Email help please

[vbhoutex]

My email(outlook express) will recieve and send emails but I can not view them in the preview pane or if I open them. It just shows an hourglass icon like it is working to retrieve the messages.

Any ideas what is going on or how to fix it?

[GalvestonDuck]

David -- I really hate to give you the cookie cutter answer that our information services guys at UTMB always give us when we call for tech support, but I'm going to.

Have you rebooted?

I use Outlook at work and any probs we usually have with email are due to a network outage and reconnecting solves the problem.

Also, we've been told not to use the preview pane because of viruses.

[vbhoutex]

done the reboot a few times and getting ready to do it again. RR seems to catch everything that comes or trys to come through, but who knows? I also have McAfee that runs at start up.

[azsnowman]

I just posted this in Jeremys thread, I've got the SAME dam thing going on......and like I said, it's ONLY on Outlook Express, everything else is OK!

Dennis

[vbhoutex]

I just posted this in Jeremys thread, I've got the SAME dam thing going on......and like I said, it's ONLY on Outlook Express, everything else is OK!

Dennis

EXACTLY!!!!!!

[BocaGirl]

Couple of things-first, did you recently download a new virus definition file? Also, you mention "RR". What is RR? Can you open a message without the preview pane. I don't allow the users on my network to use the preview pane-it's too easy for an malicious script or a virus to infect a computer directly from the preview pane.

Have you installed any new software? Performed any new Windows updates?

I have been researching the problem-it seems like you're not alone. Let me know the answers to the above questions and we'll try to proceed.

BocaGirl
Barbara

[vbhoutex]

RR is roadrunner, my isp.

Son installed a new game, but it is off of a CD(original). I don't know of any other downloads. and I haven't done any updates lately with all the confusion of being off line for a week or so. I am going to take some things off that I am not using. I get popups all the time about spyware which is very annoying. It is the one tha opens your CD doors9or whatever youcall them). Before this all started and the downtime occurred I was setting it up with RR as the home start up and downloading some/going to download some firewall etc. stuff that came with it. got interrupted and haven't gotten back to it.
I just downloaded a new virus definition file last night.

Thanks for anything you can find Barbara.

[BocaGirl]

RR is roadrunner, my isp.

Son installed a new game, but it is off of a CD(original). I don't know of any other downloads. and I haven't done any updates lately with all the confusion of being off line for a week or so. I am going to take some things off that I am not using. I get popups all the time about spyware which is very annoying. It is the one tha opens your CD doors9or whatever youcall them). Before this all started and the downtime occurred I was setting it up with RR as the home start up and downloading some/going to download some firewall etc. stuff that came with it. got interrupted and haven't gotten back to it.
I just downloaded a new virus definition file last night.

David, your post strikes fear into heart because it indicates that one of several different conditions might be going on.........Since Outlook Express is built into Windows and your son installed a new game, well, the game might have croaked a few files necessary for your mail. You also mention that you're having a problem with a spyware. Any spyware problem doesn't get better with time......it only gets worse. Then you started downloading "firewall etc. stuff" from RoundRunner but didn't complete the download. Finally, you threw a new virus definition into the mix.

It's important to remember that Windows and Outlook Express and any other program re all just a collection of files. They all are co-dependent on each other. If one itty bitty file is messed up-poof-something goes awry.

Without sitting down at your computer, it's going to be hard to diagnose the problem. Unfortunately. I suggest you connect to the Internet (if you're not already connected) and go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

Let the system tell you which critical updates you need. If you haven't done this in a while, it might take some time.

Then when it's done, go back into Outlook Express. Try mail again. Can you send and receive messages WITHOUT the Preview pane? Now try it with the Preview pane. (I think I told you I don't let the users on my network enable the darn thing. I've cleaned up after it too many times.)

Not to get on my soapbox, but everyone who has Windows 2000 or Windows XP should be downloading the latest security patches from Microsoft. Also everyone should have up to date virus protection!

Anyway, let me know how it comes out-either here or by e-mail.

BocaGirl
Barbara

[GalvestonDuck]

Barbara -- or anyone else who might know -- have you ever heard of a .jn file?

Years ago, when I was young and naive, I "rented" a computer from one of those rent-to-own places. It came with tons of software, including some kids/young adults package of fun stuff. There was some kind of "Kid's Adventure" software with a bunch of different applications. I just vaguely remember that I could run it and there was a cartoonish treehouse on the main screen. If you clicked on certain icons in the treehouse, you could open certain applications. One such application was a password-protected journal. (Now keep in mind, this was the old, old, old Windows with all those desktop icons that looked the same...and this was in the days before blogging.)

My mom worried back then about hackers and the horror stories she'd heard, and she told me not to save too much stuff on my computer. I figured the password-protected journal stuff was great. And it was. And, no, I never forgot the password.

The problem is that I didn't keep the computer. I saved the files (some of it was serious writing I had done and still want) to floppies. And when I had access to a new computer, I tried to refer back to all my stuff on disks. However, now I can't open those particular files because they are .jn files.

I've searched ebay to try to find that software but searching for "kid's adventure software" gets all sorts of hits and none of it looks familiar. I've tried to copy the file and rename it to a .txt or .doc. That doesn't work.

Any ideas on what I need to open a .jn file?

Thanks!

[BocaGirl]

Barbara -- or anyone else who might know -- have you ever heard of a .jn file?

Any ideas on what I need to open a .jn file?

Thanks!

Shawn, I thought I knew the software you were talking about it. It was put out about the same time Reader Rabbit was popular. Anyway, I queried Google with the following query:
"kids adventure" "Windows 3.1" journal

and got three hits.

The most promising was this one:
Detailed Item Descripton
... COMPANY Packaging: retail box Category: KIDS - ADVENTURE & MYSTERY ... Story & Poem Writing;
Report & Journal Writing ... Windows 3.1/95/98; 486/66MHz or better; 8MB RAM; ...
http://www.catlink.info/ItemInfo.asp?itemID=1743 - 8k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

but when I clicked the link I found out the software is no longer made. GRRRRR. Even if you found it, you might not get it to run on a 2000 or XP computer without a bit of tweaking.

The maker of the program I found is Catlinks. They make Court software and are very good at coming up with file formats no one else can touch. Unfortunately.

But it's worth a try, have you tried WordPad? Or better still, WordPerfect. WP was and is kinder and gentler about file formats than Word sometimes.

Anyway, let me know if we're on the right track.

BocaGirl
Barbara

[coriolis]

Duck, you couldn't even read it in note pad?

David, if I had an answer, I guess I can't email it to you. Did you try a system restore? Some people say avoid restores, but it has saved my butt a couple of times. Otherwise I've gotten a lot of information by just going to google and typing in a description of the problem. Each time I've done that there's many articles to read.

[vbhoutex]

Well I did the updates and it did not help the email situation. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

The McAfee scan caught and deleted a few things while I was going through this and while I was on im with a friend in Ohio. That is scary since it appeared to be pickiung up things that were in the download from Microsoft.

[BocaGirl]

Well I did the updates and it did not help the email situation. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

The McAfee scan caught and deleted a few things while I was going through this and while I was on im with a friend in Ohio. That is scary since it appeared to be pickiung up things that were in the download from Microsoft.

David-I'm afraid there is too much about your computer that I don't know for me to try to help you with any degree of intelligence. For example, I don't know the make/model, operating system, memory, available hard drive space, what's running, etc. All of these things might be contributing factors to the problem.

That said, I do have a few generic questions. Can you open an e-mail message without the preview pane? That is important. Also, when you ran the updates from Microsoft, did you have every other program closed? That is also important. Can you print? Another clue.

BTW, whenever you run a virus scan, or install new software or updates, you are always better off if you close everything. Your post make it sound like you were installing, scanning and im'ing at the same time.

BocaGirl
Barbara