# Outlook Express: The Devils Newsreader **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 6, 2001, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express-the-devils-newsreader/91779 "2001-11-06T14:33:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express-the-devils-newsreader/91779/1 "2001-11-06T14:33:34Z")
It is a little known fact that when Bill gates signed the deal with Old Scratch that would make a dorky college dropout into a billionaire with at least an outside chance of getting laid, one of the clauses required him to make Outlook Express the default newsreader for the MS platform. Since I have little choice but to use Office Pro, I also have Outlook Express on my machine, and have been using it as a newsreader. I’ve been plagued since the beginning with the error: **MSIMN has caused an error in DirectDB.DLL** , after which OE will unceremoniously close, and about 50% of the time the database is corrupt upon re-opening and the group must be deleted and rejoined. I’ve reloaded the program, compacted the databases, deleted and recreated the databases, all to no avail. A search of google and the MS knowledge database turned up very little. I can gather that it is a database problem, but found no workaround. [note that this is not the more fully documented ‘page fault’ or ‘exception’ errors]. Any ideas? 10 demerits to the first wiseass whose fix is to simply not use OE, unless it is coupled with a no-cost alternative that has comparable features. ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express-the-devils-newsreader/91779/2 "2001-11-06T14:39:41Z")
This sounds a lot like a rant, but I finaly spotted a (more-or-less) General Question near the end, so I’ll try to answer it. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Waverly \* > \*\*10 demerits to the first wiseass whose fix is to simply not use OE, unless it is coupled with a no-cost alternative that has comparable features. \*\* Ditch Outlook. Ditch Windows. I run Linux with KDE, and I’m mighty impressed with konqueror/kmail. True, probably not what you wanted, but is is free, and as far as features/useability is concerned it’s pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express-the-devils-newsreader/91779/3 "2001-11-06T14:44:43Z")
How about this: [http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q225/8/67.asp](http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q225/8/67.asp) It concerns importing emails, but it may apply to reading news as well. And at the risk of demerits, I’ll recommend dumping OE for both news and mail. IME, it’s the most buggy and exploitable app available. For Usenet news, I prefer a shareware app called FreeAgent. I have not idea how it compares feature-wise, but I like it. The Opera browser also has a newsreader, but I don’t use it. ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express-the-devils-newsreader/91779/4 "2001-11-06T15:19:30Z")
**tc** : I’d issue you demerits, but technically I never stated that solutions should not involve changing my operating system. I’ll clarify now: despite the flaws, I’m not changing my OS so I experience the sheer joy of Linux. **micco** : The page linked is for the ‘exception’ or ‘page fault’ errors. I’ve read through them, but they are not the same as my error. It pops up with exact wording I quoted. Thanks for the FreeAgent recommendation. I’ll look into it, especially if I don’t get an OE workaround. ---
**Author:** ![milo\_minderbinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@milo\_minderbinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milo_minderbinder)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express-the-devils-newsreader/91779/5 "2001-11-06T15:46:24Z")
What micco said. Free Agent is a real newsreader, not an e-mail app with some limited support for news like OE. This may have changed with the latest release of OE but it used to be if you wanted to download a split binary file you would have to hold ctrl and click every part individually which is _not_ fun if the file is in 100+ parts. With Free Agent click any one, hit ctrl and d together and that’s that. I deleted OE about a year ago and have used Free Agent ever since. The worst thing I can think of to say about it is that it’s fairly ugly to look at, other than that it’s a fantastic app. milo ---
**Author:** ![aramis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@aramis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aramis)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express-the-devils-newsreader/91779/6 "2001-11-06T17:36:04Z")
Here’s where to get [Free Agent](http://www.forteinc.com/agent/freagent.htm). I use the registered version and it’s even better than the free one. ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express-the-devils-newsreader/91779/7 "2001-11-06T20:52:00Z")
OK, I went and picked up Free Agent, and I’m optimistic from the description given on the web site, as well some of the positive reviews I found. I did find, however, what may be a problem. If I understand correctly, it limits you to 32K headers. Sounds like plenty, but on more than one occasion I have found a portion of a multi-segment archive corrupt, in which case I’ll load every header in the group (as many as 50 or 60K) and attempt to find it again. Have I just missed the method for doing this in FA, or is it not possible? Thanks for the advice, all. As long as this is getting sent back to the top, anyone else have an idea what my Outlook problem is? ---
**Author:** ![urban1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d07c76/32.png) [@urban1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express-the-devils-newsreader/91779/8 "2001-11-06T22:47:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Waverly \* > \*\*It is a little known fact that when Bill gates signed the deal with Old Scratch that would make a dorky college dropout into a billionaire with at least an outside chance of getting laid, one of the clauses required him to make Outlook Express the default newsreader for the MS platform. > > Since I have little choice but to use Office Pro, I also have Outlook Express on my machine, and have been using it as a newsreader. I’ve been plagued since the beginning with the error: **MSIMN has caused an error in DirectDB.DLL** , after which OE will unceremoniously close, and about 50% of the time the database is corrupt upon re-opening and the group must be deleted and rejoined. I’ve reloaded the program, compacted the databases, deleted and recreated the databases, all to no avail. > > A search of google and the MS knowledge database turned up very little. I can gather that it is a database problem, but found no workaround. [note that this is not the more fully documented ‘page fault’ or ‘exception’ errors]. Any ideas? 10 demerits to the first wiseass whose fix is to simply not use OE, unless it is coupled with a no-cost alternative that has comparable features. \*\* I’ve used Outlook Express since Win 95 and all later releases (now on ME). I have never seen that problem and I like OE as a newsreader, at least better than Netscape (which was the only other newsreader I used). However, YMMV (apparently). Have you tried doing a repair? Bob