Perhaps the updates were just a coincidence. Compact your folders first.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything until
the compacting is completed.

If still no joy:

You may have a damaged identity especially if it is the default Main
Identity. File | Identity | Add New Identity. Create a new one and test it.
If all is well, you can import your messages and Address Book from the old
identity and delete it.

How to Create and Use Identities in Outlook Express
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=209169

Also, clean things up a bit.

General precautions for Outlook Express:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupt. Create your own user defined folders for storing mail and move your
mail to them. Empty Deleted Items folder regularly. Keep user created
folders under 100MB, and Default folders as empty as is feasible.

After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually while
working *offline* and do it often.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything until
the compacting is completed.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant layer
of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems such as
time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program will
continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in background and
leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}.

And backup often.

Backup & Resto
http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/backup/
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"Lare" wrote in message
...
Bruce,
I followed the below indetail, without success. Any oher ideas?
Thank you
--
Preach


"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

Remove the updates via Add/Remove in the Control Panel and then reboot
your
computer. If everything is back to normal, download the updates again
manually, but disable your anti-virus first. Your A/V can prevent a clean
install of updates.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"Lare" wrote in message
...
This morning, after Windows XP autoupdate, with some apparent
difficulty,
downloaded a half dozen or so updates at 3AM, I can no longer drag
messages
to a subfolder. I can manually "move to folder" just fine. The
difficulty
mentioned above was when several of the downloads first failed, and
then
apparently downloaded OK the second time. I then checked for critical
updates
and none were needed.
Thank you
--
Preach