Outlook Express won't load

[macnext1]

When I try to bring up Outlook Express I get an hourglass for a litle while and then it (hourglass) goes away but nothing else happens. We also are seeing 'Windows Starting Up' taking a much longer time than it used to. Related? These things all started happening this week.

Mac

[Shane]

Well could be multiple things.

But first thing to do is do a chkdsk on the drive.

If outlook express is having trouble reading the email folders on the drive and the drive is slowing down causing longer boot ups then that should be the first thing to check.

Shane

[macnext1]

Ah how quickly we forget. Remember me? No computer skills. Memory like a bear trap (everything goes in but nothing comes out). How do I run chkdsk? In an effort to make our home appear a little neater (trying to sell) I packed away about a ton on books (including all my computer reference books).

Mac

[Shane]

Use this tool I wrote
http://www.tweaking.com/content/page/disk_error_checking_at_next_boot.html

Shane

[macnext1]

Update. I finally remembered that chkdsk ran from command line. Ran it. Got 3 errors and it said it couldn't continue in read only mode.
So that was the end of that.

Downloaded your tool. Installed. Will run it tomorrow when reboot.

My hard disk is NTFS (thank you chkdsk). So I thought I would format a DVD in NTFS and then do a backup of my hard disk before it craps out completely. Format says my D drive doesn't support NTFS. What file format should I use?

Mac

[Shane]

Doesn't work that way. You just make a data cd and use burning software.

Here is a free one you can use to make a data disk.
http://cdburnerxp.se/en/download

Shane

[macnext1]

Thanks for the link. I need a restore disc (operating system and all files). Is this going to do that for me?

Update: Installed your tool for disc checking yesterday. Rebooted today but didn't see the tool catch anything. How to proceed?

Mac

[Shane]

It doesn't. When you reboot windows will do a chkdsk on the drive and thats it.

The cdburnerxp wont make a restore disk. it is just a burning software. If you want an image of your system your going to need an external hard drive. You system is much bigger than a 4gb dvd disk

Also there is a lot of system image software out there you could use.

Shane

[macnext1]

Today when I rebooted it started running chkdsk. It got into phase 2 and found some indexes it didn't like. At that point I left thinking that it would run to completion and I could review the results later. Not so; when I returned it was at the sign in page waiting for my password. Is there a report sitting somewhere for me to see what actually happened?

[Shane]

It stores the results in the event viewer

Shane

[macnext1]

LOL -- where is the event viewer and how do I go find it?

Mac

[Shane]

Right click "My Computer" left click on manage.

There you will see the event viewer

Shane

[macnext1]

So I found the event viewer and there is a big red guy there that says chkdsk shoul be run. I still don't see any report there from the chkdsk run -- a lot of events being opened and closed but no report.

[Shane]

Look down the list and find the one from Winlogon

Shane

[macnext1]

I assume you mean Winlogon in the 'source' field. It's not there.

Mac