Help needed to get rid of a Rx message in Outlook Express

[Gustavus]

I received a message from a colleague in Austria. It is digitally signed, but his messages have always been digitally signed and that has never caused a problem. Simply the selection of the mesaage in the menu of received messages freezes my computer. Ctrl-Alt-Del shows Ourlook Express not responding. Ending running task results in a BSOD forcing me to reboot the system.

I cannot delete the message since selecting it freezes the machine. I cannot avoid selecting it since it is the last message received and is selected as soon as I go to the inbox. The catch 22 is that I cannot delete it since if I select it the machine freezes. I cannot avoid selecting it if I open the inbox etc.

Can one of you tell me where Outlook Express stores its file of received messages? I may be able to go there and delete his message without opening Outlook Express. I do not want to delete all messages in the file since I have several hundred that I want to keep.

Thanks for your help.
Gus

 

[gopunk]

C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Identities\{A2A1A8C0-874E-11D5-BF92-F0B761024920}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

that is the path to it on my work computer, it will be something similar, depending on what os you have. i'm pretty sure under win2k, it'll be something like c:\winnt\profiles\*user*\ right before app data. look for the .dbx files, there's one for every folder. your best bet is to get your folder's dbx file and place it on some other computer (in the same/similar directory), delete the message, and move this dbx file back.

hope this helps.

edit: oh btw, some of those folders enroute to your dbx files might be hidden, so keep it in mind.

 

[Gustavus]

gopunk
Thanks. The inbox.dbx file is right where you said it should be. I still have to figure out how to open a *.dbx file and edit out the unwanted entry, but this a hopeful start. It is Hell to be locked out of you e-mailer in a Catch 22 scenario. Thanks again for the help. Hope I can return the favor someday.
Gus Simmons

 

[Ladi]

Assuming you have the preview pane open, are you able to select/delete the message after closing it?

Have you tried just waiting a while longer to see if OE "unfreezes" itself? Relevant KB article.

~Ladi

 

[gopunk]

ladi: damn, i missed that kb article and yea you bring up a good point with the preview pane, i forgot all about that.

gus: no problem, any time. try ladi's suggestions first though. i don't know how to edit dbx files either... sorry.

 

[Gustavus]

Ladi
You get the cigar. I followed your suggestion and the problem is fixed -- checking "never" on the revocation checking line completely solved the problem. No more crashes and I have deleted the offending message. This is the sort of help that distinguishes AT.

 

[Gustavus]

Ladi
You get the cigar. I followed your suggestion and the problem is fixed -- checking "never" on the revocation checking line completely solved the problem. No more crashes and I have deleted the offending message. This is the sort of help that distinguishes AT.

PS Outlook Express did not unfreeze even after a long wait, but as I said the problem is now fixed.

PPS I just noticed that the AT editor is behaving oddly. I had clicked on edit to add the postscript and then on update to post it. The edited message was posted as a new message entirely. If this behaves the same, there will be three postings of the same info, the original, one with the PS and now this one with the PPS.

Again, thanks for the help. I am really glad to have this problem solved.