IE 7 and Outlook 98

[Paul]

Hi, I do 'small time' tech support for a variety of very small businesses.
For years we have survived well on MS Outlook 98 for email / calender /
tasks. It's simple to use and has all the basic features the users need when
they are on a budget. However they have all now update to IE 7.0. That's fine
and they welcome the change from IE 6, but it breaks Outlook 98. It problem
shows up when they go to reply to an email, as Outlook instantly shuts down -
completly. No error message - it just shuts down. It's repeatable, and
happens on over 20 PC's over 6 different business sites I help with. The
problem is always the same with everyone, when they go to reply to an email,
Outlook spontanously shuts down. They can all receive and send original
emails fine. It makes no difference if using plain text or HTML. I suspect a
security setting in IE 7 is the issue. They can't afford a new version of
Office, don't want to go back to IE 6, and OE is more for the home PC user
and doesn't have the calender / tasks etc of Outlook 98. Any help appreciated.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

What OS are they using? Have you tested it by setting the security level to
low in IE for the internet zone? If it works, then it's a security setting.
If it still fails, it's because of IE7.

FWIW, Outlook 98 is very insecure and should either be upgraded or retired.
OE is fine for business mail - it doesn't look any less professional than
using a really, really old and insecure version of Outlook. There are other
calendar programs they can use. If they ever upgrade to Vista they will need
to get a new version of Outlook or switch to Vista's Mail and Calendar
applications as there will be problems using OL98 on it.

 

[Paul]

Hi Diane,
They all use XP Pro. I will try setting the security level to low and test
that thought. Yes, O98 is old, but its simple to use, has a good built in
calender without having to open another program. They all use it and love it.
These businesses are on a very tight budget and are often just 1 or 2 people
businesses. Thx, Paul