Thank-you for the reply Rich,
I have not recently installed or removed any software or performed any
registry work.
How do I back up my registry?
depends on your OS. in winxp you can use windows backup to backup the
system files which include the registry. you can also use 3rd party
programs to do this.
What can I do to fix the current problem?
that's trickier. there are software packages out there that will scan
and repair registry files but you can really screw up a machine by
screwing with the registry. not all registry software packages work
as intended. i use winrescue xp but that is more of a backup/restore
program than a repair package.
assuming your problem IS the registry, it could be that the registry
has become partially corrupted or even confused due to conflicting
entries...two different entries providing conflicting instructions to
OL.
what you might try first is this:
click START:SETTINGS:CONTROL PANEL:ADD/REMOVE SOFTWARE. see if OL (or
MS Office if you've installed that package) is in the list of
programs. if it IS AND you have an option showing to CHANGE or REPAIR
the installation you might try that. for example, my OL2000
installation was accomplished thru installing MS Office 2000. when i
select CHANGE MS Office in my list of ADD/REMOVE software I get an
option to REPAIR office. you shouldn't mess things up any worse than
they are now by trying that. reboot when done.
if that doesn't work OR OL (or MS Office) is not listed in the
ADD/REMOVE program list then its pretty clear that you're going to
have to re-install OL (or MS Office). but before you do that you
probably should check for viruses and spyware.
assuming you have a good anti-virus program i would scan my entire
hard drive for viruses. if you find any delete or, better yet,
quarantine them. then re-scan. keep re-scanning until you get a
complete pass without finding any viruses. reboot when done.
i would then scan for spyware/malware. spyware (sometimes called
adware) can have pretty devastating effects on the registry. there
are two good free programs you can use to scan your hard drive. the
first is called ad-aware
(
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/). the other is called
spybot search and destroy (
http://www.safer-networking.org/). as i
said each of these is free. download, install and run each until you
get at least one pass from each package that doesn't report finding
any spyware. again once you're done scanning, reboot.
you can then re-install OL.
-Should I download the free registry mechanic 4.0 for windows and try that?
i have no experience with that software, thomas so i can't advise you.
i can tell you that the registry on winxp/nt is pretty robust and
doesn't need a lot of maintenance. that's not the case with win98.
but be very careful downloading and using software that purports to
fix registry problems. i would stick with known software that your
friends and colleagues have actually used and can safely recommend.
before you do any work on the registry be sure and back it up. that
way you can restore the registry to its state prior to your attempt to
fix it. if you're using winxp you can use windows backup for this. i
don't recall if win98 allowed that or not.
i believe that most problems have a relatively simple solution so i'm
betting that the repair of your OL or MS Office installation will do
the trick. if it does be sure to scan for viruses and spyware anyway.
rich
