See if it will delete while working offline. File | Work Offline & View |
Layout, Uncheck the Preview Pane.

If not, move all the messages you wish to save from the Inbox to a local
folder you create. Then:

Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store folder will reveal the location of
your Outlook Express files. Press the Tab key to highlight the folder
location, then Ctrl+C. Close OE, then Start | Run | Ctrl+V will put the
location in the box - Click OK and you'll see the OE files. Otherwise, write
the location down and navigate to it in Windows Explorer.

In Windows XP, 2K & 3K, the OE user files (DBX and WAB) are by default
marked as hidden. To view these files in Explorer, you must enable Show
Hidden Files and Folders under Start | Control Panel | Folder Options |
View.

With OE closed, find the DBX file for the Inbox.dbx and delete it. A new,
empty one will be created automatically when you open OE.

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupted. 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: FileWork Offline (or double click Working Online in the Status
Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything until the
compacting is completed.

In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in background and
leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"Gen Joerger" Gen wrote in message
...
Hi - I was working and had OE open when we had an unexpected power outage.
When the power came back, I rebooted and reopened OE. I clicked on one of
the new messages in my inbox and OE hung up and stopped responding. No
problem with any other messages, but now I can't get rid of this one. I'm
assuming it was coming in just as the power went out and probably got
corrupted. I've tried everything I could think of, and everything I could
find online, but I cannot delete this message -- as soon as I touch it in
any
way, OE crashes. Can anyone help with this?