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General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Getback on January 08, 2009, 01:53:13 PM

Title: Mom's comp as an e-mail that we cannot delete
Post by: Getback on January 08, 2009, 01:53:13 PM: We've tried shift delete, turning off preview, turning off all av and spybot. Nothing seems to work. Could use some advice. It's windows Outlook express.

Thanks all.
Title: Re: Mom's comp as an e-mail that we cannot delete
Post by: Denholm on January 08, 2009, 02:01:03 PM: Probably won't work. Have you tried the Windows Command Prompt, "del" command? Here's an example:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>cd \

C:>cd Program Files

C:\Program Files>cd outlook express

C:\Program Files\Outlook Express>del test.txt

C:\Program Files\Outlook Express>

I'm not sure which folder your stored emails are located in. But as you can see from the information above, you need to guide Command Prompt to the folder with the email inside, then use the, "del" command to erase the file.

It might work, it might not. Just something to try.
Title: Re: Mom's comp as an e-mail that we cannot delete
Post by: Getback on January 08, 2009, 02:29:20 PM: I will give it a try.

Thanks
Title: Re: Mom's comp as an e-mail that we cannot delete
Post by: BaldEagl on January 08, 2009, 02:58:15 PM: I don't think that's going to work as Outlook stores everything in a single .pst file.
Title: Re: Mom's comp as an e-mail that we cannot delete
Post by: Getback on January 08, 2009, 03:01:01 PM: If I drill down to that file and that e-mail will that work? What if I drill down using windows itself?

What if I loaded Outlook and did an import? Could I delete it there? Or maybe loaded a different e-mail program? I'm not real sure about the import part.
Title: Re: Mom's comp as an e-mail that we cannot delete
Post by: BaldEagl on January 08, 2009, 04:32:17 PM: Quote from: Getback on January 08, 2009, 03:01:01 PM
If I drill down to that file and that e-mail will that work?

I'm not sure how you could view the contents of a .pst file except with Outlook. Have you tried just rebooting the computer?
Title: Re: Mom's comp as an e-mail that we cannot delete
Post by: Kermit de frog on January 08, 2009, 05:22:38 PM: How many emails do you have in your inbox?
Is it just this one email you can not delete?

Option 1

One way is to create a NEW folder inside Outlook Express, name it DELETE ME.
Move the email you want to delete into this folder.
Then, go to "Tools>Options>Maintenance tab>Store Folder" option.
Press CONTROL + C (Copies the address to your Store folder)
Cancel out of these windows and close OE. (Outlook express)
Go to your RUN command from your start menu.
Paste the address you copied earlier and then press enter.

Now let's backup your files now:
Press CONTROL + A to select all the files.
Press CONTROL + C to copy all the files.
Leave this Folder open for now.
Open your My Documents folder.
Create a new folder in your My Documents and name it "Email BACKUP"
Open the "email backup" folder.
Press CONTROL + V
Close the "email backup" folder after it finished copying the files over.
Go back to the store folder, which should still be open.
Find and then delete the delete me.dbl file.
Restart Outlook Express.

Option 2
If you can not move the email in question

You can then leave it in the inbox, and move all the other email into another folder.
Then, go to "Tools>Options>Maintenance tab>Store Folder" option.
Press CONTROL + C (Copies the address to your Store folder)
Cancel out of these windows and close OE. (Outlook express)
Go to your RUN command from your start menu.
Paste the address you copied earlier and then press enter.

Let's backup your files first:
Press CONTROL + A to select all the files.
Press CONTROL + C to copy all the files.
Leave this Folder open for now.
Open My Documents.
Create a new folder in your My Documents and name it "Email BACKUP"
Open the "email backup" folder.
Press CONTROL + V
Close the "email backup" folder after it finished copying the files over.
Go back to the store folder, which should still be open.
Find and then delete the inbox.dbl file.

OE will create a new inbox.dbl file for you when you start it back up.

Hope this helps. I've done this once and was a while back.
Title: Re: Mom's comp as an e-mail that we cannot delete
Post by: 1azbaer on January 11, 2009, 01:11:25 PM: I had this once. I think I marked it as "READ" then moved it to differnt folder then I was able to remove it. If i rememebr it had a corrupted attachment that was causing the problem.
Title: Re: Mom's comp as an e-mail that we cannot delete
Post by: Getback on January 11, 2009, 02:34:45 PM: Quote from: 1azbaer on January 11, 2009, 01:11:25 PM
I had this once. I think I marked it as "READ" then moved it to differnt folder then I was able to remove it. If i rememebr it had a corrupted attachment that was causing the problem.

Yes it has an attachment. But you can't even touch it without it locking up Outlook Express.
Title: Re: Mom's comp as an e-mail that we cannot delete
Post by: eagl on January 11, 2009, 02:46:37 PM: Quote from: BaldEagl on January 08, 2009, 02:58:15 PM
I don't think that's going to work as Outlook stores everything in a single .pst file.

He said outlook express, which stores every mail folder in a separate .dbx file.
Title: Re: Mom's comp as an e-mail that we cannot delete
Post by: Kermit de frog on January 11, 2009, 02:54:43 PM: Quote from: Getback on January 11, 2009, 02:34:45 PM
Yes it has an attachment. But you can't even touch it without it locking up Outlook Express.

Your common problem has a solution. Follow my instructions from my previous post in this thread.
Title: Re: Mom's comp as an e-mail that we cannot delete
Post by: Getback on January 12, 2009, 01:32:09 PM: I'm going to give that last one a shot.