Known Conflict Between Office 97/OE 6 On Win 98/XP

[Jack1000]

Guys,

For those of you who might still be running Office 97, I have experienced a known compatibility conflict between the Outlook 97 program, and both Windows 98 and Windows XP in conjunction with OE 6.

First off:

1.) Office 97 uses an old, no longer supported version of a program called Windows Messenging, or some more recent versions call this Microsoft Exchange. During the uninstall of Office 97 you are prompted that Windows Messaging is a shared component and you are asked if you want to keep WM or remove it. If users select REMOVE, Office 97 will look for Windows Messaging. The problem is, THE PROGRAM IS NOT A PART OF XP, and has been discontinued by Microsoft since the release of Windows 2000, so if you select REMOVE ALL, you will get a file not found or can't find file error.

2.) In BOTH Windows 98 and Windows XP, I have found that upon removing and reinstalling Office two very strange things. From within the OE 6 browser, Office 97 will choose to REPLACE your OE 6 program with Microsoft Outlook. You also can not just go back to OE 6 because Office 97 removes it from your programs list under IE, Tools, Internet Options, Programs.

3.) Here is where it gets really strange. If you enter OE 6 from a shortcut on your desktop, or from within OE itself all of your IE 6 messages are still there and you can send and recieve e-mail like there is no problem.

Two tips for users:

FOR ALL WINDOWS OP's OTHER THAN XP:

a. To get OE 6 back as your e-mail browser from inside of OE 6, you will need to reinstall OE 6 from Microsoft's website. YOU WANT A CUSTOM INSTALL OF IE 6. JUST SELECT OE 6 FOR INSTALLATION. After the set-up is complete, go to CUSTOM and check only OE 6 to reinstall the program. Since Office 97 does this each time by reverting back to Outlook as the e-mail default, you will have to do this each time you uninstall or reinstall Office 97

FOR WINDOWS XP:

b. Getting OE 6 back inside your browser is a bit more complicated. You can't just go and get a different version of OE 6 because Microsoft will tell you if you try to go to it's site to get a new version. "The version you have on your machine is newer than the version you are about to install, installation can't continue." If you go under IE 6 Tools, Internet Options, and programs, you can set OE 6 as the default mail header. If THAT doesn't work, close ALL windows and type, with the quotes the following in the RUN box.

"C:\PROGRAM FILES\OUTLOOK EXPRESS\MSIMN.EXE" /reg

and click OK. This is a silent command that will restore almost all of OE 6 back inside your browser. Now I can:

1.) Read mail inside of OE 6 using IE 6

2.) Read News inside of OE 6 using IE 6.

3.) Do everything in OE 6 using the OE 6 shortcut prompt OR by going inside the program to send/receive mail.

4.) you might be able to have IE open when you click on links, or it might say Outook, the above program cmd. will at least get Outlook Express back in your e-mail programs list

The one thing that still remains is that if you click on New Message, Send a Link, or Send Page from Internet Explorers toolbar, it wants you to use Outlook 97 to set up an e-mail account to do this. There is no prompt in Outlook 97 to switch to OE 6. This also applies if I select New Message from Internet Explorer's file menu.

Because of annoying conflicts like these. (I honestly believe that Office 97's file-sharing between a program no longer supported (Windows Messaging) and Office 97 being designed for a browser that is so old (I.E 3.0, IE 4.0) is the crux of this compatability conflict.) BTW Office 97 SR-2, which I downloaded and contains some good updates for Office 97 is still avaliable for Office 97. (Go to Help and About in Office 97 if you are still running it and make sure that you have SR-1.) (you can get that too) before installing SR-2. You will ALSO need your product ID key code # to complete the installation. It should be noted that MICROSOFT STOPPED SUPPORTING OFFICE 97 IN JANUARY 2004. Users with my type of situation may need to get a higher version of Office. Just make sure to uninstall the old version before installing the new version.

I wonder if an uninstall of Office 97 and an upgrade to a higher version of Office (i.e 2000, 2002, 2003, or XP would solve this issue or not?) Some have reported that there is an MSOE50.INF CMD line where you can reinstall OE with your XP CD ROM. Problem is, this doesn't work for many people. Users with SP-2 have TWO different Cmd lines. Microsoft suggests going into the registry to change IE/OE settings. Spellchecking in OE 6 will not even function in XP unless you have Office 2000 or higher unless you change registry settings. But ONLY USERS WHO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING SHOULD ATTEMPT THIS! Too much uncertanty for such a little problem. I would recommend a free, web-based e-mail service. (Yahoo is awesome! Great interface, spam filtering, virus scaning and cleaning.) There is also Hotmail, and Passport. OE 6 just has too many compatability conflicts, (same with Outlook.)

BTW...I have switched to Yahoo Mail due to my dislike of both OE 6 and Outlook and couldn't be happier!

Jack