Outlook Express 5 annoyances

[mnovak5]

Hi!
Recently I finally upgraded from Outlook Express 4 to OE 5. As a result I've got a set of new problems:

1. When I start OE, my MSN Messenger automatically starts too. It's annoying, I want to start a program only when I want (not Microsoft) but OK, it would be bearable. The worse thing is that when I close OE, the MSN Messenger doesn't close. Well - it's useless when I'm offline but it's still there and I have to manually close it.
I went through all the OE settings (and MSN Messenger ones too) that have any connection with each other, set them to appropriate values but ... still nothing happened. Any help would be welcome.

2. Before I upgraded, I deleted all the unwanted mail. After the upgrade my email folders were upgraded too. I was left with two sets of "Incoming mail", "Sent mail" and "Deleted mail". I looked into the directories and I have the following:

Outlook Express\Mail
Outlook Express\News

My old folders seem to be stored in Outlook Express\Mail whereas my new ones are in Outlook Express\ only (I figured out from the dates). Which ones can I delete?

3. Even though my "Deleted mail" folder is empty, the file Deleted mail.mbx is about 10MB large. When I view it in Wordpad, it contains a number of long deleted emails. What my god can do with it? And why the Heavens is it still there?

Thanks,
Michael

[TonyKlein]

Hi,

As for your Messenger startup:

1. Go to Messenger/Tools/Options and uncheck "Run this program when Windows starts" on the Preferences tab.
2. In Outlook Express, Tools/Options/General tab and uncheck the option to automatically log on.
3. Also in Outlook Express, View/Layout and uncheck the option to display Contacts. The program will open a connection and display a list of all Contacts on line if you do not.

This is the one that gets overlooked a lot, incidentally.

4. Startup Folder. Make sure no entry there for Messenger.
5. Go to Start/Run, and type Msconfig.
On the Startup tab , uncheck any option for it. (msmsgs.exe)

As for your dbx files, go to OE/Tools/Options/maintenance, and then click the Store Folder .

That tells you where OE looks for your dbx files, and nowhere else.

You can delete dbx files stored elsewhere.

As for your chock-full Deleted items.dbx folder, close OE and delete the file.

When you restart OE, a new Deleteted items.dbx file will be created.

Good luck, Tony