Outlook XP verses Outlook Express **WARNING A LITTLE LONG** Sorry

A

Art Holeflatter

Question for the wise folks around here. I'm another one of those people who use Outlook XP (OXP) for my serious contact manager, calendar, meetings etc. I got into the habit of using it while working as a computer consultant at various companies. The product is so ubiquitous that I decided years ago to settle with Outlook proper as I could be compatible at most work sites, my palm pilot and at home.

The problem is, I do cruse the Usenet Newsgroups and while I'm not downloading tones of binary files (esp. with only a 24Kbs connection) but I do surf a lot of groups. I hate having to use Outlook proper as my contact manager and then have to turn around and use Outlook express or Forte's Agent or some other software to cruse newsgroups, most likely gathering information I'll stick into Outlook proper in some form or another. Sorry but this is a long winded way of asking.

Can I either enhance Outlook Express to the point that it's a decent contact manager/organizer or can I stay with Outlook XP (which is what I want) and some how browse, read and download newsgroups?


Thank you and sorry for the long windedness.

Shawn/sagkc

PS. For bonus points and two extra points on the Karmic Wheel answer these 2 bonus questions. :0)

1. In Outlook Express when I select 2 or more messages and download/decode/combine them, when OE's done it opens a new single message window with the entire message like it should. BUT almost all the time it starts to (or at least it says it's) "Checking the message for Hyper-links" along the bottom. During this time, averaging 3-12 minutes it essentially freezes OE and the single message window it has opened. It starts gobbling CPU cycles and RAM at the same time. Any one know how to stop Outlook Express from check for hyperlinks in new messages? "I do run Download Accelerator v7 and other Mickey mouse tweaking apps but I don't think it is any of them." Suggestions, ideas, help, prayers whatever will be joyfully accepted.

2. With many binary files being encoded with that goofy yENC encoding scheme they use a lot now a days, often when I combine and decode several messages in OE, it opens the new window and in the message area is the entire binary gobbly goop code and in the subject is the name of what the attachment should be but it's grayed out and I can't download it. (Before you say it, Yes I can download other/all other types of attachments) . It's like it downloaded each message, grabbed them all and combined them but didn't finish the job of actually decoding the entire message and turning it into an attachment.

Any idea what's going on here? Is there a 3rd party add on that deals better with various binary encoding schemes? Or is there something I'm missing in OE it self?

Once again, any person kind enough to answer all these questions deserves a big brownie point and if you're in the north-western part of Florida, USA. I'll even buy you a beer. Free, no charge, 0 dollars and like it wouldn't cost you a dime. :0)
 
K

Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]

For the OE questions either post in an OE newsgroup or see if there's
information about your questions at www.oehelp.com

OE can't really be modified much without using Windows hooks and doing
everything from scratch. It has no exposed object model. And it has no
features of a PIM or contact manager. Outlook doesn't support
newsgroups, it uses OE for that. The only exception is if you are
using Exchange server and have a public folder set up for NNTP feeds.




Question for the wise folks around here. I'm another one of those
people who use Outlook XP (OXP) for my serious contact manager,
calendar, meetings etc. I got into the habit of using it while working
as a computer consultant at various companies. The product is so
ubiquitous that I decided years ago to settle with Outlook proper as I
could be compatible at most work sites, my palm pilot and at home.

The problem is, I do cruse the Usenet Newsgroups and while I'm not
downloading tones of binary files (esp. with only a 24Kbs connection)
but I do surf a lot of groups. I hate having to use Outlook proper as
my contact manager and then have to turn around and use Outlook
express or Forte's Agent or some other software to cruse newsgroups,
most likely gathering information I'll stick into Outlook proper in
some form or another. Sorry but this is a long winded way of asking.

Can I either enhance Outlook Express to the point that it's a
decent contact manager/organizer or can I stay with Outlook XP (which
is what I want) and some how browse, read and download newsgroups?


Thank you and sorry for the long windedness.

Shawn/sagkc

PS. For bonus points and two extra points on the Karmic Wheel answer
these 2 bonus questions. :0)

1. In Outlook Express when I select 2 or more messages and
download/decode/combine them, when OE's done it opens a new single
message window with the entire message like it should. BUT almost all
the time it starts to (or at least it says it's) "Checking the message
for Hyper-links" along the bottom. During this time, averaging 3-12
minutes it essentially freezes OE and the single message window it has
opened. It starts gobbling CPU cycles and RAM at the same time. Any
one know how to stop Outlook Express from check for hyperlinks in new
messages? "I do run Download Accelerator v7 and other Mickey mouse
tweaking apps but I don't think it is any of them." Suggestions,
ideas, help, prayers whatever will be joyfully accepted.

2. With many binary files being encoded with that goofy yENC encoding
scheme they use a lot now a days, often when I combine and decode
several messages in OE, it opens the new window and in the message
area is the entire binary gobbly goop code and in the subject is the
name of what the attachment should be but it's grayed out and I can't
download it. (Before you say it, Yes I can download other/all other
types of attachments) . It's like it downloaded each message, grabbed
them all and combined them but didn't finish the job of actually
decoding the entire message and turning it into an attachment.

Any idea what's going on here? Is there a 3rd party add on that
deals better with various binary encoding schemes? Or is there
something I'm missing in OE it self?

Once again, any person kind enough to answer all these questions
deserves a big brownie point and if you're in the north-western part
of Florida, USA. I'll even buy you a beer. Free, no charge, 0 dollars
and like it wouldn't cost you a dime. :0)
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top