Inside Outlook Express

Problems after installing April security update KB911567 20-Apr-06

Last week Microsoft released several security updates, including one for Outlook Express. If you rely on saved *.eml files for templates, you do not want this patch! There have also been reports that the Address Book stops working or is blank after installing this patch.

After installing KB911567 Outlook Express no longer recognizes the X-UNSENT: 1 header in *.eml files. Many OE users rely upon that feature in order to save unfinished messages to be used as templates. Manually entering that header is also the only real way OE users have been able to resend a message. Finally, the best way to work around an OE newsgroup bug relies upon the same use of X-Unsent:1 in a saved *.eml file.

The following is outdated thanks to patch KB918651:

The future of Outlook Express 29-Oct-05

For over nine years I have been writing to help others use and understand Outlook Express. During that time I have seen the product make its impressive debut in OE4, followed by significant improvements in OE5, followed by almost no changes in OE5.5 and OE6. In fact for five of those years you wouldn't know anything had changed in OE unless you peeked "under the hood", where a small crew of MS developers made incremental but real improvements in security and stability. But that crew had too few resouces to tackle some of the most frustrating bugs and quirks that have plagued OE users. So after nine years of complaining, pleading, ranting and hoping, I decided I had had enough. I set out for the 2005 MVP Global Summit in September with the clear intention of saying goodbye to Outlook Express forever.

After spending two days with the Outlook Express development team it was apparent that they have been listening to our complaints, suggestions and feedback, and have devised some exciting new approaches to solving long-standing issues. The Outlook Express that will be included in Windows Vista promises to be a great advance over current versions. A new and less confusing name (Windows Mail), a far more stable and robust file system, a powerful and award-winning junk-mail filter, a completely new face on the Windows Address Book, and built-in access to the Microsoft public news server are just a few of the changes we will see. Although the final version of Windows Vista is still many months away, what I have seen so far in Windows Mail is very encouraging and has convinced me not to give up just yet. I plan to continue my long struggle to make Outlook Express, or rather Windows Mail, the best possible email and news client for Windows.

I will be adding much more about Windows Mail over the coming months as I get to know it better, and as its feature set becomes public knowledge. But if you want to follow the development path, bookmark Bryan Starbuck's blog. He is the Development Lead for Windows Mail and so will probably be the first to announce any changes.

If you want to see for yourself, check out Windows Mail in this video presentation from Channel 9.

Outlook Express articles on the Internet Explorer Community website

• Controlling Junk Mail in Outlook Express
• Outlook Express and Outlook
• Top ten countdown in Outlook Express (this article has been removed)
• An Outlook Express basic repair kit
• Outlook Express Newsgroups 101 (this article has been removed)
• Mastering Newsgroups in Outlook Express: Power User Tips (this article has been removed)
• Set Up Mail Servers in Outlook Express
• Using Passwords in Outlook Express
• A Multitude of Multiples: Using Outlook Express with Multiple E-mail Addresses, Multiple Accounts, and Multiple Identities
• The Other E-Mail Threat: File Corruption in Outlook Express (this article has been removed)
• Outlook Express and Windows XP Service Pack 2: Several Problems or Superior Protection? (this article has been removed)