Outlook Favorites Won't Save, Messages wrong on Outlook Today

[Jane]

A few days ago, I lost all my favorites. Also, the Messages section on
Outlook Today no longer shows the number of unread messages, and if I
click on a folder under Messages, nothing happens.

For the Favorites, once I add them back in, it works fine until I
reboot, and then they are gone again. I do close and re-open Outlook
after adding my folders, so it should be saved properly, and it appears
to be working when I re-open. But the next time I reboot, they're gone
again.

If I go to Customize Outlook Today and look at the section for choosing
the folders that go under Messages, the only thing that is checked is
Outlook Today itself, not any of my folders. And yet the folders are
displaying under the Messages section, though without the message
numbers. Really bizarre things happen if I uncheck Outlook Today and
try to re-add my message folders, such as winding up with two or three
folders called Outlook Today listed under Messages.

This began shortly after I did the last Windows update, which is the
only thing I can think of this might have caused this.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Outlook, but apparently
something still hangs around in the registry even if I uninstall and
re-boot because it still looks for my existing pst file instead of
creating a new one. I don't know what else to try.

 

[Milly Staples - MVP Outlook]

First question which you failed to include in your post:

Version of Outlook?

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Jane asked:

| A few days ago, I lost all my favorites. Also, the Messages section
| on Outlook Today no longer shows the number of unread messages, and
| if I click on a folder under Messages, nothing happens.
|
| For the Favorites, once I add them back in, it works fine until I
| reboot, and then they are gone again. I do close and re-open Outlook
| after adding my folders, so it should be saved properly, and it
| appears to be working when I re-open. But the next time I reboot,
| they're gone again.
|
| If I go to Customize Outlook Today and look at the section for
| choosing the folders that go under Messages, the only thing that is
| checked is Outlook Today itself, not any of my folders. And yet the
| folders are displaying under the Messages section, though without the
| message numbers. Really bizarre things happen if I uncheck Outlook
| Today and try to re-add my message folders, such as winding up with
| two or three folders called Outlook Today listed under Messages.
|
| This began shortly after I did the last Windows update, which is the
| only thing I can think of this might have caused this.
|
| I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Outlook, but apparently
| something still hangs around in the registry even if I uninstall and
| re-boot because it still looks for my existing pst file instead of
| creating a new one. I don't know what else to try.

 

[Jane]

Sorry, forgot. Outlook installed as part of Office Pro 2003 on XP Pro.
I've had this version for about two years, and it was fine until
recently. I've installed no new software lately, but have installed
upgrades--the latest bunch of Windows patches and new versions of
ZoneAlarm, Firefox, RoboForm and Directory Opus. The Windows update
was the most recent, but all were within the past week or so. Wish I
could pinpoint exactly when this started, but it probably happened a
day or two before I noticed it yesterday.