Member Avatar for gforrest

I recently ran ‘scanreg /restore’ to resolve a problem I was having getting Outlook Express to run. It runs now but is extremely slow staring up. It takes over a minute. Anyone have suggestions on how to speed things up again?

I’m running WIN98SE on a HP Pavilion Pentium III (model 8565C) with 128megs of RAM. Outlook Express version 6 (6.00.2800.1123) and IE SP1 (6.0.2800.1106).

Thanks for your help.

Glenn.

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A few extra, practical checks that often fix long Outlook Express startup delays — and they sit beside the Messenger/font ideas already suggested by and . Common root causes are (a) OE re-indexing or struggling with very large/corrupt message-store (.dbx) files, (b) Protected Storage/pstores problems left after registry or software changes, (c) antivirus e-mail‑scanning hooks that slow startup, and (d) Windows trying to talk to a component that no longer responds. Microsoft documents the ProtectedStorage/pstores issue and community threads have repeatedly flagged Messenger-related DCOM timeouts; excessive installed fonts can also slow client apps. (windowsbbs.com)

A short, safe diagnostic workflow to run now:

  1. Start OE while “Work Offline” (if it loads fast, suspect mail‑server timeouts).
  2. Create a temporary new OE identity (File > Identities > Add) and open OE to it — a fast start there points to profile/store corruption.
  3. Temporarily disable any AV e-mail scanning and re-test.
  4. Note the OE Message Store location (Tools > Options > Maintenance > Store Folder) so you can back up the .dbx files before making changes. These are standard OE troubleshooting steps. (learn.microsoft.com)

If the store looks large or corrupted: back up the entire store folder, then compact all folders while offline (File → Folder → Compact All Folders). If compacting fails or a single folder is enormous, move messages out, compact, or restore from the .bak copies — Microsoft and OE experts document this procedure and the risks (always backup first). Also leave background compaction off on older systems and test with AV scanning turned off. (learn.microsoft.com)

If none of the above shows the cause, capture a startup trace with Process Monitor to see which file or registry access is stalling OE (ProcMon is the Sysinternals tool for that). Before editing registry keys or deleting files, export and save backups (registry and message store). If desired, follow the Microsoft KB article on ProtectedStorage/pstores for the pstore steps. (learn.microsoft.com)

Short, careful tests in that order will usually identify whether the delay is network/server, store corruption, integration (Messenger/AV), or something else — and they keep risk low by insisting on a full backup before any destructive step.

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Member Avatar for Paddy

This is sort of a longshot, but if you have disabled/uninstalled Windows Messenger (not MSN Messenger) Outlook Express will open slowly because it is trying to automatically start Windows Messenger, but can't find it (because it ain't there). The reason it takes so long to realise is because it has a timeout limit which must be reached before it gives up trying. The way to fix it involves a little bit of registry editing, so you might want to make a backup if you are worried about making a cock-up hehehehe.

Press Start > Run... then type regedit into the box, and click OK. Navigate your way to the following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{FB7199AB-79BF-11D2-8D94-0000F875C541}

(To make a backup simply right-click on the key and choose Export, then save it somewhere where you will be able to find it again.)

Expand that key, and there should be a couple of sub-keys within it. One or two sub-keys should be labelled LocalServer32 and InProcServer32. There's a good chance that one or the other won't be there, but don't worry if that's the case. Single-click on the first one, and in the right-hand panel you'll see a string labelled (Default). Double-click it, and remove any information that's in it, and click OK. Do the same with the other sub-key I mentioned. Close the registry editor, and maybe you'd be best to reboot the computer. Try opening Outlook Express again and see if it has made any difference. If not, well, at least you've eliminated one other possibility ;) If you don't notice a difference you might want to import the backed-up registry keys again. All you need to do is double-click the registry file you saved and select "Yes" when prompted if you want to add it to the registry.

If it doesn't help I'll eat a pooh-sandwich as compensation.

Good luck :)

Member Avatar for jerrrrrrrrry

I had this problem after installing 2800 fonts on my computer.

After I cancelled the fonts, everything come back to normal : outlook started again in less 1 second.

Jerry

I recently ran ‘scanreg /restore’ to resolve a problem I was having getting Outlook Express to run. It runs now but is extremely slow staring up. It takes over a minute. Anyone have suggestions on how to speed things up again?

I’m running WIN98SE on a HP Pavilion Pentium III (model 8565C) with 128megs of RAM. Outlook Express version 6 (6.00.2800.1123) and IE SP1 (6.0.2800.1106).

Thanks for your help.

Glenn.

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