Dell - XP-Pro, Outlook Express weirdness & corruption

Hi,

Always something here... I'm on my 3rd Dell computer in as many weeks. Other 2 are goners, this one's fine. First was Optiplex/XP-Pro. second was Dimensions XPS R400/XP-Pro, and ths one is Dimension 3000/XP-Pro.

All machines have done the same thing: In Outlook Express, after receiving from and responding to e-mail from a particular friend, the Rich Text and HTML stuff gets all screwed up!

Normally I would be able to respond, and highlight a part of text in a message, and increase font size. Since receiving/replying to his messages that function is blocked, on all 3 computers! I'm talking about picking selected words in an e-mail reply and making their fonts much larger than other words, something I could always do before in XP-Pro - IE6 on the Dell machines. Soon as I get his text messages that function's gone.

I've spent weeks trying to change every setting I could find to no avail. I think my friend sometimes responds with text messages from something like a Blackberry, some kind of high-tech gee-whiz cellphone, I could find out exactly what. But it's following those contacts that my O/E is hijakcked and I cannot restore. Also cannot refuse contacts from this person.

Ideas or suggestions? THANKS!

BTW, I attempted to increase font size on a couple of words in this message, but in Preview Pane they wouldn't display any larger!

 

Ask your friend to send/reply with another device, see if the symptoms change. You might want to dump anything Outlook before you test, make sure you're not seeing ghosts of the original problem.

Don't know what you've tried, but I'd suggest going into any forums that the Blackberry's service might offer - you might get lucky.

 

Thanks, Caliban!

Unfortunately my friend must use what he must at times, and often text messages are the only option. Wish I could change that! But certainly a good idea otherwise.

Second idea is something duhhh I never thought of sheesh...

By process of elimination, over the course of 12 months and 3 computers, and this friends text messages, its become obvious what the poblem is: his blasted phone! Too bad so many companies throw POWER & CONTROL into the mix when they design their software, instead of just leaving us alone....

Thanks!

 

That's why I fear that the computer as we know it is a dinosaur - the handhelds are going to rule the world.

Good luck - keep us posted. :major