I will second roselvr's suggestion and add that you should disable System Restore first, then run the tests. Be sure to restart System Restore afterwards. To disable system restore click Start/Control panel/System/System Restore and place a check mark to close then click Apply/OK and run your tests

you will need to know which version of AVG you have if it is the new version 8 AVG and if it is the free or paid version. If this is a new built pc you should probably let the builder troubleshoot it. Here is a link to the forums at AVG where you could ask them this question, however you will need to provide the version info and give them your pc info also. There is a dedicated email scanner which in version 8 you can turn off to see if that would change how your mail is acting. That way you might be able to determine if it is working ok with out the AVG email scanner then you know what might possibly be conflicting. Here is a link that might be useful: AVG forum

gmom, Here is the link that is most likely to save your day: www.OEHelp.com/OETips Scroll down to the red 'Update'. Have a read, but before you do anything else, download the free programme Outlook Express Quick Backup (don't worry about the command line instructions because you never use them - you just push the buttons). Before you run OE Quick Backup create a new Backup Folder (preferably on another drive) e.g. 'Current'. Run OE Quick Backup and select the 'Current' folder then click 'Backup All'. Once your latest data is safely backed up in 'Current' create a couple more folders e.g. 'Old 2008' and 'Old 2007'. This is because, if things work o.k., you are likely to end up with several .dbx files with the same name and you need to save them in different places - as explained in the next paragraph. So, to recover e.g. an old "Sent" email folder copy sent.bak and save it to your current identity as sent1.dbx and then backup that to "Old 2008". A quick word about .bak files - when Widows saves a later version of any file with the same name as the original one it changes the extension of the original file to .bak e.g. text.txt to text.bak and program.exe to program.bak. This gives you only one chance to 'easily' recover your data because if you save again using the same name then the first .bak file is overwritten - this is windows way of preventing your hard drive from becoming full with obsolete files. N.B. My Windows theory might not be 100% correct (I am both old and self-taught!) but the general principles are about right and it could save you from corrupting anything that you do manage to recover. Good luck. Colin Here is a link that might be useful: Outlook Express Help Main Index

be very careful with incredimail! it does it's own spamming and calls home from your pc which is the part I do not like, I would be sure to set firewall to block. Applications like IncrediMail, call back home every four hours to download IncrediMails own form of SPAM (advertisements) via a call to 206.82.140.163:80. This is some info you should be aware of, this is quoted from the wiki which I will link to. Quote: Technical There is much controversy over the usability and viability of HTML email in general. Due to its heavy and very visible use of HTML formatting in its default out-of-box configuration, Incredimail finds itself at the forefront of this controversy as what many of the detractors of HTML email consider an extreme "worst-case example" and many of the proponents consider "fun and friendly." Some argue that the program increases message sizes (and consequently download times for recipients) and uses more bandwidth than text-only or HTML mail. In addition, the (default) heavy use of HTML and embedded images in Incredimail is difficult to tell from spam in automated filters; at times high-profile pump-and-dump penny stock spammers have used this similarity to sneak their payloads through those automated filters.[9][10] Preferences within the program can be set, however, to send mail in a plain-text format. In addition, Incredimail makes extensive use of the registry and system directories which is not properly rolled back with its uninstallation script. This has frequently required manual registry edits to fix the damage if a user decided later to remove the program.[11] Legal Finally there has been a good deal of controversy over the privacy policy of the company which produces Incredimail. The program collects data such as how many emails are sent, how many pictures are sent in those emails, dates and times the user has the program open, and more.[12] Verbiage from the EULA Incredimail users must accept in order to install the program is also a source of controversy, as this EULA provision at one time specifically granted the Incredimail corporation "an unrestricted, perpetual, irrevocable license to use, reproduce, display, perform, modify, transmit and distribute" any email sent using the program itself. This text has since been modified to restrict these rights grants more reasonably to unsolicited email sent to the Incredimail corporation, however. Further controversy over potential security issues within the Incredimail client and service seem born out by the "Risks" clause in the current EULA, however, which includes very forbidding (and unusual in an email client, see the Thunderbird EULA for a contrasting example[13]) text about "hacking, cracking, nuking," and more: Incredimail and unfortunately it is very difficult to get rid of incredimail, in fact microsoft has written articles about just that, this is a link to pchell instructions on how to try ( note they offer an uninstaller for sale, it should be able to be done with out that) How to Uninstall or Remove Incredimail Here is a link that might be useful: microsoft article