Using Word 2000 as Editor in Outlook 2000

[Elizabeth]

Hi. I use the Office 2000 suite of programs, including Word 2000,
with the Win98 OS. I use Word as my email editor in Outlook. I
have had these programs installed for years and have been using this
setting successfully.

February 9 I dialed into the Internet and began to use Outlook (with
Word as my editor) when,
for no apparent reason, I got an error message, "This program
[Outlook] has
performed an illegal operation and will be shut down." Then I kept
getting that message for other programs open on my computer, including
my dialup connection. At that time, I believe I had open Word,
Internet Explorer, Outlook, and the programs in the system tray that
I've always had running for the last year without a problem (my Trend
antivirus software, Spybot resident, a spell checker, GoBack software,
and my connection to the Internet). I decided, since I always run
these programs with no problem because I have 127 MB of memory, that I
should do a ScanDisk. I did this, and it took practically all day.
Then I also did a Defrag.

But the following day I got that same error message ("This program has
performed an illegal operation and will be shut down"). I would have
used my GoBack software to go back to a date when the computer was
acting fine. But, when I checked GoBack, I saw that all the history it
logged before I did ScanDisk had been erased. I restarted my computer,
and it acted fine after that for the rest of the day.

The next day, as soon as I connected to the Internet, then opened
Outlook, while I was receiving email, I got that same error
message. No other programs were open except those that are always in
my system tray. This is what makes me think the problem may not have
to do with Word, after all. But this morning I connected to the
Internet, opened Outlook, and received messages. I then chose to reply
to one of the messages. When I pressed
the REPLY button in Outlook, I got an hourglass and nothing more.
Nothing else was functional, so I finally did a control/alt/delete to
turn off Outlook. Then I saw that Winword was in the task list, so I
turned that off, too. After that, Windows seemed fine.

I again tried to reply to that message with the same result. So I
turned off the setting to use Word as the email editor in the Outlook
Tools menu. After that, I could reply to that message with no problem.
This is what makes me think that Word might be the culprit.

Do you think that use of Word as my email editor is what caused the
error message the previous days? Remember, though, the one time I got
that error message, I was just receiving not writing email.

If an Outlook setting is causing the trouble, I wonder why it worked
just fine for so long.

Thanks,
Beth

 

[TF]

Elizabeth

Using Word as your email editor has been buggy in all versions right up to
Office 2003 where it seems to have been fixed. The most likely cause of your
current problem is the mail.dot has probably corrupted. Try finding and
renaming mail.dot as mail.bad and then test it all again. My advice would be
to avoid using Word as your email editor until you can manage an upgrade
sometime in the future.

: Hi. I use the Office 2000 suite of programs, including Word 2000,
: with the Win98 OS. I use Word as my email editor in Outlook. I
: have had these programs installed for years and have been using this
: setting successfully.
:
: February 9 I dialed into the Internet and began to use Outlook (with
: Word as my editor) when,
: for no apparent reason, I got an error message, "This program
: [Outlook] has
: performed an illegal operation and will be shut down." Then I kept
: getting that message for other programs open on my computer, including
: my dialup connection. At that time, I believe I had open Word,
: Internet Explorer, Outlook, and the programs in the system tray that
: I've always had running for the last year without a problem (my Trend
: antivirus software, Spybot resident, a spell checker, GoBack software,
: and my connection to the Internet). I decided, since I always run
: these programs with no problem because I have 127 MB of memory, that I
: should do a ScanDisk. I did this, and it took practically all day.
: Then I also did a Defrag.
:
: But the following day I got that same error message ("This program has
: performed an illegal operation and will be shut down"). I would have
: used my GoBack software to go back to a date when the computer was
: acting fine. But, when I checked GoBack, I saw that all the history it
: logged before I did ScanDisk had been erased. I restarted my computer,
: and it acted fine after that for the rest of the day.
:
: The next day, as soon as I connected to the Internet, then opened
: Outlook, while I was receiving email, I got that same error
: message. No other programs were open except those that are always in
: my system tray. This is what makes me think the problem may not have
: to do with Word, after all. But this morning I connected to the
: Internet, opened Outlook, and received messages. I then chose to reply
: to one of the messages. When I pressed
: the REPLY button in Outlook, I got an hourglass and nothing more.
: Nothing else was functional, so I finally did a control/alt/delete to
: turn off Outlook. Then I saw that Winword was in the task list, so I
: turned that off, too. After that, Windows seemed fine.
:
: I again tried to reply to that message with the same result. So I
: turned off the setting to use Word as the email editor in the Outlook
: Tools menu. After that, I could reply to that message with no problem.
: This is what makes me think that Word might be the culprit.
:
: Do you think that use of Word as my email editor is what caused the
: error message the previous days? Remember, though, the one time I got
: that error message, I was just receiving not writing email.
:
: If an Outlook setting is causing the trouble, I wonder why it worked
: just fine for so long.
:
: Thanks,
: Beth

 

[Elizabeth]

Terry, thanks. I'm sorry I didn't read your advice until today, a week
after you wrote it. May I please ask an ignorant question? If I rename
mail.dot to mail.bad, will a new mail.dot regenerate? Don't I need
mail.dot?

Since I wrote my original message, I haven't gotten more of those
"illegal" messages, that is, until today. When I pressed the SEND
button on an email I had written, I got that error message, and
Outlook closed. I reopened it, checked the Sent box, and that email
HAD sent.

Still sound like a corrupt mail.dat?

Beth

Elizabeth

Using Word as your email editor has been buggy in all versions right up to
Office 2003 where it seems to have been fixed. The most likely cause of your
current problem is the mail.dot has probably corrupted. Try finding and
renaming mail.dot as mail.bad and then test it all again. My advice would be
to avoid using Word as your email editor until you can manage an upgrade
sometime in the future.

: Hi. I use the Office 2000 suite of programs, including Word 2000,
: with the Win98 OS. I use Word as my email editor in Outlook. I
: have had these programs installed for years and have been using this
: setting successfully.
:
: February 9 I dialed into the Internet and began to use Outlook (with
: Word as my editor) when,
: for no apparent reason, I got an error message, "This program
: [Outlook] has
: performed an illegal operation and will be shut down." Then I kept
: getting that message for other programs open on my computer, including
: my dialup connection. At that time, I believe I had open Word,
: Internet Explorer, Outlook, and the programs in the system tray that
: I've always had running for the last year without a problem (my Trend
: antivirus software, Spybot resident, a spell checker, GoBack software,
: and my connection to the Internet). I decided, since I always run
: these programs with no problem because I have 127 MB of memory, that I
: should do a ScanDisk. I did this, and it took practically all day.
: Then I also did a Defrag.
:
: But the following day I got that same error message ("This program has
: performed an illegal operation and will be shut down"). I would have
: used my GoBack software to go back to a date when the computer was
: acting fine. But, when I checked GoBack, I saw that all the history it
: logged before I did ScanDisk had been erased. I restarted my computer,
: and it acted fine after that for the rest of the day.
:
: The next day, as soon as I connected to the Internet, then opened
: Outlook, while I was receiving email, I got that same error
: message. No other programs were open except those that are always in
: my system tray. This is what makes me think the problem may not have
: to do with Word, after all. But this morning I connected to the
: Internet, opened Outlook, and received messages. I then chose to reply
: to one of the messages. When I pressed
: the REPLY button in Outlook, I got an hourglass and nothing more.
: Nothing else was functional, so I finally did a control/alt/delete to
: turn off Outlook. Then I saw that Winword was in the task list, so I
: turned that off, too. After that, Windows seemed fine.
:
: I again tried to reply to that message with the same result. So I
: turned off the setting to use Word as the email editor in the Outlook
: Tools menu. After that, I could reply to that message with no problem.
: This is what makes me think that Word might be the culprit.
:
: Do you think that use of Word as my email editor is what caused the
: error message the previous days? Remember, though, the one time I got
: that error message, I was just receiving not writing email.
:
: If an Outlook setting is causing the trouble, I wonder why it worked
: just fine for so long.
:
: Thanks,
: Beth

 

[Elizabeth]

I have no mail.dot file! Beth

Elizabeth

Using Word as your email editor has been buggy in all versions right up to
Office 2003 where it seems to have been fixed. The most likely cause of your
current problem is the mail.dot has probably corrupted. Try finding and
renaming mail.dot as mail.bad and then test it all again. My advice would be
to avoid using Word as your email editor until you can manage an upgrade
sometime in the future.

: Hi. I use the Office 2000 suite of programs, including Word 2000,
: with the Win98 OS. I use Word as my email editor in Outlook. I
: have had these programs installed for years and have been using this
: setting successfully.
:
: February 9 I dialed into the Internet and began to use Outlook (with
: Word as my editor) when,
: for no apparent reason, I got an error message, "This program
: [Outlook] has
: performed an illegal operation and will be shut down." Then I kept
: getting that message for other programs open on my computer, including
: my dialup connection. At that time, I believe I had open Word,
: Internet Explorer, Outlook, and the programs in the system tray that
: I've always had running for the last year without a problem (my Trend
: antivirus software, Spybot resident, a spell checker, GoBack software,
: and my connection to the Internet). I decided, since I always run
: these programs with no problem because I have 127 MB of memory, that I
: should do a ScanDisk. I did this, and it took practically all day.
: Then I also did a Defrag.
:
: But the following day I got that same error message ("This program has
: performed an illegal operation and will be shut down"). I would have
: used my GoBack software to go back to a date when the computer was
: acting fine. But, when I checked GoBack, I saw that all the history it
: logged before I did ScanDisk had been erased. I restarted my computer,
: and it acted fine after that for the rest of the day.
:
: The next day, as soon as I connected to the Internet, then opened
: Outlook, while I was receiving email, I got that same error
: message. No other programs were open except those that are always in
: my system tray. This is what makes me think the problem may not have
: to do with Word, after all. But this morning I connected to the
: Internet, opened Outlook, and received messages. I then chose to reply
: to one of the messages. When I pressed
: the REPLY button in Outlook, I got an hourglass and nothing more.
: Nothing else was functional, so I finally did a control/alt/delete to
: turn off Outlook. Then I saw that Winword was in the task list, so I
: turned that off, too. After that, Windows seemed fine.
:
: I again tried to reply to that message with the same result. So I
: turned off the setting to use Word as the email editor in the Outlook
: Tools menu. After that, I could reply to that message with no problem.
: This is what makes me think that Word might be the culprit.
:
: Do you think that use of Word as my email editor is what caused the
: error message the previous days? Remember, though, the one time I got
: that error message, I was just receiving not writing email.
:
: If an Outlook setting is causing the trouble, I wonder why it worked
: just fine for so long.
:
: Thanks,
: Beth

 

[Elizabeth]

OK, I found it, EMAIL.DOT. Isn't that a template file? So what will
happen if I rename it EMAIL.BAD?

Beth

Elizabeth

Using Word as your email editor has been buggy in all versions right up to
Office 2003 where it seems to have been fixed. The most likely cause of your
current problem is the mail.dot has probably corrupted. Try finding and
renaming mail.dot as mail.bad and then test it all again. My advice would be
to avoid using Word as your email editor until you can manage an upgrade
sometime in the future.

: Hi. I use the Office 2000 suite of programs, including Word 2000,
: with the Win98 OS. I use Word as my email editor in Outlook. I
: have had these programs installed for years and have been using this
: setting successfully.
:
: February 9 I dialed into the Internet and began to use Outlook (with
: Word as my editor) when,
: for no apparent reason, I got an error message, "This program
: [Outlook] has
: performed an illegal operation and will be shut down." Then I kept
: getting that message for other programs open on my computer, including
: my dialup connection. At that time, I believe I had open Word,
: Internet Explorer, Outlook, and the programs in the system tray that
: I've always had running for the last year without a problem (my Trend
: antivirus software, Spybot resident, a spell checker, GoBack software,
: and my connection to the Internet). I decided, since I always run
: these programs with no problem because I have 127 MB of memory, that I
: should do a ScanDisk. I did this, and it took practically all day.
: Then I also did a Defrag.
:
: But the following day I got that same error message ("This program has
: performed an illegal operation and will be shut down"). I would have
: used my GoBack software to go back to a date when the computer was
: acting fine. But, when I checked GoBack, I saw that all the history it
: logged before I did ScanDisk had been erased. I restarted my computer,
: and it acted fine after that for the rest of the day.
:
: The next day, as soon as I connected to the Internet, then opened
: Outlook, while I was receiving email, I got that same error
: message. No other programs were open except those that are always in
: my system tray. This is what makes me think the problem may not have
: to do with Word, after all. But this morning I connected to the
: Internet, opened Outlook, and received messages. I then chose to reply
: to one of the messages. When I pressed
: the REPLY button in Outlook, I got an hourglass and nothing more.
: Nothing else was functional, so I finally did a control/alt/delete to
: turn off Outlook. Then I saw that Winword was in the task list, so I
: turned that off, too. After that, Windows seemed fine.
:
: I again tried to reply to that message with the same result. So I
: turned off the setting to use Word as the email editor in the Outlook
: Tools menu. After that, I could reply to that message with no problem.
: This is what makes me think that Word might be the culprit.
:
: Do you think that use of Word as my email editor is what caused the
: error message the previous days? Remember, though, the one time I got
: that error message, I was just receiving not writing email.
:
: If an Outlook setting is causing the trouble, I wonder why it worked
: just fine for so long.
:
: Thanks,
: Beth

 

[TF]

Beth

It will recreate itself (rather like normal.dot does for Word). Another
possibility is that your temp file is full of abandoned temp files. The temp
file should be completely empty when all applications are closed. If you
check out the following document, it will tell you what to:

http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

Terry

: OK, I found it, EMAIL.DOT. Isn't that a template file? So what will
: happen if I rename it EMAIL.BAD?
:
: Beth
:
:
: On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 22:18:55 -0000, "TF"
: <terryfarrell%40%6d%73%6e%2ecom> wrote:
:
: >Elizabeth
: >
: >Using Word as your email editor has been buggy in all versions right up
to
: >Office 2003 where it seems to have been fixed. The most likely cause of
your
: >current problem is the mail.dot has probably corrupted. Try finding and
: >renaming mail.dot as mail.bad and then test it all again. My advice would
be
: >to avoid using Word as your email editor until you can manage an upgrade
: >sometime in the future.
: >
: >: >: Hi. I use the Office 2000 suite of programs, including Word 2000,
: >: with the Win98 OS. I use Word as my email editor in Outlook. I
: >: have had these programs installed for years and have been using this
: >: setting successfully.
: >:
: >: February 9 I dialed into the Internet and began to use Outlook (with
: >: Word as my editor) when,
: >: for no apparent reason, I got an error message, "This program
: >: [Outlook] has
: >: performed an illegal operation and will be shut down." Then I kept
: >: getting that message for other programs open on my computer, including
: >: my dialup connection. At that time, I believe I had open Word,
: >: Internet Explorer, Outlook, and the programs in the system tray that
: >: I've always had running for the last year without a problem (my Trend
: >: antivirus software, Spybot resident, a spell checker, GoBack software,
: >: and my connection to the Internet). I decided, since I always run
: >: these programs with no problem because I have 127 MB of memory, that I
: >: should do a ScanDisk. I did this, and it took practically all day.
: >: Then I also did a Defrag.
: >:
: >: But the following day I got that same error message ("This program has
: >: performed an illegal operation and will be shut down"). I would have
: >: used my GoBack software to go back to a date when the computer was
: >: acting fine. But, when I checked GoBack, I saw that all the history it
: >: logged before I did ScanDisk had been erased. I restarted my computer,
: >: and it acted fine after that for the rest of the day.
: >:
: >: The next day, as soon as I connected to the Internet, then opened
: >: Outlook, while I was receiving email, I got that same error
: >: message. No other programs were open except those that are always in
: >: my system tray. This is what makes me think the problem may not have
: >: to do with Word, after all. But this morning I connected to the
: >: Internet, opened Outlook, and received messages. I then chose to reply
: >: to one of the messages. When I pressed
: >: the REPLY button in Outlook, I got an hourglass and nothing more.
: >: Nothing else was functional, so I finally did a control/alt/delete to
: >: turn off Outlook. Then I saw that Winword was in the task list, so I
: >: turned that off, too. After that, Windows seemed fine.
: >:
: >: I again tried to reply to that message with the same result. So I
: >: turned off the setting to use Word as the email editor in the Outlook
: >: Tools menu. After that, I could reply to that message with no problem.
: >: This is what makes me think that Word might be the culprit.
: >:
: >: Do you think that use of Word as my email editor is what caused the
: >: error message the previous days? Remember, though, the one time I got
: >: that error message, I was just receiving not writing email.
: >:
: >: If an Outlook setting is causing the trouble, I wonder why it worked
: >: just fine for so long.
: >:
: >: Thanks,
: >: Beth
: >
:

 

[Elizabeth]

I took a look at that Web site you suggest, and it's great. I'll do
both (rename email.dot and clean up my temp files). As I think I said,
this problem with the "illegal operation" messages has been
intermittent, so it will be a couple of weeks before I'm convinced I
have the problem fixed. But it sure does sound like you're right.
Thanks so much!

Beth

Beth

It will recreate itself (rather like normal.dot does for Word). Another
possibility is that your temp file is full of abandoned temp files. The temp
file should be completely empty when all applications are closed. If you
check out the following document, it will tell you what to:

http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

Terry

: OK, I found it, EMAIL.DOT. Isn't that a template file? So what will
: happen if I rename it EMAIL.BAD?
:
: Beth
:
:
: On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 22:18:55 -0000, "TF"
: <terryfarrell%40%6d%73%6e%2ecom> wrote:
:
: >Elizabeth
: >
: >Using Word as your email editor has been buggy in all versions right up
to
: >Office 2003 where it seems to have been fixed. The most likely cause of
your
: >current problem is the mail.dot has probably corrupted. Try finding and
: >renaming mail.dot as mail.bad and then test it all again. My advice would
be
: >to avoid using Word as your email editor until you can manage an upgrade
: >sometime in the future.
: >
: >: >: Hi. I use the Office 2000 suite of programs, including Word 2000,
: >: with the Win98 OS. I use Word as my email editor in Outlook. I
: >: have had these programs installed for years and have been using this
: >: setting successfully.
: >:
: >: February 9 I dialed into the Internet and began to use Outlook (with
: >: Word as my editor) when,
: >: for no apparent reason, I got an error message, "This program
: >: [Outlook] has
: >: performed an illegal operation and will be shut down." Then I kept
: >: getting that message for other programs open on my computer, including
: >: my dialup connection. At that time, I believe I had open Word,
: >: Internet Explorer, Outlook, and the programs in the system tray that
: >: I've always had running for the last year without a problem (my Trend
: >: antivirus software, Spybot resident, a spell checker, GoBack software,
: >: and my connection to the Internet). I decided, since I always run
: >: these programs with no problem because I have 127 MB of memory, that I
: >: should do a ScanDisk. I did this, and it took practically all day.
: >: Then I also did a Defrag.
: >:
: >: But the following day I got that same error message ("This program has
: >: performed an illegal operation and will be shut down"). I would have
: >: used my GoBack software to go back to a date when the computer was
: >: acting fine. But, when I checked GoBack, I saw that all the history it
: >: logged before I did ScanDisk had been erased. I restarted my computer,
: >: and it acted fine after that for the rest of the day.
: >:
: >: The next day, as soon as I connected to the Internet, then opened
: >: Outlook, while I was receiving email, I got that same error
: >: message. No other programs were open except those that are always in
: >: my system tray. This is what makes me think the problem may not have
: >: to do with Word, after all. But this morning I connected to the
: >: Internet, opened Outlook, and received messages. I then chose to reply
: >: to one of the messages. When I pressed
: >: the REPLY button in Outlook, I got an hourglass and nothing more.
: >: Nothing else was functional, so I finally did a control/alt/delete to
: >: turn off Outlook. Then I saw that Winword was in the task list, so I
: >: turned that off, too. After that, Windows seemed fine.
: >:
: >: I again tried to reply to that message with the same result. So I
: >: turned off the setting to use Word as the email editor in the Outlook
: >: Tools menu. After that, I could reply to that message with no problem.
: >: This is what makes me think that Word might be the culprit.
: >:
: >: Do you think that use of Word as my email editor is what caused the
: >: error message the previous days? Remember, though, the one time I got
: >: that error message, I was just receiving not writing email.
: >:
: >: If an Outlook setting is causing the trouble, I wonder why it worked
: >: just fine for so long.
: >:
: >: Thanks,
: >: Beth
: >
: