Hi Frank, thanks for replying.

However, I don't think I made myself clear - I should have explained that I
have used OE for years and I do know how to customize a toolbar. The problem
is, that whatever I do, OE undoes it the next time a Hotmail account is
selected.

What has happened is that about four days ago, after running without any
major hitches for about 3 years, on a fully updated XP Pro SP2
system,without any intervention from me, the Hotmail toolbars disappeared.
When I looked at the Customize toolbar dialogue, it showed only 4
separators. I put back the buttons I wanted and everything was fine until I
the next time when a hotmail account was selected, and then the buttons
disappeared and only the separators remain.

The first time it happened, all toolbars were affected, then I closed it
down and restarted and since then (and several reboots later) the POP3 and
Newsgroup toolbars are functioning properly, and so are the toolbars in all
message forms, including hotmail.

The only other significant event of the day was that two hotmail servers
were unavailable for a quite a time (apologies from Microsoft, so again not
my fault!) and I wondered if there was any connection between the two
events - I am stumped as to what to do and wondered if anyone else had had
the same experience.

Regards,
Fflei



"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM" wrote in message
...
"fflei" wrote in message
...
A couple of days ago the OE6 Toolbar started behaving oddly.

If a local folder or newsgroup folder is selected, the toolbar is fine,
but if a hotmail account is selected, it disappears leaving 4 separators.
I can still access the commands via the menu bar or the right-click menu,
but I miss the buttons! I've tried resetting the toolbar, but it just
disappears again the next time a hotmail folder is selected.

I don't know if this is a coincidence, but it happened the day that my
hotmail server had a fault and could not be accessed.

Does anyone have any idea what could be the cause?




OE uses a different toolbar for (a normal) Hotmail account than it does
for POP3 mail and a third one for newsgroups and they can be independently
customized.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
Do not send mail.