up e-mail folders

1. Select an e-mail folder.

2. On the File menu, point to Folder, and then click Compact.

3. To back up the folder, find the folder file, and then copy it to a backup folder, floppy disk, or network drive. Outlook Express e-mail folders have a .dbx extension (for example, "Sent Items.dbx ").

 

You need to go to windows and check for updates. I bet that if you look at Adobe, it is Version 6 which is about a year old. It should also be updated as they are now up to 7.08 as there were security vunerabilities in the others. If doing what the last poster sad doesn't cure the problem, and this is a couple week old PC like you say, I would call the manufacture of the PC and tell them that you were having a problem from the get go. You can also do a error check (old scan disc) and see if it helps.
Detecting and repairing disk errorsYou can use the Error-checking tool to check for file system errors and bad sectors on your hard disk.

Open My Computer, and then select the local disk you want to check.
On the File menu, click Properties.
On the Tools tab, under Error-checking, click Check Now.
Under Check disk options, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box.
Notes

To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
All files must be closed for this process to run. If the volume is currently in use, a message box will appear prompting you to indicate whether or not you want to reschedule the disk checking for the next time you restart your system. Then, the next time you restart your system, disk checking will run. Your volume will not be available to perform other tasks while this process is running.
If your volume is formatted as NTFS, Windows automatically logs all file transactions, replaces bad clusters, and stores copies of key information for all files on the NTFS volume.
You can also to a repair to OE. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=repair+OE

 

Thank you very much for your reply. I used the COMPACT option on OE but nothing changed. The automatic securities update is ON, but to be done at 3am, which is an hour when it usually is turned off, but I'm always afraid of the MS updates because they usually spoil so many important things that one never knows which is worse..... I'm afraid it is not up to date but I must confess I'm really scared to up date

 

Click on Start and look in the first column and there should be MS Windows update sitting at the top. If not, click on this link and go and get all the SECURITY updates and don't worry about the others. http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-usThen when it is done, roboot the PC...

 

Hi Bill and Raingirl,

Why do you think MS Security updates would solve a problem like this? This being the slowness of OE.


Hello quasoft,

I understand your fear of MS Updates:

Set the AU options in the Security Center to inform you of updates, but allowing you to download and install them.

Do one at a time over days, run with it for a day or so before proceeding to the next. If they are security updates, they will create System Restore points for each, allowing rollback.

Regards - Charles

 

Hi Charles, thanks for your comments. I was worried thinking why should I look at "security" patches while my problem hasn't got anything to do with security as such. Many thanks again and what a relief to see that there's people who understand why one has to be extremely careful when MS is involved in something ! I have suffered in the past all of the problems with those updates. Thanks again Charles.

 

quasoft--A slightly more modern link which might help with WinXP
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx

 

Thanks to everybody for the help received.

THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN SOLVED NOW.

You know what the problem was? McAfee !!!!!

I couldn't hate that program more and now that I know he was the one.....
These computers come with that stupid antivirus installed and apparently it is very dangerous to uninstalled the McAfee, which is the most intrusive antivirus I have ever seen and it doesn't matter if it detects virus (which of course it does thou not as efficiently as NOD-32), but that's not the point, the point here is how it interferes with everything in your computer and how he spoils everything.

Thank you again for your concern. Great forum you've got.

 

Hi quasoft,

Delighted at your success in solving the problem

McAfee is one of those programs that I not just dislike, Symantec I dislike, but hate as well, and deepsix it where ever I find it

I use NOD as one of my AV's and like it very much.

Regards - Charles

 

I am having the same problem as quasoft. Does anybody know exactly what he did to fix his problem with McAfee. Thanks

 

rldrew--It sounds like quasoft uninstalled McAfee. Another possibility is that he/she set it not to monitor email.
Maybe quasoft will see your post and respond. Or you could send a Private Message or email by clicking on the blue quasoft in the top left of his/her posts.
If no success, you should consider the other fixes posted in this thread. Similar problems often are solved by different fixes.

 

Jim-Thanks for the response. Over time I have tried all of the above with no success. I think the problem originally started when both quasoft and myself uninstalled a trial version of McAfee. The uninstall affected OE somehow. I have been thru Microsoft help and McAfee's site, but no help. I think imagehlp.dll has something to do with the problem, but can't find how to extract from the CAB file when running XP. Microsoft has help when using Windows 98. Also, I did email quasoft a couple of days ago, but no response. Thanks again

 

rldrew--In WinXP you can repair files (like imagehlp.dll) by Start|Run|type sfc /scannow|OK. Have your WinXP CD handy since you may be asked to insert it into your CD-ROM drive. It takes a while and at the end the progress screen just disappears. That is normal. Stay close to the PC at the beginning since you may have to click Retry to keep things moving.
Other ideas
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/oerepair.mspx
http://www.theeldergeek.com/repair_reinstall_ie_and_oe_6.htm (see the comment from Socrates at the end.)

There is a MSKB article on your problem, but the fixes seem to apply only to Win98 and ME.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=235300
Method 1 definitely will not work in WinXP. (The SFC procedure above is more or less the equivalent.) Method 2 might work, but in Step #14 you should reference System32 or System32/DLLCache rather than System. However, it could be risky. So be sure to back up the Registry first. (Registry File|Export)