HELP! E-mail disappears when opening!

maizie_moo

Can anyone advise please.....when I click on my e-mail icon, instead of opening it disappears way off to the right of the screen (somewhere into a black hole that is not accessible). This has only happened since I watched a video cd, so I assume some setting has changed, but I don't know how to retrieve my e-mail. Everything else on my desktop seems alright, e.g. I.E.

Chippy_Minton

Need a bit more information on this. Which email program is it for? And which operating system?

maizie_moo

Oops, sorry, minor detail, eh?

The operating system is Window XP and the programm is Outlook Express

Cypher

Can you just do a test to see if its actually staying open off screen, or if its actually failing to open.

Close everything down and open Outlook Express only.

Press ALT TAB and see what icons show up. It should just be the one Outlook Express.

Now open an e-mail up. Let it disappears off to the right.

Now press ALT TAB again, is there an extra icon in the list showing the e-mail window is still open?

Chippy_Minton

Click the icon as normal to fire up OE. Then press Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys to bring up Task Manager. On the Processes tab is there a process called msimn.exe?

maizie_moo

Yes - it reads CPU 00 memory usage 4220k

Hope this makes sense to you, 'cos it doesn't to me!!!

maizie_moo

Cypher - I can't open the e-mail icon as it disappears off screen, so I am not able to see any e-mails to select and open. But thanks for the advice anyway.

Cypher

I used to use Multiple monitors on my system and one wierd thing that used to happened every blue moon was where stuff opens on a ghost monitor (one that didn't actually exist) The e-mail say would be open but not showing on my screens. I would then have to move my screen positions around to find it and drag it back to the main monitor.

Pressing ALT TAB would show the little envelope icon in the ALT TAB bar so I'd know it was still open but off screen. Yours may be doing something similar, I suspect they may not be opening at all, which would show by the icon not being in the ALT TAB bar, if it were open off screen you would see the extra icon.

{edit}
Just re read yours again, I see now what you mean, its the whole Outlook Express thats disappearing not just the individual e-mails, sorry Imisunderstood. The ALT TAB would still show if it was opening as did Chippy_Minton Task Manager suggestion.

Chippy_Minton

Download and run the Minimised Programs Missing script from http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm.

If that doesn't fix it, try downloading Taskbar Repair Tool Plus! and repairing your task bar.

Alfie_E

So, you click on the icon for Outlook Express, but the Outlook Express window opens up so far off to the right that you can’t do anything with it? Can you still see part of the window on screen, or are you using some virtual/multiple desktop software, like Cypher suggested?

If you can see any of the window, you must be able to see the very left-hand resizing edge. If the window is not completely at its maximum, you should be able to click on it and drag left, making the window bigger until you can get at the title bar. Otherwise, you can try moving the window with just the keyboard, so you don’t need to be able to get the mouse pointer to it. Use Alt + Tab until you select the Outlook Express window. Press Alt + Space, then M. You can now move the window with the cursor keys. You can press Esc to stop, or take over the moving using the mouse and make a left mouse click to stop.

Alfie_E

I’ve just had another thought as to what you could be describing. If you normally have the clock in the Task Bar Tray – the little clock in the lower right-hand corner of the screen – is it still visible? If you’ve been watching video at full-screen, the program could have changed your screen display settings. If you have an old glass-type monitor, or use a flat panel display but with only an analogue connection, this could result in the monitor now chopping off part of screen. In your case, the right. You either need to change the Display Properties back to settings your monitor will automatically be happy with, or you need to use the monitor’s own on-screen menu system to reposition and resize the display, so it all fits within the monitor’s limits.