Tag Archives: outlook express

Outlook Express generates error 0x800c013b

Computer Aid Posted on by

This PC suddenly couldn’t access emails via Outlook Express.

When trying to run Outlook Express, it would immediately crash with the error: 0x800c013b

I take a look at the outlook DBX files, and they are all there.

I search for a solution on the net, and find that often, the sent items.dbx file gets corrupted (usually if the PC loses power during a folder compact operation).

So I rename sent items.dbx to sent items.dbx.old

But I still get the error.

I start to suspect that the problem is inbox.dbx, so I rename it, and now Outlook Express starts normally (minus emails that were in Inbox and Sent Items.

I shutdown and rename sent items back to its original name, and restarting OE shows that sent items is now back to normal.

Luckily the customer had already copied the emails from inbox, so there was no need to recover the emails… otherwise I would have needed to look for something like DBXtract to recover “lost” emails from inbox.

Outlook express spell check in french only

Computer Aid Posted on by

This PC had an odd problem: Outlook express would not spell check.

I thought: simple enough: make sure that spell check is enabled, and make sure the correct dictionary is used.

But a quick look at tools -> options -> spelling -> language … and I quickly found that the only language available was: French.

Where was the English dictionary?

After a quick search, the answer became obvious: When you install Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010, Microsoft have decided to create “new” spell check dictionaries that are incompatible with outlook express.

Since Outlook express can no longer use English, German and Spanish dictionaries, it has no choice but to use French… what the ???

It seems the only solution is to install a free OE “plugin” that gives OE the ability to spell check in English again… as long as you spell in “UnitedStatian”, rather than British spelling.

That shouldn’t be a big problem, since British and UnitedStatian spelling is similar enough, and much better than having to teach French to the English world!

The customer was happy to get any spell checking working, so he didn’t care that it wasn’t Australian spelling.

If you are looking for the OE spellcheck addon, its called spelloe, and can be downloaded from:

SpellOE

outlook express links not opening browser

Computer Aid Posted on by

With Outlook Express, whenever you clicked on an email or web link, nothing would happen… sometimes the mouse pointer would briefly show the busy logo, but otherwise nothing.

I look on the net, and find all sort of suggestions.

The obvious ones involve correcting default file associations (but the email file association hadn’t been changed, and re-entering it made no difference.

Another suggestion was to re-register some critical dlls ie:

regsvr32 urlmon.dll
regsvr32 Shdocvw.dll
regsvr32 Msjava.dll
regsvr32 Actxprxy.dll
regsvr32 Oleaut32.dll
regsvr32 Browseui.dll
regsvr32 Mshtml.dll
regsvr32 Shell32.dll

But some of the commands give weird errors like:

  • mshtml.dll was loaded, but the dll register server entry point was not found… The file cannot be registered
  • shdocvw.dll failed. Return code was: 0x8002801c

I decided to install firefox, and see if I could use it as a workaround.

But after installing firefox, I just could not start it (I’d just get a busy hourglass for a few seconds, then nothing.

I finally found a solution that worked:

start control panel -> internet options ->advanced -> reset

Isn’t it amazing how 1 simple button, buried deep in a menu option, can fix a strange problem.

changing printout font size in outlook express

Computer Aid Posted on by

Recently, I’ve had a few elderly customers buy new computers.

Often they will need to have the screen fonts made “larger” due to poor eyesight.

Usually this will involve a combination of running the screen at a lower resolution (800X600 or 1024X768), and changing the “font size” in display properties to large or extra-large.

At one point, I was told that despite the screen font being large enough, printing out emails resulted in tiny fonts (which were difficult to read).

I started looking into various outlook express options, but nothing seemed to work.

After some research, I found the solution:

It turns out that Outlook Express uses Internet explorer to handle the print rendering.

So, as strange as it might seem, you can increase the printout font size for both outlook express and internet exploder by running IE, go to: view -> text size, and select Large, Largest, Small, Smallest, or Medium.

Simple, yet obscure.

problem with outlook express sending a large/huge email

Computer Aid Posted on by

A customer (for the second time in about 6 months) sent a huge email from outlook express (about 40 digital camera attachments). This causes OE to become unusable.

I figure the procedure for fixing the problem is a bit to complex to explain over the phone.

Once I’m there, I see I can start OE, but as soon as I do a send/receive, it effectively locks up.

The problem is bound to be the outbox.dbx file, so I find it at:

C:Documents and Settings{userid}Local SettingsApplication DataIdentities{LongNumber}MicrosoftOutlook Express

(substitute {userid} for your actual user id, and {LongNumber} with the name of the folder at that position (which has a lots of numbers)).

To be safe, I rename outbox.dbx to outbox.dbxx

That clears the problem

I also educate customer on how to check emails sizes, as sending images usually involves having some “technical” knowledge of image sizes, and how to reduce them by changing resolution and image quality.

nowadays, its easy to attach 10 or 20 photos from a digital camera, without realising that each photo can be 1 to 4 MB in size… leading to an email that is 10 to 80 Mb in size (which most ISPs cannot handle for various reasons).

Now thats a nice idea for a new email client: have it automagically warn you if the email is bigger than, say, 2MB, and then offer to reduce the image size for you.

res://ieframe.dll/preview.dlg error while printing from outlook express

Computer Aid Posted on by

Customer had problems printing from outlook express. Every time, she would get a res://ieframe.dll/preview.dlg error.

Printing from ie and MSword worked fine.

OK, a quick look at the web found a (badly typed) solution. A quick typo fix, and:

Regsvr32.exe %Windir%System32Ole32.dll

That fixed the res://ieframe.dll/preview.dlg problem.

I also help her with her monitor speaker (a new lcd monitor, but only the right speaker would work). solved that by adjusting the left-right balance.

I fixed a few other minor problems (I love customers that write a list of problems to be fixed!)

Towards the end, she (and hubby) became more talkative, and told me about their previous techs.

She liked to call them “laurel and hardy”… one would always sit and “direct” the other one on what to do/try. They always took many hours to fix things, and would then charge a huge fee.

Looks like I’ve pick up another regular customer!

Outlook express & faulty modem

Computer Aid Posted on by

Had a small business call about problems with email & internet (after they upgraded their computer system).

Tried to copy all their outlook express (OE) emails & folders using the export/import function… but to no avail (I think I need to brush up on my OE skills).

Eventually used the winxp “system settings migration” wizard, to copy everything over…

But still no dialup connection… eventually tracked it down to a faulty modem (the modem log showed no response from the modem), so a quick swap of modems fixed everything, except for a strange error message while sending emails, but it doesn’t stop the emails from being sent, so we decided to just leave it for the moment.