Outlook Express

Tip:  Clicking on a link opens in a new window and is empty:  Start/Run/CMD. Type this command: REGSVR32
         URLMON.DLL. Ok/Reboot.  Then go to:  IE/Tools/Internet Options/Programs/Reset Web Settings.

Tip:  Set Outlook Express as default mail client - Start/Run and type:
        "C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\MSIMN.EXE" /REG

Tip:  Restore OE to the E-mail List in Internet Options (Row 9)
         http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/restore_oe_client.reg

         Restore Hotmail, Outlook and OE under Programs (Line 250)
         http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

         Reset OE for Send To , Mail To , Send Mail (Line 64)
         http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

To use the Regedit: Save the REG File to your hard disk. Double click it and answer yes to the import prompt. REG files can be viewed in Notepad by right clicking on the file and selecting Edit.

Tip:  Re-install Outlook Express - Enable Reinstallation of Internet Explorer or OE (Line 114)
                                                     http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

After running this edit, rename the CatRoot2 folder (Windows\CatRoot2) and then go to Start/Run and enter
%SystemRoot%\Inf. Locate the MSOE50.INF file. Right click it and select Install.

Tip:  Mail and/or Folders are missing:  Close OE. Tools/Folder Options/View/Show Hidden files and folders.
         Then do a Search for *.dbx...Open OE/File/Import. Set search options to search hidden files, folders and system
         folders. Inbox is under a hidden folder.

Tip:  Get HTTP Hyperlinks in OE to Open IE - Windows Explorer/Tools/Folder Options/File Types. Scroll down to
         URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol/Advanced/Edit. Under Application used to perform action it should read:
         "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" -nohome

Tip:  Prevent Account Changes in Outlook Express - Start/Run/Regedit
         HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Outlook Express, Value Name: No Modify Accts, Data
         Type:  REG_DWORD (DWORD Value), Value Data: (1 = enable restriction). Create new DWORD value called
         "No Modify Accts" and set it to "1" to enable the restriction or "0" to allow users to modify accounts. Restart Outlook
         Express for the change to take effect.

Tip:  Outlook Express is slow to open after disabling Messenger.  Manual or Automated Edit

         Go to: Start/Run/Regedit and navigate to this key: 
         HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Outlook Express.  Add a New, Dword value called Hide
         Messenger and set the value to 2. 

         Disable/Remove Messenger and/or from OE (Line 44)
         http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Tip:  Outlook Express Mail Accounts

If you have multiple mail accounts set up in Outlook Express, you may not be able to tell easily which messages go with which accounts. However, Outlook Express offers an Account column (it doesn't appear by default) that will show you which account each message belongs with. To activate the Account column, choose View|Columns. When the Columns dialog box opens, select the check box labeled "Account" and then click OK to close the dialog box. The Account column should now appear in your Outlook Express window.

OE/IE Issues after Upgrading to Windows XP

Auto-Dialing and Disconnect Issues in Windows XP

Dialup Articles and Issues for Windows XP

Unread Mail listed on the Welcome Screen

Passport:

Go to Start/Run and type in: control userpasswords2. Advanced/Manage Passwords/Remove.

Add Control Userpasswords2 to the Control Panel (Line 1)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Use TweakUI/Logon/Unread Mail and Repair/Unread Mail Count
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

Disable Unread Mail on the Welcome Screen (Line 100)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

To remove an account or to change the count manually Got to: Start/Run/Regedit and navigate to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail\[Your E-Mail Address]. In the right pane modify: Message Count, Change it to 0.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail. In the right pane modify: MessageExpiryDays Change it to 0.

Spell Check Not Working

Go to Start/Run/EXPAND X:\i386\CSAPI3T1.DL_ C:\CSAPI3T1.DLL (Where X is your CD-Rom drive letter). And then copy it to: Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Proof

Or download the file here: Replace the Csapi3t1.dll file
http://www.tech-pro.co.uk/howto_010.html

An error occurred while the spelling was being checked.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q224176

Checkpoint: Go to Start/Run/Regeditand navigate to this key:  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools.  In the right pane where it reads: SharedFilesDir, verify that it reads: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared under Data.

Spell Checker for Outlook Express
http://www.spellchecker.com/personal/downloads/as_hp_oe_dwn.htm

Spell Checker for Internet Explorer
http://www.webattack.com/get/iespell.shtml

In OE, IE won't respond to a Hyperlink

Go to Start/Run and type in: regsvr32 urlmon.dll. Then go to: IE/Tools/Internet Options/Programs/Reset Web Settings.
Go to Start/Run and type in: regsvr32 actxprxy.dll and then repeat the process for regsvr32 shdocvw.dll.

Check your settings here:

Windows Explorer/Tools/Folder Options/File Types. Highlight URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol/Advanced/Edit. Under Application used to perform action it should read:  "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" -nohome

Related Edits:  The "Open in a New Window" Command May Not Work

Second open window of IE hangs: IE/Tools/Internet Options/Advanced and uncheck the option to Enable third party browsing extensions, restart IE.

In IE, OE won't respond to a Hyperlink

Windows Explorer/Tools/Folder Options/File Types. Highlight URL:MailTo Protocol/Advanced/Edit. Under Application used to perform action it should read:  "C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\MSIMN.EXE" /mailurl:%1

To Backup and Restore Your OE Mail, News and Settings [MVP-Doug Knox]

Your safest bet is to move the OE Mail Store to a new folder, on a different partition, if available and export a few Registry keys to back up all your settings.

1) In Outlook Express, go to Tools, Options, Maintenance. Select the Store Folder button. Change the location of the OE Mail and News store folder to a drive/partition/folder that will not be affected by the uninstall or re-install. This is especially true if you plan to reformat the system drive. You will be prompted to log off/back on, or reboot, do so.

2) Do a Find on *.wab and copy all WAB files to a folder on the same drive/partition you used in Step 1. This can even be the same folder that you moved the Mail Store to (recommended).

3) Open Regedit and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WAB\WAB4\Wab File Name. Modify the value to point to the folder you copied your WAB file to.

NOTE: If you only have one available partition, complete steps 1 through 3. Then backup the contents of the folder(s) that you moved the Mail Store and WAB files to. This can be to floppy media, CR-R/RW or whatever you prefer.

4) Now export the following 4 Registry keys to a location that will be available after your reinstall, or whatever (a floppy will work for the REG files). If you're going back to a Windows 9X OS, you need to ensure you select Win9x/NT4 in the Save as type pulldown.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Account Manager
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WAB\WAB4\Wab File Name

5) Uninstall XP and/or reinstall your desired OS.

NOTE: DO NOT open Outlook Express until you completed this procedure

6) Recreate the folder(s) you used in steps 1 and 2, making sure the path is the same. NOTE: If you were required to backup your Mail and WAB files to other media, you can restore them now.

7) Open Regedit and delete the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities key.

8) Locate the 4 REG files you exported in Step 3 and import them into the Registry.

9) Open OE and enjoy.

Note: Your passwords for mail and news accounts will have to be reentered. These are not saved in the Registry.

How to Share OE over Multiple Operating Systems

Start in Win98, open OE and use tools/options/maintenance to move the OE store folder to a share drive (*Note*, this drive must use the same drive letter in both OS's, while Win98 will not allow you to reletter drives, WinXP will, so plan accordingly).

Once you have it moved to a "share" drive, start/run regedit. Navigate to each of these keys and do a file/export of the key to the share drive (call each whatever you wish):

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Account Manager
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express

For the address book:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WAB\WAB4\Wab File Name

Once this is accomplished, restart in WinXP. Before starting OE, open REGEDIT and go to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities Right click on the Identities sub key and select Delete. Then locate the 4 REG files you exported in the steps above and double click each one to import them into the XP Registry. Answer yes to the import prompt.

Note for the personal e-mail: If you're exporting the keys from XP to 98, then you need to ensure that you select Win9x/NT4 in the Save as type dialog.  After completing this, OE should open up with the same settings, folders, mail, and news as you had in Win98.

Note: This works in reverse as well if you prefer to use the WinXP settings, however, when you export and save the WinXP registry keys, you must change the file type from .reg to Win9x/NT4 reg file.

How to Share OE (Mail/News/Address Book) between Users in Windows XP

If you don't mind having Signatures, Rules and all the other settings the same, this method works.

From the user account that is already set up:  Click Start, Run and enter REGEDIT

Locate the following 4 branches of the Registry

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Account Manager
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WAB\WAB4\Wab File Name

Right click on each branch above and select Export and save the REG files to your hard drive.

For each account you want to have the same mail settings, log into that account. Click Start, Run and enter REGEDIT. Locate the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities branch, right click it and select Delete. Next open Windows Explorer and locate the 4 REG files you saved above. Double click each one and answer yes to the import prompt.

Now you can open OE in any of the User accounts, and all the settings, accounts, will be the same.  This was tested with the Mail and News Store on a FAT32 drive. I can't guarantee it will work on an NTFS drive. 

Note: You will need to re-enter the passwords for mail and news group accounts.

Note2: If you use Signatures, you should put them in a text file and change OE's settings to use them. Signatures are often corrupted during the import. This is due to the Unicode storage of the signatures in the Registry.

Sharing the Outlook Express Address Book in Windows XP

While logged on to the user's desktop that has the address book you want to use:  Click Start, Run and enter REGEDIT:

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WAB\WAB4\Wab File Name

Note the path to the WAB file in the (Default) entry. Log into the other desktop and open REGEDIT there. Navigate down to the same location as above. Double click the entry for (Default) and make it match the entry for the first user.

Change the Location of the Outlook Express Mail and News Files

If you have installed Windows on a separate partition and want to keep it free of any unnecessary files, you can change the location of the mail and news files stored by Outlook Express to another partition.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express. Value Name: Store Root, Data Type: REG_SZ (String Value), Value Data: Path to Files. Change the value of 'Store Root' in the key below to equal the new path. Don't forget to move the 'mail' and 'news' folder from the old location to the new.

Slow loading of Outlook Express when Messenger is disabled

Start/Run/Regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{FB7199AB-79BF-11d2-8D94-0000F875C541}\InProcServer32

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{FB7199AB-79BF-11d2-8D94-0000F875C541}\LocalServer32

For both, in the right pane, right click Default/Modify/Delete the value data.

Disable Messenger and Speedup Outlook Express

There are various ways of disabling Windows Messenger from automatically starting, but they all have some drawbacks. Until now. Namely, if you disable Messenger, OE takes forever to load if you have the Contacts pane enabled.

Go to:  Start/Run/Regedit and navigate to this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Outlook Express

Add a New, DWord value called Hide Messenger and set the value to 2.
(This step is required to prevent a long delay when opening OE with the Contacts pane enabled).

Hotmail is slow after disabling/removing Messenger

The side effects are not known as of yet:  Start/Run/Regedit

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Messenger.MsgrObject
Right click on the Messenger.MsgrObject key and select rename. Rename it to Messenger.MsgrObjectold

This will prevent Messenger from loading when you access your account via the Hotmail web page, it will also prevent the delay when Messenger has been removed or disabled.

Outlook Express Mail Disappears

Uncheck "Compact Messages In The Background" option in Outlook Express, which alleviates the problem.

Alternatively you can disable email scan, internet filter and download scan in McAfee virus scanner, leaving only system scan (which leaves mailboxes alone) working.

To stop this issue from occurring, download and apply the patch CR7560.exe.  Download.

Outlook Express Inbox Corruption

Download the DBXtract utility to your desktop.  Download. 

** Make sure that Outlook Express is closed and not running **
Create a folder that you want to recover the emails from on your desktop. For example, c:\windows\desktop\emails

Double click on the DBXtract execute that is located on your desktop. It should detect where your inbox.dbx file (which contains all of the emails that you want to recover).

Under the path box located under OUTPUT, click the browse button to browse to the emails folder that you created in step #2 and highlight it. Click the OK button.

Click the Extract button. All of the emails that were in the inbox will then be extracted into the folder created in step #2. Each email will be represented by a .eml file.

Once all of the emails are extracted, open Outlook Express.  Open the emails folder on your desktop.

Highlight all of the .eml files in your emails folder and drag them to one of the folders in Outlook Express. The emails will be reappear in Outlook Express.  Verify that your emails are there, then you may delete the folder you created in step #2.

Reinstall Internet Explorer in Windows XP

Go to: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/ie6/default.asp

In the download box, select your desired language and click Go. On the next page click the Internet Explorer 6 link under Download.  Save the file to your hard drive and note where you saved it to:

When the download is complete, click Start, Run, Browse, and browse to the location you saved the file to. Highlight the IE6SETUP.EXE file and click Open.

In the Run dialog, move the cursor to the end of the command and press the space bar. Copy and past the following into the Run dialog at the end of the current command:  /c:"ie6wzd.exe /d /s:""#E"""

The #E needs to be replaced by the full path and file name of the IE Setup file.  An example command line would look like this:  "C:\Temp\ie6setup.exe" /c:"ie6wzd.exe /d /s:""C:\Temp\ie6setup.exe"""

Replace C:\Temp in this example with the actual path to the ie6setup.exe file. All parameters must be in the line and all of the quote characters must be as shown.

Auto-Dialing Issues

Check your settings here:  Network Connections/Advanced/Dial-Up Preferences/Enable Auto-Dial by Location/Uncheck all locations.

To view the list of names and addresses recorded by AutoDial, type the following command at a command prompt:
rasautou -s

To delete a name or address entry from the list:  Start/Run/Regedit

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\RAS Autodial\Addresses

You can delete any TCP/IP addresses that you see under this key. Note that AutoDial can use IP addresses, DNS fully qualified domain names (FQDN), and NetBIOS names.

Modify the Internet Auto-Dial Settings

Windows has the option to automatically dial your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to establish an Internet connection. This option can be controlled using this tweak.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]
Value Name: EnableAutodial
Data Type: REG_BINARY (Binary Value)
Value Data: (00 00 00 00 = disabled, 01 00 00 00 = enabled)

Create a new binary value named "EnableAutodial", and set the new value to equal "01 00 00 00" to enable autodial or "00 00 00 00" to disable it.

Note: This restriction can be used either on a user by user basis by adding it to HKEY_CURRENT_USER or on a computer wide basis by adding it to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

Fast User Switching and Internet Connection

The following entry will stop the prompt to shut down the connection when changing users under Windows XP. This enables a permanent internet connection with multiple users on your PC under Windows XP.  Start/Run/Regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Then right-click the right-hand pane, select New/String Value. Name the value KeepRasConnections and set it to 1.

Disable Automatic Modem Connections at Startup

If remote connections are enabled in Windows, the system may try to initiate an Internet connection at Windows startup or at the start of many applications. This setting disables that behavior.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Ole. Value Name: EnableRemoteConnect, Data Type: REG_SZ (String Value), Value Data: "Y" = enable automatic connections, "N" = disabled.

Create a new String value, or modify the existing value, called 'EnableRemoteConnect' and edit the value according to the settings below. Exit your registry, you may need to restart or log out of Windows for the change to take effect.

Disable the "Log on using dial-up connection" Check Box

During logon Windows allows users to optionally connect to a Windows domain using dial-up networking, this tweak can be used to disable that option. Start/Run/Regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.  Value Name: RasDisable
Data Type: REG_SZ (String Value), Value Data: (0 = restriction disabled, 1 = restriction enabled). 

Create a new String value, or modify the existing value, called 'RasDisable' and edit the value according to the settings below. Exit your registry, you may need to restart or log out of Windows for the change to take effect.

Auto-Disconnect

Start/Run/Regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters.  In the right pane, find Autodisconnect and change the time accordingly.

Or...

Start/Run/net config server /autodisconnect:30 (30 being an example).  The valid value range is -1 to 65535 minutes at the command line. To disable Auto-Disconnect set it to -1.  Setting Autodisconnect to 0 does not turn it off and results in very fast disconnects, within a few seconds of idle time. (However, the RAS Autodisconnect parameter is turned off if you set it to a value of 0.)

ASDL/Cable Modem Disconnects

With some ADSL/Cable modems (especially USB) you may have a problem with getting disconnected after a few hours, here are two ways to fix that.  Disable Hibernation and Disable Windows Messenger.

DSL Cable Modems Disconnects

Right click My Computer Icon/Properties/Hardware/Device Manager. Expand USB Controllers/Double Click USB Root Hub. Select Power Management and uncheck, Allow the computer to turn off the device to save power.

XP Support- 01/01/2005 12:42 AM - Home Page WinXP
© Copyright Kelly Theriot MS-MVP(DTS) 2005. All rights reserved.