Outlook Express Create New Mail

Hi,
I have freinds with Windows 98SE with Outlook Express Ver 5.0

When they go to "Create Mail" [A New Message] they have the new message appearing as only in as a "Task Bar" button?
The page is not showing?
Yes, they can get the page to show by "Right Clicking" and select "Maximise"
Now is there a repair for same?

Your Comments Please

 

I came across this sort of thing once before on a thread but I'm not sure if the poster ended up solving it - if I find the thread, I'll add a link here.

Meantime, next time they open a new message and the new message shows in the taskbar as being the selected window, have them try these two things: (Try it with any non maximised window to see what happens in each of these cases before trying it on the missing window just to get the hang of how this works.)

1. Have them right-click on the new message button in the taskbar and see if Restore is an available option. If so, have them try it. This may bring it into sight.

2. Have them right-click on the new message button in the taskbar and see if Move is an available option. If so, have them click it. Now use the keyboard arrows and see if they can get the message window to move into sight - just try different directions one after the other, up and left, then up and right, etc. If they get it coming into view, have them bring it fully onscreen and then press the Enter key.


If neither of those work, have them close everything except the new message window and change their screen resolution (higher if possible, such as from 800 x 600 to 1024 x 768) and see if the message window can be seen. (To do this, right-click on an empty area of the desktop and choose Properties. Then choose the Settings tab and look for the resolution slide.) If so, they should drag it to the upper left area of the screen (if memory on this kind of thing serves correctly) and change the resolution to their preferred choice. If the window disappears again, have them experiment with placement and resolutions - hopefully they will end up with a working situation.

If the window comes into view when changing resolution but can't kept in view when changing the resolution back to what they want, have them use the window to send a message (to themselves will do with nothing more exciting than Test in the subject line) and then shut down the message program. Now restart the computer, set the resolution as desired and see if all is well.

Occasionally you can run into this sort of problem when the resolution is changed while a window is open and for some reason, the settings end up stuck. The last solution would probably work in that case but to get the maximum available resolution settings, the drivers for the video card and for the monitor should be installed, rather than using the default Windows drivers. The monitor and video card names should be appearing on the Settings tab if they have their own drivers. Have a look at the attached picture. Even if your friend thinks they have never changed the resolution settings, doesn't mean they haven't been changed on a regular basis - various programs, especially games, will change the settings and change them back on exit (although occasionally they fail to change them back on exit, especially if the program crashes and doesn't get chance).

Hope this sorts your friend out. :wave