Red Box Computer Solutions

Dino’s technical tips and solutions.

Part two of Outlook Express Repairs; we're going to look at some common fixes for issues that can occur with Outlook Express; just like we did with Outlook a few tips ago. Many of these solutions are quite simple and will resolve issues that may seem significantly bigger than they really are.

Reregister Outlook Express

Damaged or missing entries in the Windows registry can prevent Outlook Express from being recognized as the default e-mail client. That in turn can cause odd behaviour when replying to a newsgroup message or clicking an e-mail link on a Web page. A simple procedure causes Outlook Express to rewrite its main registry keys and so corrects such issues.

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type msimn /reg, and then click OK.
(Note that you will not see anything happen.)
In Internet Explorer click Options on the Tools menu.
Click the Programs tab and select Outlook Express as the default e-mail client and as the default news client. You can change those later if you wish.

Reregister libraries

Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) are files that contain functions that may be shared by other programs, such as recognizing hyperlinks, displaying rich content, and so forth. These specific DLLs are used by Outlook Express, and can cause glitches in the visual display if they are damaged. Reregistering a DLL using regsvr32 is similar to reinstalling those functions and thus makes sure they are installed and working correctly.

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type regsvr32 urlmon.dll, and then click OK.
Repeat step 1 for each of the following commands:
- regsvr32 mshtml.dll
- regsvr32 shdocvw.dll
- regsvr32 browseui.dll
- regsvr32 msjava.dll

Create a new identity

This will create a new message store folder as well as all new registry keys. This should not be necessary unless our previous efforts have failed to correct the problems.

Export your e-mail and news accounts in Outlook Express so that you can import them into a new Identity.
1. Click Accounts on the Outlook Express Tools menu.
2. Click the Mail tab and select the default account.
3. Click the Export button and select a location for the exported file. Make sure the extension remains "iaf" (for Internet account file).
4. Repeat steps 1.2 and 1.3 for all accounts.
5. Click the News tab and repeat steps 1.3 and 1.4 for all accounts.
6. After all mail and news accounts have been exported, click Close.
In the File menu, click Identities, and then click Add New Identity.
Type a name for the new Identity, and then click OK.

A new Identity allows you to start Outlook Express with all default settings, a useful way to work around registry or file damage.
Click Yes to switch to the new Identity.
Click Cancel to close the New Account wizard. If you are prompted to import settings or messages, select "Do not import at this time" or Cancel.
Click Accounts on the Tools menu.
Click the Import button and select the first *.iaf file from step 1. Repeat until all accounts have been imported.
Import the mail messages from your old Identity.
- On the File menu, click Import, and then click Messages.
- Select Microsoft Outlook Express 6 from the list of programs, and then click Next.
- Select the name of the Identity to import, and then click OK

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