Dell Dimension 8100. Windows ME. 256MB RAM, 1.3G P4, 20GB. I think that covers the bases.
I have two email accounts set up through Outlook Express (via Comcast)- one for spam and one for resume sending and business stuff. When I open OE, the default account inbox is opened (BTW, email is protected by Norton Anti-Virus). When I click on the “File” dropdown to Switch Identities, the PC just crashes.
The power light on the box stays on, but the monitor’s green power light goes orange to signify no input. The box just sits there and does nothing, and ultimately, I have to do an “ungraceful” power down by just holding the power button.
From everything I’ve heard, Windows ME is kinda buggy. Any chance of going to XP?
If not, couple options:
Go to Microsoft’s support site and download any patches or service packs for Windows ME. Get the Outlook patches, too, if any are available to you.
What happens if you use something else to check your mail? Stay with me, now, because this is kind of revolutionary, but sometimes the non-Microsoft products are much better. Other browsers, such as Mozilla, Netscape and Opera, have built in email clients. If you don’t want to use another browser, there are strictly email client software packages available such as Mozilla Thunderbird.
If this is a bug with Outlook and you can’t get a patch and everything else about your computer experience is satisfying enough that upgrading to XP or moving on to Linux isn’t worth the effort, then a different mail client may solve your problems.
Yikes. Sounds like you have a nasty bug in Outlook Express.
I have a very similar configuration (Dell, WinME, Outlook Express, etc.), and I have found that sometimes these things just magically appear…
I assume you’ve spent an hour waiting to talk to somebody at Dell. Depending on whom you speak with, you’ll probably get three different answers.
Anyway, the only thing I recommend, that I do in these situations, is to uninstall and then reinstall Outlook Express. Hopefully that will work and you won’t have to reinstall Windows.
NB: BEFORE you uninstall Outlook, remember to save your address book and any messages you need that won’t remain on the original server. (E.g., for my msn account, the messages remain on the server AND are downloaded to my OE; for Yahoo, they do not remain on the server, but are transferred to OE, and thus are lost if not saved elsewhere by me…)
Btw, I’ve had to do this before and it’s pretty easy. Just remember to SAVE stuff before you do it.
I don’t raelly have th emoney or inclination to upgrade to XP. I’ve had this machinepretty much as-is for about 2.5 years with no trouble until now, so though I hear about how bad ME is all the time, I don’t really have any other complaints.
I don’t mind the ide3a of using non-MS stuff, but I hate the idea of using a solution that just dodges the actual problem- at least without trying first.
I keep my stuff up to date with all the latest fun patches, though, stupidly enough, I didn’t bother to check them when I was having trouble last night. I will do so tonight.
Also, I can get my email online anyhow, so this isn’t an email show-stopper for me. It’s just annoying.
I never called Dell. To be honest, I’ve never called tech support for anything other than broadband connectivity issues in my life. Maybe now’s the time, but life’s already pretty frustrating these days, so I’m gonna save them as a last ditch.
Thanks for the answers so far. If it comes down to it, I’m confident I can easily to the un/re-install of OE.