Win98SE Hanging in email

[kwagner_51]

I have Win98SE using outlook express. When I get an email that is animated or plays music, the pc freezes! I have to reboot with the reset button. The mouse works but the keyboard won't let me do the soft reboot ctrl+alt+del.

What really puzzles me is it isn't JUST OLE. Some web pages also freeze. I can't figure out which ones will freeze and which ones won't. I have OLE set to plain text.

I run AVG anti-virus and it does a boot scan too. No Problems. I run the anti-virus every night at 11.00pm. I update the AVG files everyday, or as needed according to AVG.

I have 288.00MB RAM

AuthenticADM

ADM-K6 3D processor

and these things running in the background:

OLE

Explore

Avg

Msnmngr

rnaapp

webshotstray

systray

The performace on my pc right now is

76% free

I am at a lose as to what is causing this problem.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Karen

[Mark Miller]

Depending on what version of outlook express your using, it all ties in to ie. Have you checked under tools, internet options what permissions and what type of security you have set. Medium security is the most useful. and using just plain text might stop java and active x from working thus hanging up your box. Could be wrong but at least check it out and see if it helps
Have a great day Mark

[kwagner_51]

I use IE 6. Everything shows up as you described it. How do I change my email to html?

Thanks!

Karen

[slim]

Hi

If you are running IE6 then the chances are you are running outlook express 6. If so the html mail format should be under "Tools - Options" and then click the "Send" tab and set the mail sending format to HTML.

Going back to your computer freezing when playing animations or music, is it just certain websites or media types. Do you have any example websites we could look at to see what the media type is (just thinking it might me a software related issue)

Slim

[Mark Miller]

When you go into internet options click on advanced. Scroll down to Ms vm[ virtual machine or java] and make sure to click at least the last one. maybe the first too. Under that is mutimedia check what you would like, none of this stuff can hurt, more a privacy issue than anything else. What I mean is alot of people don't like java or active x because of popups and intrusion on system, me I don't worry so much about my one little machine [I use Ms firewall and a good antivirus]Anyway after all is done I would reboot and see if this helps. All this stuff can be played with ,and don't worry about killing your machine, you won't. If one dosn't work try differnt combos, especialy with the virtual machine.
Good Luck Mark:D
One thing I forgot do the samething in you email. go to tools open it up and look around. You really cannot hurt anything just keep track of what you do. I think under the mail server there is a click for html, not sure.
Mark

[kwagner_51]

Going back to your computer freezing when playing animations or music, is it just certain websites or media types. Do you have any example websites we could look at to see what the media type is (just thinking it might me a software related issue)

Here is a site that froze up on me today:

http://voyagerliveaction.com/fullmoonblues.html

It is EMERGENCY! Fan fction. I have used this site for 4 yrs. and NEVER had this problem before!

This story was in my email account first and didn't hang the system. I am about ready to reformat and go back to IE 5.5!

Thanks!

Karen

[kwagner_51]

How do I send an email to the list that causes my pc to freeze? It is mostly text but it does have an animated picture of a dove flying. That is as far as I got before it froze up again!


On the java screen, I ckecked the last one when I installed IE6 I checked the 1st one earlier today. Still having problems.

Thanks!

Karen

[kayofcircles]

I don't have IE 6, so not sure if can help..but what is OLE? I just glanced at my ConAltDel list of running tasks and I don't have anything called OLE. Thought that was "object linking and embedding"? I figure you have Webshots on your Desktop, and MS Messenger? Have you changed anything recently? Was the upgrade to IE 6 a recent change? Has the website you posted a link to "upgraded" their website recently? And, have you tried hitting the Stop button after a couple of seconds to see if you can get the text without loading all of the graphics that are probably causing your problem?

I have 98, IE 5, a 400 Mhz (Amd K6 2) chip..and I have locked up recently in a couple of places..like Hotmail and another website I can't remember name of. (Too chicken to click on your link..it's a pain to have to restart everything.) Since I haven't changed anything recently..neither added nor updated anything other than AVG..I think it is because of recent "pinging". And popups. It's been going in "waves", but some days I am getting pinged on the ZA firewall once every 2 minutes..meaning my ZA is running in the background repelling and recording those hits to a log..and of course, IE is busy loading a page, and if a popup comes in about the same time..I think it is just overwhelming my processor..too much at one time.

[kwagner_51]

OLE= Outlook Express I am going to get rid of IE6 amd go back to 5.5.

The only way I know how to do this is reformat. I reformatted in Sept. and I think my problem is being caused by the software I downloaded from YAHOO! to connect to the internet. I have tried repeatedly to delete the YAHOO! Browser bar. it is in Add/remove but it WILL NOT remove. :mad:

Thanks!

Karen

[Budfred]

I was thinking that you might have something else interfering as I was reading and now you say you have that Yahoo thing. There are several possible ways to remove that without having to reformat. You could try running Spybot Search & Destroy to see if it picks it up and is willing to remove it. Even if it doesn't, I would still run it because you may have something else on there that is causing the problem. mjc has a link posted to it at:

http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15179

There are also a number of program removal programs that are more thorough than Add/Remove. Here is a link to some downloads:

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/collection/0,collid,444,tk,picks,00.asp

The third option would be to use Add/Remove and then run Windoze registry cleaner to see if that gets rid of the vestiges.

A fourth would be to check in msconfig to see if something from Yahoo is loading in Startup; it probably is and unchecking it may stop it. You would then have to run with Selective Startup, but I would check to see what other dreck you have in Startup and uncheck it then do Selective Startup anyway. I have been doing that for a long time and it keeps things cleaner and working more smoothly.

Budfred

[kwagner_51]

I always run selective start, because I have so many programs listed in my start-up window. Can I use any of the programs for removal to get rid of IE 6? I honestly think that if I can get rid of this browser I will solve my problems. I have IE 5 on my cd. Or I could use the Suite 2000 cds to install another browser.

Thanks! I also run the spybot app. at start-up.

Karen

[sea69]

In order to downgrade from IE 6 back to IE 5.5 go to Add/Remove programs, highlight Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Tools and click the add/remove button. One of the options that comes up will be to restore to previous configuration. Select that one and it will restore IE back to 5.5.



:)

[kwagner_51]

Tried your suggestion about going back to IE 5.5 but it is grayed out and will not let me change it back!


Can I delete both IE 6 and Tools and OLE then reinstall from my Suite 2000 discs?


Thanks!

[sea69]

do not delete- uninstall..........

;)

[kayofcircles]

Which part is grayed out? If you click on IE 6 on the list in Add/Remove, then the Add/Remove button lights up, yes? Or are you saying something past that is grayed out?

Couple other comments. If you don't use Messenger, I would dump it. It sucks resources. And, later yesterday (duh!), I remembered that a friend had called me, and she was locked up (98, AOL) on a website, but had the mouse..it would move, but not "work". ConAltDel worked. Also, I wasn't paying attention one morning while Hotmail loaded, and a popup locked me up, but I noticed that ZA was still blinking and the mouse would move..so tried a ConAltDel, and it was sluggish (so give it a few seconds), but did work. Closed out top "not responding" which was the popup..and didn't have to restart puter. Might try that if you still have the mouse. And close out popups as soon as they start loading.. you can right-click down on toolbar, and choose "close", before they can really get going. You CAN get a popup stopper, but I have thought that one of those would just be another thing running in the background sucking off resources, and think that as little as I surf, I can just manually stop them. Plus, almost everyone here recommends Opera or Mozilla..Opera comes with a popup stopper from what I understand. And last, if you haven't already done so, I would recommend a free email like Hotmail or Eudora. I have a cousin that sends me HUGE emails with lots of flashing or animated stuff in them..and I changed her to my Hotmail box. Haven't had any difficulties viewing her email over there..and it's a bit safer since she tends to forward stuff anyway.

[Paul Komski]

Once you install IE6 you can't go back in time - easily anyway. There is a complicated MSKB that takes you through how to do this manually but the best solution is to use IEradicator (http://www.litepc.com/download.html) and then install IE5 from your CD.