Hi there, I'm hoping someone else has experienced this and knows what the
problem is. I'm assuming the problem at this point is patch related, but I
have yet to find anything on the web about it.

Using Outlook Express, receive an email with some attachment, like an Excel
file for example. (You can send yourself an email attachment.) In OE, click
the paperclip so that it shows the file name of the attachment. Click on the
file name and you get the standard dialog box asking "Do you want to open
this file?" with either "Open" or "Cancel" as choices. Now here's where it
gets weird!

If you click Open or Cancel, everything is fine. HOWEVER, if you click
outside of this dialog box, the window starts flashing repeatedly. It's like
it loses focus between this and the main window. If I press Ctrl-Alt-Del to
bring up task manager, quite often I'll find WINLOGIN running at 100% CPU or
thereabouts. If I wait a few moments, I can usually switch back to OE and
the window will have stopped flashing.

Initially I thought this was an issue with only Outlook Express. However
when I went to IE, it did the same thing. In IE, download a file. You get
the same box asking if you want to run or save the file. You can click
outside of this dialog box, and nothing will happen. But move that dialog
box to the right and you'll see the other window--the one that shows the
estimated time to transfer a file. With the other dialog box still open,
click on this second box, and you get the flashing window again. Or at least
I do, and lots more people at my workplace. As before, I can wait a few
moments, and then click on the main IE window to make it stop, or press
Ctrl-Alt-Del, then switch back to the main window, and it will have stopped
flashing.

I know it's a pretty obscure glitch, but I'm getting an increasing number of
people coming in mentioning it when they go to check their mail in Outlook
Express. It doesn't happen in Outlook, nor does it happen in other programs'
File dialog boxes.

Any ideas? I'm taking a test machine right to see if I can duplicate it
depending on the various patches installed.

Thanks,
Sir_timbit

Forgot to mention...this is IE 6 on WinXP Pro SP2.

Out of curiosity, I installed IE 7 beta on this (it's a test PC!) and the
problem persists.

Sir Timbit
------------


"Sir Timbit" wrote in message
...
Hi there, I'm hoping someone else has experienced this and knows what the
problem is. I'm assuming the problem at this point is patch related, but I
have yet to find anything on the web about it.

Using Outlook Express, receive an email with some attachment, like an
Excel file for example. (You can send yourself an email attachment.) In
OE, click the paperclip so that it shows the file name of the attachment.
Click on the file name and you get the standard dialog box asking "Do you
want to open this file?" with either "Open" or "Cancel" as choices. Now
here's where it gets weird!

If you click Open or Cancel, everything is fine. HOWEVER, if you click
outside of this dialog box, the window starts flashing repeatedly. It's
like it loses focus between this and the main window. If I press
Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up task manager, quite often I'll find WINLOGIN
running at 100% CPU or thereabouts. If I wait a few moments, I can usually
switch back to OE and the window will have stopped flashing.

Initially I thought this was an issue with only Outlook Express. However
when I went to IE, it did the same thing. In IE, download a file. You get
the same box asking if you want to run or save the file. You can click
outside of this dialog box, and nothing will happen. But move that dialog
box to the right and you'll see the other window--the one that shows the
estimated time to transfer a file. With the other dialog box still open,
click on this second box, and you get the flashing window again. Or at
least I do, and lots more people at my workplace. As before, I can wait a
few moments, and then click on the main IE window to make it stop, or
press Ctrl-Alt-Del, then switch back to the main window, and it will have
stopped flashing.

I know it's a pretty obscure glitch, but I'm getting an increasing number
of people coming in mentioning it when they go to check their mail in
Outlook Express. It doesn't happen in Outlook, nor does it happen in other
programs' File dialog boxes.

Any ideas? I'm taking a test machine right to see if I can duplicate it
depending on the various patches installed.

Thanks,
Sir_timbit

I've seen the same problem. It's due to the way that OE opens the
dialog child process and maintains focus. If you click anywhere else
within OE it should beep once and return focus to the dialog. But it
can get confused and get into a loop.

You should not see a problem if you click anywhere outside of OE. So
you can click on the task bar or if OE is less than full screen
somewhere outside of OE such as on the desk top or another application
behind OE.

I don't anticipate Microsoft doing anything about this anytime soon.

--

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm


"Sir Timbit" wrote in message
...
Hi there, I'm hoping someone else has experienced this and knows what
the problem is. I'm assuming the problem at this point is patch
related, but I have yet to find anything on the web about it.

Using Outlook Express, receive an email with some attachment, like an
Excel file for example. (You can send yourself an email attachment.)
In OE, click the paperclip so that it shows the file name of the
attachment. Click on the file name and you get the standard dialog box
asking "Do you want to open this file?" with either "Open" or "Cancel"
as choices. Now here's where it gets weird!

If you click Open or Cancel, everything is fine. HOWEVER, if you click
outside of this dialog box, the window starts flashing repeatedly.
It's like it loses focus between this and the main window. If I press
Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up task manager, quite often I'll find WINLOGIN
running at 100% CPU or thereabouts. If I wait a few moments, I can
usually switch back to OE and the window will have stopped flashing.

Initially I thought this was an issue with only Outlook Express.
However when I went to IE, it did the same thing. In IE, download a
file. You get the same box asking if you want to run or save the file.
You can click outside of this dialog box, and nothing will happen. But
move that dialog box to the right and you'll see the other window--the
one that shows the estimated time to transfer a file. With the other
dialog box still open, click on this second box, and you get the
flashing window again. Or at least I do, and lots more people at my
workplace. As before, I can wait a few moments, and then click on the
main IE window to make it stop, or press Ctrl-Alt-Del, then switch
back to the main window, and it will have stopped flashing.

I know it's a pretty obscure glitch, but I'm getting an increasing
number of people coming in mentioning it when they go to check their
mail in Outlook Express. It doesn't happen in Outlook, nor does it
happen in other programs' File dialog boxes.

Any ideas? I'm taking a test machine right to see if I can duplicate
it depending on the various patches installed.

Thanks,
Sir_timbit

An update:
I've sinced tried this on a test PC. I formatted the drive and installed
XPsp2 from scratch. I installed no extra apps and no extra drivers, and I'm
behind our hardware firewall. The only software I've used so far is
Microsoft's XP Pro Setup CD. As soon as it finished the installation and
rebooted, I went into Outlook Express, configured, and received my test
email with an attachment. It worked fine! The window blinks twice and that's
it.

I went on Windows Update and downloaded all critical updates listed (38!)
and after it rebooted, the problem reappeared! Again, no other software is
installed, not even extra drivers from Windows Update. So now I need to
figure out which patch is causing IE/OE to act strange.

Or maybe just tell Microsoft about another potential bug in their software.
:-)

Thanks,
Sir Timbit

"Michael Santovec" wrote in message
...
I've seen the same problem. It's due to the way that OE opens the dialog
child process and maintains focus. If you click anywhere else within OE
it should beep once and return focus to the dialog. But it can get
confused and get into a loop.

You should not see a problem if you click anywhere outside of OE. So you
can click on the task bar or if OE is less than full screen somewhere
outside of OE such as on the desk top or another application behind OE.

I don't anticipate Microsoft doing anything about this anytime soon.

--

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm


"Sir Timbit" wrote in message
...
Hi there, I'm hoping someone else has experienced this and knows what the
problem is. I'm assuming the problem at this point is patch related, but
I have yet to find anything on the web about it.

Using Outlook Express, receive an email with some attachment, like an
Excel file for example. (You can send yourself an email attachment.) In
OE, click the paperclip so that it shows the file name of the attachment.
Click on the file name and you get the standard dialog box asking "Do you
want to open this file?" with either "Open" or "Cancel" as choices. Now
here's where it gets weird!

If you click Open or Cancel, everything is fine. HOWEVER, if you click
outside of this dialog box, the window starts flashing repeatedly. It's
like it loses focus between this and the main window. If I press
Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up task manager, quite often I'll find WINLOGIN
running at 100% CPU or thereabouts. If I wait a few moments, I can
usually switch back to OE and the window will have stopped flashing.

Initially I thought this was an issue with only Outlook Express. However
when I went to IE, it did the same thing. In IE, download a file. You get
the same box asking if you want to run or save the file. You can click
outside of this dialog box, and nothing will happen. But move that dialog
box to the right and you'll see the other window--the one that shows the
estimated time to transfer a file. With the other dialog box still open,
click on this second box, and you get the flashing window again. Or at
least I do, and lots more people at my workplace. As before, I can wait a
few moments, and then click on the main IE window to make it stop, or
press Ctrl-Alt-Del, then switch back to the main window, and it will have
stopped flashing.

I know it's a pretty obscure glitch, but I'm getting an increasing number
of people coming in mentioning it when they go to check their mail in
Outlook Express. It doesn't happen in Outlook, nor does it happen in
other programs' File dialog boxes.

Any ideas? I'm taking a test machine right to see if I can duplicate it
depending on the various patches installed.

Thanks,
Sir_timbit

I found the culprit. It was KB905915, released 12/13/2005.
"Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP"

OE and IE worked fine with all previously released patches. Once I installed
that one, the flashing started.

Sir Timbit
---------------

"Sir Timbit" wrote in message
...
An update:
I've sinced tried this on a test PC. I formatted the drive and installed
XPsp2 from scratch. I installed no extra apps and no extra drivers, and
I'm behind our hardware firewall. The only software I've used so far is
Microsoft's XP Pro Setup CD. As soon as it finished the installation and
rebooted, I went into Outlook Express, configured, and received my test
email with an attachment. It worked fine! The window blinks twice and
that's it.

I went on Windows Update and downloaded all critical updates listed (38!)
and after it rebooted, the problem reappeared! Again, no other software is
installed, not even extra drivers from Windows Update. So now I need to
figure out which patch is causing IE/OE to act strange.

Or maybe just tell Microsoft about another potential bug in their
software. :-)

Thanks,
Sir Timbit

"Michael Santovec" wrote in message
...
I've seen the same problem. It's due to the way that OE opens the dialog
child process and maintains focus. If you click anywhere else within OE
it should beep once and return focus to the dialog. But it can get
confused and get into a loop.

You should not see a problem if you click anywhere outside of OE. So you
can click on the task bar or if OE is less than full screen somewhere
outside of OE such as on the desk top or another application behind OE.

I don't anticipate Microsoft doing anything about this anytime soon.

--

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm


"Sir Timbit" wrote in message
...
Hi there, I'm hoping someone else has experienced this and knows what
the problem is. I'm assuming the problem at this point is patch related,
but I have yet to find anything on the web about it.

Using Outlook Express, receive an email with some attachment, like an
Excel file for example. (You can send yourself an email attachment.) In
OE, click the paperclip so that it shows the file name of the
attachment. Click on the file name and you get the standard dialog box
asking "Do you want to open this file?" with either "Open" or "Cancel"
as choices. Now here's where it gets weird!

If you click Open or Cancel, everything is fine. HOWEVER, if you click
outside of this dialog box, the window starts flashing repeatedly. It's
like it loses focus between this and the main window. If I press
Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up task manager, quite often I'll find WINLOGIN
running at 100% CPU or thereabouts. If I wait a few moments, I can
usually switch back to OE and the window will have stopped flashing.

Initially I thought this was an issue with only Outlook Express. However
when I went to IE, it did the same thing. In IE, download a file. You
get the same box asking if you want to run or save the file. You can
click outside of this dialog box, and nothing will happen. But move that
dialog box to the right and you'll see the other window--the one that
shows the estimated time to transfer a file. With the other dialog box
still open, click on this second box, and you get the flashing window
again. Or at least I do, and lots more people at my workplace. As
before, I can wait a few moments, and then click on the main IE window
to make it stop, or press Ctrl-Alt-Del, then switch back to the main
window, and it will have stopped flashing.

I know it's a pretty obscure glitch, but I'm getting an increasing
number of people coming in mentioning it when they go to check their
mail in Outlook Express. It doesn't happen in Outlook, nor does it
happen in other programs' File dialog boxes.

Any ideas? I'm taking a test machine right to see if I can duplicate it
depending on the various patches installed.

Thanks,
Sir_timbit

When it happens (and it does happen), I find that just moving the mouse to
the topmost portion of the Outlook Express window stops the blinking of that
box within a second or two. Much faster than opening Task Manager and I
would not recommend that anyone remove the Security update in KB 905915 just
because of that problem.
--
Jim Pickering, MVP, Outlook Express
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/pr...8-1171988A62D6
Please deliver feedback to the newsgroup, so that others can be helped.
Thanks.


"Sir Timbit" wrote in message
...
I found the culprit. It was KB905915, released 12/13/2005.
"Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP"

OE and IE worked fine with all previously released patches. Once I
installed that one, the flashing started.

Sir Timbit
---------------

Absolutely....If I recall, that was a pretty big patch. I ran mine on a test
PC, but I wouldn't uninstall the patch on a work computer.

Still, hopefully Microsoft will fix this glitch one day, but I'm not holding
my breath.

Sir Timbit
-------------------

"Jim Pickering" wrote in message
...
When it happens (and it does happen), I find that just moving the mouse to
the topmost portion of the Outlook Express window stops the blinking of
that box within a second or two. Much faster than opening Task Manager
and I would not recommend that anyone remove the Security update in KB
905915 just because of that problem.
--
Jim Pickering, MVP, Outlook Express
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/pr...8-1171988A62D6
Please deliver feedback to the newsgroup, so that others can be helped.
Thanks.


"Sir Timbit" wrote in message
...
I found the culprit. It was KB905915, released 12/13/2005.
"Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP"

OE and IE worked fine with all previously released patches. Once I
installed that one, the flashing started.

Sir Timbit
---------------