Bruce,

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

I /believe/ LiveUpdate and Auto-Protect refer to a Norton program.

Well, I don't have any Symantec/Norton utilities installed.

I have been conducting some further tests and I am, quite frankly, baffled.
I have found that if I terminate the Avast Standard Shield resident provider
the delay in opening the first message drops to 5 seconds which is exactly
the same as if I stop all on-access protection. Note that I now have the
Internet Mail and Outlook/Exchange providers permanently terminated.

The Avast icon in the Systray rotates once when I select the message but
doesn't move during the 21 seconds (timed with a stopwatch) of disk activity.
The Standard Shield doesn't report any files scanned and it's process,
ashServ.exe, has zero CPU activity. The only processes which show any CPU
activity during the disk activity are explorer.exe (briefly) and msimn.exe
(continuously, varying between 02% and 08%).

So, everything suggests that it's not Avast that's causing the problem and
yet if I disable it the problem appears to go away.

In many cases, just unchecking e-mail scanning is not enough. Remove Avast
and reinstall it. Choose Custom Installation and under Resident
Protection, uncheck: Internet Mail and Outlook/Exchange.

See if that helps.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Galloping Hairpin" wrote in
message ...
Bruce,

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

I /believe/ LiveUpdate and Auto-Protect refer to a Norton program.

Well, I don't have any Symantec/Norton utilities installed.

I have been conducting some further tests and I am, quite frankly,
baffled.
I have found that if I terminate the Avast Standard Shield resident
provider
the delay in opening the first message drops to 5 seconds which is exactly
the same as if I stop all on-access protection. Note that I now have the
Internet Mail and Outlook/Exchange providers permanently terminated.

The Avast icon in the Systray rotates once when I select the message but
doesn't move during the 21 seconds (timed with a stopwatch) of disk
activity.
The Standard Shield doesn't report any files scanned and it's process,
ashServ.exe, has zero CPU activity. The only processes which show any CPU
activity during the disk activity are explorer.exe (briefly) and msimn.exe
(continuously, varying between 02% and 08%).

So, everything suggests that it's not Avast that's causing the problem and
yet if I disable it the problem appears to go away.

Ok. I've done that and it hasn't made any difference.

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

In many cases, just unchecking e-mail scanning is not enough. Remove Avast
and reinstall it. Choose Custom Installation and under Resident
Protection, uncheck: Internet Mail and Outlook/Exchange.

See if that helps.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA

Do you see this delay in every folder, or just the Inbox? I'm trying to
figure out if there is something wrong with Avast, or it is actually doing
its job and the delay is a result.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Galloping Hairpin" wrote in
message ...
Ok. I've done that and it hasn't made any difference.

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

In many cases, just unchecking e-mail scanning is not enough. Remove
Avast
and reinstall it. Choose Custom Installation and under Resident
Protection, uncheck: Internet Mail and Outlook/Exchange.

See if that helps.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA

Yes, I see this delay in every folder.

I can't get my brain around the fact that there is no activity in the Avast
processes yet it's clearly affecting Outlook Express in some way.

Is there any way to re-install Outlook Express?

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

Do you see this delay in every folder, or just the Inbox? I'm trying to
figure out if there is something wrong with Avast, or it is actually doing
its job and the delay is a result.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Galloping Hairpin" wrote in
message ...
Ok. I've done that and it hasn't made any difference.

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

In many cases, just unchecking e-mail scanning is not enough. Remove
Avast
and reinstall it. Choose Custom Installation and under Resident
Protection, uncheck: Internet Mail and Outlook/Exchange.

See if that helps.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA

That eliminates one bad folder, or message. You can reinstall OE, but I
doubt that would do one bit of good.

Create a new identity and import your messages to it. Do you see a delay
here?

File | Identity | Add New Identity. Create a new one and test it.

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

You will still have your messages in the old identity, so if this doesn't
help, you can just delete this new identity.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Galloping Hairpin" wrote in
message ...
Yes, I see this delay in every folder.

I can't get my brain around the fact that there is no activity in the
Avast
processes yet it's clearly affecting Outlook Express in some way.

Is there any way to re-install Outlook Express?

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

Do you see this delay in every folder, or just the Inbox? I'm trying to
figure out if there is something wrong with Avast, or it is actually
doing
its job and the delay is a result.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Galloping Hairpin" wrote in
message ...
Ok. I've done that and it hasn't made any difference.

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

In many cases, just unchecking e-mail scanning is not enough. Remove
Avast
and reinstall it. Choose Custom Installation and under Resident
Protection, uncheck: Internet Mail and Outlook/Exchange.

See if that helps.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA

Also, if you select to work offline, do you see the delay?
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Galloping Hairpin" wrote in
message ...
Yes, I see this delay in every folder.

I can't get my brain around the fact that there is no activity in the
Avast
processes yet it's clearly affecting Outlook Express in some way.

Is there any way to re-install Outlook Express?

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

Do you see this delay in every folder, or just the Inbox? I'm trying to
figure out if there is something wrong with Avast, or it is actually
doing
its job and the delay is a result.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Galloping Hairpin" wrote in
message ...
Ok. I've done that and it hasn't made any difference.

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

In many cases, just unchecking e-mail scanning is not enough. Remove
Avast
and reinstall it. Choose Custom Installation and under Resident
Protection, uncheck: Internet Mail and Outlook/Exchange.

See if that helps.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA

kibbitz
If compacting all OE folders (ALT+F+F+F;
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm#compact) and deleting Temporary
Internet Files (and accepting the prompt to delete all offline content)
doesn't correct the problem...

Your current Identity may be damaged, especially if its the default Main
Identity. Try one or more of your accounts in a new Named Identity (File
Identities Add new identity). Assuming all is well, (1) compact all
folders in the old identity, (2) import messages from the old identity into
the new one, and then (3) delete the old one (File Identities Manage
Identities).

To avoid such corruption in futu

- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

- Frequently perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working
offline". More at http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

- WinXP SP2 only: Do not shut down your machine while Windows is
automatically compacting your message store.

- Your anti-virus application's email scanning feature can also cause such
corruption. Disable it. It provides no additional protection.
/kibbitz
--
~PA Bear


Galloping Hairpin wrote:
Yes, I see this delay in every folder.

I can't get my brain around the fact that there is no activity in the
Avast
processes yet it's clearly affecting Outlook Express in some way.

Is there any way to re-install Outlook Express?

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

Do you see this delay in every folder, or just the Inbox? I'm trying to
figure out if there is something wrong with Avast, or it is actually
doing
its job and the delay is a result.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Galloping Hairpin" wrote in
message ...
Ok. I've done that and it hasn't made any difference.

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

In many cases, just unchecking e-mail scanning is not enough. Remove
Avast
and reinstall it. Choose Custom Installation and under Resident
Protection, uncheck: Internet Mail and Outlook/Exchange.

See if that helps.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA

Ok, I finally got around to creating a new identity, not totally
straightforward because of the approach used by my ISP to implement multiple
email addresses.

Anyway, the new identity exhibited similar, but not identical, problems to
the old one insofar as it took 15 seconds to open the first message rather
than the 21 seconds.

I have de-installed Avast and re-installed without any email scanning
options. I have also disabled MailSafe in my ZoneAlarm firewall (although
turning the firewall off completely makes no difference in any case).

If I can ever save up enough money I'm going to buy myself a Macintosh
because I'm totally fed up with the problems I encounter with Microsoft
products. Either that or I'll run my PC on Linux.

"PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:

kibbitz
If compacting all OE folders (ALT+F+F+F;
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm#compact) and deleting Temporary
Internet Files (and accepting the prompt to delete all offline content)
doesn't correct the problem...

Your current Identity may be damaged, especially if its the default Main
Identity. Try one or more of your accounts in a new Named Identity (File
Identities Add new identity). Assuming all is well, (1) compact all
folders in the old identity, (2) import messages from the old identity into
the new one, and then (3) delete the old one (File Identities Manage
Identities).

To avoid such corruption in futu

- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

- Frequently perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working
offline". More at http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

- WinXP SP2 only: Do not shut down your machine while Windows is
automatically compacting your message store.

- Your anti-virus application's email scanning feature can also cause such
corruption. Disable it. It provides no additional protection.
/kibbitz
--
~PA Bear


Galloping Hairpin wrote:
Yes, I see this delay in every folder.

I can't get my brain around the fact that there is no activity in the
Avast
processes yet it's clearly affecting Outlook Express in some way.

Is there any way to re-install Outlook Express?

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

Do you see this delay in every folder, or just the Inbox? I'm trying to
figure out if there is something wrong with Avast, or it is actually
doing
its job and the delay is a result.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Galloping Hairpin" wrote in
message ...
Ok. I've done that and it hasn't made any difference.

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

In many cases, just unchecking e-mail scanning is not enough. Remove
Avast
and reinstall it. Choose Custom Installation and under Resident
Protection, uncheck: Internet Mail and Outlook/Exchange.

See if that helps.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA