I have a message in my inbox,outlook express. When I click on it,it locks up my pc.I do not know how to delete it with out clicking on it. It is an add that I have gotten mail from before that one and since that one,without any problems.But the one in question,I cannot get rid of. Any ideas? Thanks!

You don't have to open a message to delete it.

1. Select the message, then click on delete

2. drag and drop the message to junk mail, then select "junk mail", select "empty junk mial"

3. Drag and drop the message to "Deleted Items", then select "deleted items", ....

If that  doesn't do the trick, you'll need to bring out the "Big" guns. Don't know if the message is dangerous? It may just be a big file that is taking a long time to download the body.

That's what I mean.When I select it,thats when things go south.If I try to highlight/select/click on it,then it freezes up.

I assume you are running XP operating system if you are using Express mail?

Select the Inbox folder, open file, some where in the drop down box will be a lable that says something like "Offline". select it.

Your next step is to take the Inbox offline. While it is offline it can not attempt to send (at this point I also assume there is something "nasty" in that message).

remember the name (header) of the message, you'll need it to purge the message while the inbox is off line. In the offline state, you should be able to purge the message.

If you still can't purge it in express, then search for the message - using the header - then purge it from the search list. once that is done, go back to express mail and bring the folder back online.

Do a right click instead of selecting it with the left & click on delete. You need to go to tools & stop the preview

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You can't condemn the bad if you don't commend the good

Work offline does pretty much the same thing. But your method may be simpler, easier to do.

... But my memory of Outlook express seems to remember that the preview pane is stopped from the header under "View". The main thing is to prevent the message from trying to execute (if that is what is happening).

 

Disable the Message Preview Pane by clicking on View > Layout and un-checking the Showpreview pane.

"There are a couple things you can do to configure Outlook Express so as to minimize the chances of accidentally launching an attachment that may contain a virus or worm that your Antivirus software may not have caught."

OK,when I select the message,it will not let me delete,reply,forward etc.Just locks up outlook.Most times I can close it and get a program not responding message.Sometimes I have to shut it off because I cannot get it to close by clicking the X or alt/ctrl/del or anything else I have tried.when I disable the preview panel it will let me click delete,which promptly locks up outlook.When offline.When I do a search and delete it does the same thing.I do not think it is a virus,just a problem of some sort. The message has been in my inbox for a year,I just finally decided to try to find out how to get rid of it.

I should have known there as a catch! "It's been like this for a year".

I give up... but as a last resort. You can ignore the problem.

Have you tried the "Sweep it under the rug" technique?

First how much stuff do you have in your "inbox"? Have you ever done a "compact" on your folders (File > Folder > compact all). It will get rid of any extra space in the message database.

The Sweep it under the rug tecnique is simple, if you don't see it, it stops being a problem.

Create a new folder: name it something like "Archive-2009". Then select all (pick any message in the "inbox", then press a combination of "control or ctrl" + "a", that will select all the messages in the folder) or as much of your messages as you don't actively look at everyday. Move (edit > Move to folder", then  you select the new folder you created) this will put them all in the new folder. If this does the job, then at some time in the future, when pigs fly, you can work on the problem again....plus you will still have access to all your old mail. If you have the time and energy, you can reselect everything, except the bad message and move them back to the inbox. Not sure if this persistant message will allow you to move it, but its at least worth a try. I'm not sure if Outlook express will change the "recieved date when you move messages between folders. You may want to move one or two first, just to test it. As long as you don't actually directly select the bad message, it should not go into that Lockup routine... here's hoping it works for you.

 

Open outlook, In the upper left corner click "View" then "Layout" and uncheck "Show preview pane" in the lower portion of the layout page and click "Apply"

Select (highlight) the problem child email and push "shift + delete" and it should be gone forever.

1965 Galaxie 500
2007 Shelby GT500
2004 Marauder
1994 Aerostar

I hate to leave a problem lying around. So I wanted to see if someone local was able to find a solution I, we might have missed?

I have not tried the shift and delete yet.Nothing else has worked.Only thing I accomplished was to make it so that I could not delete ANYTHING.I did a couple of restarts,no help.Shut it down completely over night and it is ok now.So I was just leaving well enough alone.I may try what wildo said.......hang on...I will try it now..... TA DA,that baby is gone! Thanks guys !! Cars,computers,love lives,damaged tron suits,you name it,somebody in the garage can fix it!

"Disable the Message Preview Pane by clicking on View > Layout and un-checking the Showpreview pane.

"There are a couple things you can do to configure Outlook Express so as to minimize the chances of accidentally launching an attachment that may contain a virus or worm that your Antivirus software may not have caught."

 

I'm glad it worked. I thought you had tried that earlier? ...

There is no telling why it worked this time. Much as I like Microsoft - a majority of one, in most places   I have to admit that sometimes "magic" is the real solution.

Fantastic Doug!!!



1965 Galaxie 500
2007 Shelby GT500
2004 Marauder
1994 Aerostar

I did disable the preview pane,go off line and all the other things.Multiple times,all of them.Always just clicked delete at the top of the outlook page or right clicked.Only thing I did different this time was push SHIFT and delete......

I swear that sometimes, when it comes to Computers - time of day, phases of the moon and persistance. can produce results that should have worked the 1st time.

The important thing is you got that speed bump out of your mail. Like having a metal filing in the tip of your finger, it ain't a big problem, but it can sure ruin your day.

What happens often with this type of thing is that you try something, it doesn't work, you try it later, then it does. In my experience, sometimes Windows is slow to propagate the changes all the way through the application and everything else that the application touches. So something seems like it doesn't work. Then you try it again later, the changes flow through more rapidly etc, and it works. Also, you can have something enabled the first time that interfered in the operation, whereas the next time you try the same thing, the culprit causing the hangup is not running. It is very rare for an application to run in isolation any more. There are many interactions with other services and processes. Anyone who tells you that they know it all is full of BS. I work with a narrow range of applications in my job, yet no two installs are the same. It is rare that something odd does not occur. I just got off of a job that was originaly supposed to take 2 days. It took over 5 days. Why? A new version of the application, a new server OS that the app providers had not documented, a new version of sql server, unique security policies, a unique network, unique customer requirements. I had a job that should have taken a day last almost two weeks. Why? The customer would not supply fresh clean machines to use for the app. What was the hangup?? It was a trash copy of a .dll file that had been placed in the system32 directory by some app that had been on the machine in the past. Simple, really. Finding the problem was awful. This type of thing is why shops charge $100+ an hour for the work. You never know what you are going to get into. If you lowball the hourly rate, you will lose money. - Obviously.

Your right Dave, Nobody know's everything. All we can do is nip at it, one problem at a time.

1965 Galaxie 500
2007 Shelby GT500
2004 Marauder
1994 Aerostar

Do use msn messenger? I can remotely check and tune your pc.
Mind you I don't know much about pc.....