outlook express and MSN messenger

[zedex1100]

Hi again. (windows xp home) I have a situation, when i start my computer in the morning, my contacts in MSN, go into my contacts in outlook express. If i shut down outlook express, and reopen outlook express, they are gone.
I find this annoying and would like my msn contacts to remain msn contacts and stay put where they belong.

I know with my 98 system, if i had msn running and open, and then opened outlook, the MSN contacts would join the outlook contacts. With my xp system, when i first got it, i went into MSCONFIG and dissabled MSN from running at startup. So im pretty sure its not running at startup.

Thanks again for any pointers how to fix this.

:)

[ecross]

The problem is likely with Windows Messenger starting. Since both Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger both use the .Net passport. Open Outlook Express -> Tools -> Options and click to clear the Automatically Log on to Windows Messenger checkbox. See if that does the trick.

[zedex1100]

Hi Ecross. I went into tools/options, and the automatically log on to windows messenger was unchecked already.

Thanks for the suggestion though. Anything else i can try?

[photolady]

You can customize the tool bar as in remove Windows Messenger from even being there. Right click in a blank area on the tool bar, select "Customize" and in the right hand window find Windows Messenger and click on the "remove" button. It doesn't actually remove it from your system, just removes it from the tool bar and thus doesn't start when you open OE.

[ecross]

This should fix it. It explains how to use the Registry and hiding Windows Messenger from Outlook Express.

Remove Windows Messenger from Outlook Express
http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/989

[zedex1100]

ok. I right clicked my task bar. went into customization. There was no setting for delete windows messenger. Only (always hide) which i checked,or (always show) or (hide when inactive)
Also was a setting for MSN messenger which i clicked hide when inactive.
Still no such luck. When i reboot, those pesky contacts from msn are in my outlook contact box. But as soon as i close outlook, and reopen outlook, they are gone..Hmmmmm.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I really dont know if its windows messenger( which actually i think i uninstalled from my add/remove programs folder a while ago because its not there now). So i am thinking it is msn messenger.

I really dont want to screw about with the directory until i have exhausted all the easier suggestions but thanks anyways ecross.

Keep those suggestions coming

:)

[photolady]

Not Task bar, but Tool bar in Outlook Express. Where it shows, create mail, reply, reply all, forward, etc. Right click on an empty space there, then select Customize.

[zedex1100]

You did it again Photolady.

You da best.:D

[photolady]

You're welcome for the help. ;) Thanks zedex1100 :)

[zedex1100]

Well. That didnt last. My msn contacts show up in outlook again. It worked for a few days. Only when i reboot they show up. Grrrrrrrr:mad: :)

[photolady]

Ok go back to where you right clicked and got the customize the tool bar options. In the right hand pane you should see the word "Contact"/Icon for it. Just click on it to highlight the icon, the press the Remove button in the middle of the customize window. Then close that window, and click the X in the right hand corner on your contacts box/window that shows below your inbox folders window.

[zedex1100]

The right hand box?(Current toolbar buttons). There is no contact there but there is addresses.

[photolady]

They say pictures are worth a thousand words. So I put together a small photo layout to show you what I meant. See below. The top part of the picture, shows you right click to customize. The middle part shows you the word Contacts highlighted and the bottom pic shows you the X I was talking about that is showing your contacts in OE.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/photolady/contactsremoval.jpg

[zedex1100]

Thanks Photolady. Like i said though. There is no (contacts) in that box.

In that box is ..
Reply
Reply all
forward
Print
Delete
Send/Recieve
Addresses
Find

No contacts. Contacts is listed in the availabe icons folder.

[photolady]

Ok I see it is already removed. But you know what, that was how my preview was to start with. It didn't show on the tool bar and the only way I could turn it off was allow it to be there, then remove it. You might want to go ahead and add it to your tool bar, then go in and remove it again. Click the X after you do that too.

[zedex1100]

Ok. Will give that a go. Thanks.

Looks like that may have worked. Thanks again Photolady. I will give it a few days and post back with the results.

[photolady]

I hope that fixed it. Otherwise you may have to do a repair of OE to fix the problem. I'll keep my fingers crossed this works. ;)

[zedex1100]

With your fingers crossed and my toes crossed, this could work.:) ;)

[zedex1100]

Well that lasted a day. When i reboot they all go back in . Not only that but. I have my monitor to turn off 10 minutes after i leave the computer. That setting never stays put. Half the time i have to go back into properties and reset it.

And another problem. If i go into my pictures. The display comes up tiles. I set it to LIST because its easier to go through all my photos. That setting never stays either. Goes back to tiles.

Is this a problem with XP?
I think its more a problem with microsoft garbage.

I really dont understand why everything has gone microsoft. It seems to me that it isnt worth beans and there are so many problems with it, why hasnt the industry gone Mac. Or is mac just as bad a MS??
Ok. Thats my rant. Im done.


:mad: :mad: :mad:

[ecross]

Why don't you try what I suggested?

[photolady]

Do as Ecross suggested and remove Windows Messenger altogther. I have MSN Messenger 6.2 and have none of the problems you are experiencing and that is because I removed Windows Messenger. Give it try....

[zedex1100]

I removed windows messenger a few weeks ago. It should be in my settings/add/remove folder. Its not there . Anywhere else i should look. I have msn messenger 6.2 . Maybe i will get rid of it and reinstall it.

Any ideas why my other settings wont stay? IE, my pictures

[photolady]

Actually I've never seen my MSN Messenger show up in OE only Windows Messenger. And Windows Messenger isn't in Add/Remove except under Windows components, and even if you take the check mark out in there, that is not going to remove it.

One other thing you could do is repair IE/OE. See the link below:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/repair_reinstall_ie_and_oe_6.htm

[zedex1100]

Hi again. I didnt do anything new to the box but now it seems to be working fine. No msn contacts in my outlook box. Strange box it is.
For some reason this computer doesnt like to remember settings.

Thanks for the help. Im sure i will be back for more.;)

[photolady]

You could also do a few maintenance checks to make sure your files and folders are in sync with each other. Go to the "Run" in your Start menu and while your xp cd is in the drive, type sfc /scannow that will fix any wayward files and may possibly fix your problems with your computer not remembering settings. If that doesn't do it, go back to the same place (Run) and type in chkdsk /r please note the space between k and / and also with the xp cd in the drive.

[zedex1100]

Thanks Photolady.

[zedex1100]

Oh noooooo. I did what you said Photolady. sfc /scannow. Now my screen is completely buggy. No colors. Icons are very large, no resolution.

[zedex1100]

I try to set my resolution to other than 600x800. Wont let me. Also, monitor is stuck on color quality 4 bit. Cant do anything with it. Nice.

[zedex1100]

I like the system restore button. Thats nice though. Im back to square 1. wonder what happened??

[photolady]

I have no idea what happened there but........sfc /scannow only fixes corrupt files does not delete anything.

[SuperSparks]

Somehow the graphics driver got corrupted, so Windows defaulted to VGA mode. That's very unusual, with SFC, but it just goes to show that anything can happen when it comes to PC's.

[zedex1100]

Yea. No idea. I did exactly like you said. After it was done there was no message screen saying its finished. So i rebooted and everything was wacko.
Im taking the computer in tomorrow where i had it build . Those buckwheats can play with it and fix it. Im tired of resetting my settings every day.