Outlook Express issue!

[WizeOne]

Every now and again, when I exit Outlook Express I get a message that asks if I want to compact the email files. I used to click OK and walk away and it would complete it's task and close itself out.

Lately, it will go part way thru the operation and produce a message box the says "The folder is currently in use by Outlook Express or another application"

This will stop the operation until I click OK in the box. It will then still take a while to finish the operation. When this happens, which is everytime it runs, I have absolutely nothing else open, including Outlook Express.

Anyone have any input on this aggravating issue?

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: Outlook Express issue!

Look in the recycle bin and see if there are copies of the various mailboxes in there. Outlook Express puts a copy of the original ones in there before compacting so you can recover if things go bad. You might try moving or deleting any old copies of mailboxes in the Recycle bin to see if that fixes the problem.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Outlook Express issue!

I'll look next time I allow compacting to start. My recylce bin get's emptied on a regular basis so there would be nothing there now.

 

[dolluper]

Re: Outlook Express issue!

What are you running like what OP ....windows 98 LOL'S

 

[dr_bowtie]

Re: Outlook Express issue!

this is the reason I hate Outlook....

I use Thunderbird and port all clients to that... works much better

 

[i386]

Re: Outlook Express issue!

You might have a "rogue" Outlook Express process running in the background. After OE is closed, fire up the task manager and look in processes. I believe the process is named msimn. If you see one, kill it.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Outlook Express issue!

Could be a trojan mining your outlook for information. Definitely not normal symptoms.

hope it helps
John

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Outlook Express issue!

You might have a "rogue" Outlook Express process running in the background. After OE is closed, fire up the task manager and look in processes. I believe the process is named msimn. If you see one, kill it.

A reminder on how to get to task mgr?

As far as a 'bad' ware causing it, several different scans have not detected it.

 

[i386]

Re: Outlook Express issue!

A reminder on how to get to task mgr?

As far as a 'bad' ware causing it, several different scans have not detected it.

Right-click the taskbar and click task manager

-or-

Ctrl-Alt-Del and click the task manager button

Then click the Processes tab. Click the Image Name column header to make it sort that column alphabetically. Scroll down and look for msimn. There shouldn't be one if OE isn't open. If you see one, select it and click end process.


AFAIK OE is the only application that should be accessing its own data file(s) so we check there first. What I meant by "rogue process" is sometimes a program will appear to crash because the window disappears. Sometimes only the window disappears but the program continues to run in the background. That's what we're trying to check.


j_martin is also correct, but I would say lets rule out the program that normally accesses the data file(s) before we get into looking for malware.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Outlook Express issue!

Just because a scanner doesn't see it doesn't mean there isn't one.
1. Sometimes a new stealth downloader will get in before the scanners have the signature, and then hide from it.
2. In a one week period when conflicker first hit the streets, I sent 3 new trojans to Kaspersky in one week from different machines in the enterprise. They morph at an alarming rate.

hope it helps
John

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Outlook Express issue!

Have you upgraded or loaded any new virus protection software. I know Avast has an Outlook Add-In but in my installation is good to close itself when Outlook closes.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Outlook Express issue!

Right-click the taskbar and click task manager

-or-

Ctrl-Alt-Del and click the task manager button

Then click the Processes tab. Click the Image Name column header to make it sort that column alphabetically. Scroll down and look for msimn. There shouldn't be one if OE isn't open. If you see one, select it and click end process.


AFAIK OE is the only application that should be accessing its own data file(s) so we check there first. What I meant by "rogue process" is sometimes a program will appear to crash because the window disappears. Sometimes only the window disappears but the program continues to run in the background. That's what we're trying to check.


j_martin is also correct, but I would say lets rule out the program that normally accesses the data file(s) before we get into looking for malware.

Duh! How soon we forget!!

I checked task manager processes with OE open and closed. (I have not had a compaction action yet) The msimn.exe is there when OE is open and gone when it is closed.

I do not understand what you are saying about the AFAIK OE application??

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Outlook Express issue!

Have you upgraded or loaded any new virus protection software. I know Avast has an Outlook Add-In but in my installation is good to close itself when Outlook closes.

BB, next time I get a request for a compaction I will close Avast, check for the msimm process and let 'er rip to see what happens.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Outlook Express issue!

Just ran another compaction. Just before I gave the ok to start it I paused Avast in the event that played a part in the 'folder in use' message.

As it was running, I checked taskmanager. Indeed, the 'msimn.exe' process was running even though Outlook Express was closed. I just went ahead and left the process running and sure enough, I got the 'folder in use' message and had to OK it before the compaction would resume and finish.

I assume that the compaction process was keeping the 'msimn.exe' process running. Next time I will stop msimn.exe and see what happens to the compaction process.

 

[i386]

Re: Outlook Express issue!

After giving this some thought, I think it should be normal to see one msimn process running. After all, compacting the folders is a function of Outlook Express. I think my theory would be true only if there were TWO msnmn processes.

Take a few minutes and give this article a read:

http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/files/maintain.htm

It's worth reading the entire article carefully before you do anything. The section labeled "Compact your OE Folders" is particularly interesting as it explains how to start compacting manually. It also has instructions that deal with the "file in use" error.

I wish you luck fixing your Outlook Express, but I would also like to recommend what I believe is a much better Email program.

Mozilla Thunderbird: http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/

The interface is very similar to Outlook Express so it's easy to learn. It will import your mail and addresses from Outlook Express too. What I like the most though is the spam filter. It learns as it goes. All you have to do to teach it is highlight a message and click either "Junk" or "Not Junk". It also follows the same philosophy as Firefox. The program is very lightweight and basic, but add-ons are available to add features you might want. Giving Thunderbird a try will not disturb your Outlook Express mail. If you don't like it, you can simply uninstall it and continue using OE.

I use Gmail now, but when I used Thunderbird I also used MozBackup to make regular backups of my email.

http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/