Outlook Express 6 Slow Load

[Amie]

Topic: Outlook Express 6 Slow Load
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Posted By: gromit77
Subject: Outlook Express 6 Slow Load
Date Posted: August 16 2003 at 9:30pm

Hi,

I'm running Outlook Express 6 on with Windows ME.

It used to load instantly but now when I click the icon it takes a good 3 minutes or more to load. When it does load it works fine.

It worked this morning, I've installed nothing and changed nothing and now this problem has occurred.

Neil


Replies:
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Posted By: Amie
Date Posted: August 16 2003 at 11:07pm

Neil

Have a read through of this page and see if anything is relevant to you:

http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/problems/pe...htm#slowstartOE (http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/problems/performance.htm#slowstartOE) Performance Problems


Amie



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Posted By: gromit77
Date Posted: August 16 2003 at 11:53pm

Hi,

I've read the first piece of advice it gives on that page, replace the imagehlp.dll file.

"The usual cause is a missing or corrupt "Imagehlp.dll" in C:\Windows\System. Without this file, OE will be very slow to open, although usually nothing else is affected. If you uninstall a version of McAfee VirusScan and then install a later version without first restarting your computer, the McAfee install routine will delete "Imagehlp.dll" by mistake. You can either extract this file from your Win98 CDROM (using Start| Run, SFC.EXE, Extract a single file), or from your IE5/6 setup files using a command line at the setup folder like this:"

How do I replace the file?

I've tried to just put a new imagehlp.dll file in the system folder and it wont let me overwrite. I've also gone to START / RUN / MSCONFIG and used the extract a file option but it says the file is being used by windows and I can't overwrite.

Thanks

Neil


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Posted By: Amie
Date Posted: August 17 2003 at 12:03am


gromit77 wrote:

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Hi, I've tried to just put a new imagehlp.dll file in the system folder and it wont let me overwrite. I've also gone to START / RUN / MSCONFIG and used the extract a file option but it says the file is being used by windows and I can't overwrite.

Neil
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Where did you get this new imagehlp.dll file from, if you go through SFC not Msconfig then you should be able to extract a new copy.

If not try starting in Safe Mode and repeat the procedure;

To Start in Safe Mode.

Reboot your computer. As it is booting back up tap the f8 key repeatedly until a page comes up with options on it then choose Safe Mode from the Options menu, by pressing the relevant numbered key on your keyboard.

Or

Restart your computer, press and hold down the CTRL key after your computer completes the Power On Self Test (POST), until the option menu appears, then select Safe Mode as above.

There is also this Microsoft article which has some more suggestions:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...oWebContent=1MS (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/Q251/7/87.ASP&NoWebContent=1MS) Article

Amie


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Posted By: gromit77
Date Posted: August 17 2003 at 12:21am

:oops: Blush Please excuse my ignorance but what is SFC?

I thought it the SFC command related to Win98 or something, I'm sure I read that ME users should use MSCONFIG then the extract file command.

Thanks

Neil


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Posted By: Amie
Date Posted: August 17 2003 at 12:29am


gromit77 wrote:

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:oops: Blush Please excuse my ignorance but what is SFC?

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You are not in the slightest bit ignorant, it is my fault for forgetting that Me does not have SFC (System File Checker) because you have System File Protection (SFP) instead.

Have you tried the MS article I posted.

If this has only started in the past few days, how about restoring the registry back to before then.

Amie


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Posted By: gromit77
Date Posted: August 17 2003 at 1:57am

how do I restore the registry back?

Tried the MS article, didn't work.

I've also used IEradicator and erased all the Internet Explorer files and reinstalled IE. No joy except freeing a lot of disk space!!

Also uninstalled and reinstalled MSN Messenger.

Thanks

Neil


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Posted By: Amie
Date Posted: August 17 2003 at 9:41am

Neil

If you want to give restoring the registry a try here are the instructions,

Restore Registry

Click Start > Shut Down > Restart in MS-DOS.

When your computer restarts, at the prompt > type

scanreg /restore

Then press the Enter key

Using the arrow keys on your keyboard highlight an entry with a date previous to your problem, which has the word Started against it. Then press Enter.

When you receive notification that you have restored a properly working registry, press ENTER to restart your computer, into windows.

I hope this problem is very recent, as this will ony fix things from the last 5 days or less.

Amie



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Posted By: gromit77
Date Posted: August 17 2003 at 12:42pm

Amie,

Hmmm...the next dilemma how do I start in MS DOS mode, when I shut down I don't have the re-start in MS DOS mode option. I've rebooted and pressed F8 or CTRL and it brings up the menu, but that too does not have start in MS DOS mode.

I can go to START / PROGRAMS / ACCESSORIES / MS DOS PROMPT but when I type SCANREG \RESTORE it says bad file or command.

I've gone to FILE SEARCH for SCANREG and it found the program, when I click it, it just scans the registry for errors.

I've also for some reason had SYSTEM RESTORE disabled in the system menu?!?!?. Don't know why that was checked. So when I went to MSCONFIG and selected the restore system option it only had 1 restore available which was from a few minutes ago when I re enabled system restore:errr:

Neil


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[gromit77]

Hello :rolleyes:

Well, firstly we have some success!!!....OE now loads straight away, I managed to do both the replacement of the IMAGEHLP.DLL file, which didn't appear to do very much, and replace the pstores, which seemed to do the job.

Just one thing!!!...... the last instruction was to go to DOS and type c:\windows\system\pstores.exe -install when I typed this it came up with BAD FILE OR COMMAND. When I came out, as I say OE worked fine. But I'm worried that I may have deleted something from the registry and it hasn't been installed?

I've checked and the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES\PROTECTED STOREAGE is there, and when I click one folder appears PARAMETERS before I deleted the above registry key I'm sure there were two folders. I don't remember what it was though but I do remember it mentioned PSTORES in there?!?!?

Does this make sense?...am I missing something or is what I now have normal?

Thanks for all your help folks!

Neil

PS. Nice to see the site back....and loooking grrrrreeat!! :thRt:

[LeRoi]

I wouldn't worry too much about it if things are working fine. Sometimes you get error messages for no reason, well some reason, but I have read about procedures where it was normal to receive error messages and the purposes were accomplished just fine.

You could do a search for pstores.exe and see if it exists where it is supposed to be, but don't do anything about it till other more experienced folks get here and take a look at your question.

>> Nice to see the site back....and loooking grrrrreeat!!<<

It does look great doesn't it? :jig:

I can take absolutely no credit for any of it because of one thing and another I couldn't help, wish I could have. :blush:

[Amie]

Hi Neil.

Good to see you back too.

I can't tell you for certain what was in your registry, but I have attached a screen shot of my entries under that key for comparison. I would say that if everything is working properly, you did a good job, and to stop worrying.

[gromit77]

Amie,

That's it!! it was the S2 folder that hasn't reappeared. I have no idea what it is? Does anyone know whether it's essential?

Thanks

Neil

[Amie]

Neil

I don't know what that particular entry is for, but again have attached a screenshot. The data number is huge, I could not fit it all in the window. If I was you I would just forget about this, knowing windows it will soon give you something else to fix. :)


Amie :amie: