Inbox suddenly renamed to Image001.jpg

[Jure Sah]

Hello,

One of our users has reported the issue that their Inbox folder has
become renamed to "Image001.jpg". We confirmed this. I have found one
other tech support person reporting the same problem, with explanation
how it happened.

In the spirit of keeping our data safe, I would like to know WHY and
HOW this happens. The user obviously cannot accidentially do this
himself. We use a NOD32 antivirus (integrates into Outlook with a
plugin) and Blackberry software.

Any information would be helpful.

LP,
Jure

 

[Karl Timmermans]

Part1: "We confirmed this .....one other tech support person......
with explanation how it happened."

Part2: "I would like to know WHY and HOW this happens"

Part3: "...use a NOD32 antivirus ....... and Blackberry software."

Based on your post - you already know "how" it happens - details
that perhaps would have been nice to have shared. If the "how" is
known then the "why" would stem from the "how" details and if
the "how" involves 3rd party software - perhaps the question
would be best posed to the vendors of the software involved.

Since Outlook by itself does not change default folder names and as
you correctly indicate - user can also not change those folder names,
then logically by extension, the "why" part of the answer would
come from the source(s) of the problem.

Karl
--
____________________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - QuickPort/DataPort/Exporter/Toolkit/Duplicate Contact Mgr
"Contact import/export/data management tools for Outlook '2000/2010"
http://www.contactgenie.com

 

[Jure Sah]

Typo. There is a "no" missing in the sentence.

I don't have an answer.

Despite the extensions, outlook caused it because there are no
companies in the world as crappy as Microsoft. Any properly programmed
software would prevent such broken functionality.

Anyway, I need a reason.

 

[Orland, Kathleen]

You jump to conclusions about Outlook before anyone has a chance to
troubleshoot. If you install software that integrates with Outlook, you can
no longer expect it to work as designed. There's an alteration in that case.

What happens if you start Outlook in safe mode? I can't tell you exactly how
to do that because you did not include your version of Outlook or even your
O/S.

XP and older:

Start > Run > outlook.exe /safe
(note the space between outlook.exe and /safe)

Vista and W7:

Start > Start Search> outlook.exe /safe
(same space)

Also, what happens if you delete the following *while* Outlook is closed:

outcmd.dat
extend.dat
frmcache.dat
views.dat

Reopen Outlook and see if the issue has resolved.

Outlook does not require AV integration since the real time scanner will
catch whatever it's updated for. Many 3rd party applications that integrate
with Outlook can cause problems.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]]

Typo. There is a "no" missing in the sentence.

I don't have an answer.

Despite the extensions, outlook caused it because there are no
companies in the world as crappy as Microsoft. Any properly programmed
software would prevent such broken functionality.

Since we can't see your PC and we don't know what's on the PC, there's no good
way to determine the "why". Outlook didn't cause it. Something else did,
like a user action.

The first thing I'd do, however, is uninstall NOD32 and reinstall without the
mail scanning feature. It's never necessary to integrate an AV program with
Outlook and many reasons why you shouldn't.

The next thing I'd do is start Outlook once with the /resetfoldernames command
switch. Press WinKey+R. Enter "outlook.exe /resetfoldernames" (including the
space but without the quotes) in the Open field, then press Enter.

 

[Karl Timmermans]

With all due respect, the quickest way to ensure that you'll never find an
answer to any problem is to approach it on the basis of a foregone
conclusion "outlook caused it" with no fsupporting facts particularly when
combined with an extremely biased and subjective "negative" viewpoint. I
also seriously doubt this to be an issue caused by Outlook "itself" for all
kinds of reasons.

This is what IS known from the information you provided:

#1 - The inbox folder is contained in a "data file" which can be accessed
by any program totally independant of Outlook (the program)
#2 - Whatever is occuring is common to your environment since 2 people
evidently have encountered the same issue within what "sounds like" to be
the same very short period of time
(there also seems to be a definite lack of any one else reporting
anything similar which one would expect to see for a "generic" problem)

This is what is NOT known:

#1 - Your Outlook version and SP level
#2 - Your operating system with SP level
#3 - Version of NOD software
#4 - Version of BlackBerry software
#5 - Any addins aside from those mentioned that may or may not be installed
#6 - Whether this involves a PST or Exchange based mailbox
#7 - What is common in your environment for the 2 users who have
encountered the same issue?
#8 - What exactly occured on these systems "when" this issue surfaced? Was
it not immediately noticed?
#9 - Did both users happen to recieve/open the same email message (with or
without an attachment?)
#10 - Is image001.jpg a filename that was attached to any email message?
#11 - Are both users "identically" configured with the exact same versions
of ALL software?
(just to start the list of questions that "should be" asked by a "support"
desk before proclaiming "the program responsible")

The statement "Any properly programmed software would prevent such broken
functionality" is the equivalent of saying that "it is any car
manufacturer's fault
when one of their vehicles doesn't run properly because the driver put
<water and sugar> into the gas tank instead of gas".
You could also apply that same logic and blame Microsoft for the recent
McAfee fiasco that brought down countless systems because Microsoft didn't
anticipate every conceivable issue in the world that could be caused by
some other product. This is not "blindly" defending Microsoft - just
applying
reason and logic to a specific issue at hand.

Karl
--
____________________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - QuickPort/DataPort/Exporter/Toolkit/Duplicate Contact Mgr
"Contact import/export/data management tools for Outlook '2000/2010"
http://www.contactgenie.com

 

[Jure Sah]

This is one thing I hate about Microsoft. Whenever a problem pops up
you tell people how to fix it. I didn't ask how I should fix it, it's
already fixed, I want to know what caused it. You're the developer
company, you have the information on how it might have happened, so
what's the problem with simply answering the question?

I want to know how it happened so that I can do a risk assesment.

LP,
Jure

 

[Jure Sah]

With all due respect, again, I am a developer and I am familiar with
the concept of "design fault". If some random email message can
randomly cause Outlook to loose information crutial to the user I need
to know now, not tinker with Microsoft for hours after my data is
gone, just to restore functionality. The point is, it happened. It
does not matter if Microsoft can blame it on someone else. I need it
to not happen, without using the usual programmer's approach of "don't
use your computer and it nothing bad will happen".

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]]

This is one thing I hate about Microsoft. Whenever a problem pops up
you tell people how to fix it. I didn't ask how I should fix it, it's
already fixed, I want to know what caused it. You're the developer
company, you have the information on how it might have happened, so
what's the problem with simply answering the question?

What are you on about? None of the MVPs work for Microsoft. This newsgroup
isn't monitored (except rarely) by Microsoft employees. It's a peer-to-peer
newsgroup. We're all just users here.

 

[Karl Timmermans]

#1 - There is a "very big" difference between finding a "cause" versus
assigning "blame". You apparently don't seem interested in determining
the "former" since you've already decided on the latter.

#2 - So to understand your position "as a developer familiar with the
concept of a <design fault>" - if it was your code that affected anything
related to Outlook - it automatically becomes Outlook's (Microsoft's)
problem/fault even if it was your code that did something improperly.
Your code should <never> be questioned as being the cause of anything
since Microsoft should have protected against anything your code has
done/could possibly do to create a problem until the end of time.
Ergo, if you wrote a faulty "add-in" and a customer contacted
you for support - your automatic response is that it's Outlook's problem
since it could not possibly have anything to do with your code and even
if it did - it's still Outlook's problem since Microsoft didn't protect the
users against your mistakes. Certainly a very convenient and novel
concept - not one I subscribe to. If anyone involved with ContactGenie
support were to adopt it - would be rewarded with an immediate
involuntary "career change".

#3 - No one responding in these newsgroups is from Microsoft and
so far there has been no information provided for anyone to determine
the cause of the problem to know what caused the issue.

#4 - An email message "in and of itself" would never cause the
issue you described. As a "developer" - am sure that you are aware
that an email message is considered "data" which in turn is
processed by "code". It is "code" that may or may not take
any action and that "code" may be created by a 3rd party
(review item#2 above)

In any case, you have determined "Outlook" is "to blame"
so don't find it necessary to provide one shred of requested
information for anyone to be able to even remotely attempt to come
up with a rational answer to your question. Will leave any conjecture
based on sheer guesswork involving endless unknowns to others
(and doubt that's going to be a long list of people) rather than
continue what is becoming a counter-productive thread.

Wish you all the best in your search for an answer.

Karl
--
____________________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - QuickPort/DataPort/Exporter/Toolkit/Duplicate Contact Mgr
"Contact import/export/data management tools for Outlook '2000/2010"
http://www.contactgenie.com

 

[Slipstick]

This is one thing I hate about Microsoft. Whenever a problem pops u
you tell people how to fix it. I didn't ask how I should fix it, it'
already fixed, I want to know what caused it. You're the develope
company, you have the information on how it might have happened, s
what's the problem with simply answering the question

I want to know how it happened so that I can do a risk assesment

How did you fix it?

Without knowing more about your situation, its hard to say what cause
it or how it can be fixed. Do the users in question use OWA? Wha
version of Exchange server? You can do more to the default folders i
OWA than you can in Outlook and I can imagine users accidentall
renaming the inbox. Or moving it

--
Slipstic

'Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center' (http://www.slipstick.com)

'Outlook Tips' (http://www.outlook-tips.net/)

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