1. Disable email scanning by your anti-virus application. It provides no
additional protection, it may be causing the problem, and even Symantec says
it's not necessary:
<paste>
Disabling Email Scanning does not leave you unprotected against viruses that
are distributed as email attachments. Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect scans
incoming files as they are saved to your hard drive, including email and
email attachments. Email Scanning is just another layer on top of this. To
make sure that Auto-Protect is providing the maximum protection, keep
Auto-Protect enabled and run LiveUpdate regularly to ensure that you have
the most recent virus definitions.
</paste>
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2002111812533106
2. If no joy, the current Identity may have been damaged by the AV app,
especially if its the default Main Identity. Try one or more of your
accounts in a new Named Identity (File > Identities > Add new identity).
Assuming all is well, import messages from the old Identity before deleting
it (File > Identities > Manage Identities).
To avoid such corruption in future:
- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.
- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.
- Disable Background Compacting [N/A in SP2] and frequently perform a manual
compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/files/maintain.htm.
- Do not attempt to close OE via Task Manager or shutdown your machine if
Automatic Compacting is taking place (WinXP SP2 only).
- Your anti-virus application's email scanning feature can also cause such
corruption. Disable it. It provides no additional protection.