You have corruption in one or more folders.

Move any messages you want to save out of Deleted Items, Sent Items and
the Inbox to folders that you create and then close OE and delete the dbx
files for these three folders.

Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder will reveal the location of
your Outlook Express files. Write the location down and navigate to it in
Windows Explorer or, copy and paste it into Start | Run.

In WinXP, Win2K & Win2K3, the OE user files (DBX and WAB) are by default
marked as hidden. To view these files in Windows Explorer, you must enable
Show Hidden Files and Folders under Start | Control Panel | Folder Options
Icon | View, or in Windows Explorer | Tools | Folder Options | View.

With OE closed, find the Deleted Items.dbx, Sent Items.dbx and Inbox.dbx
files and delete them. New files will be created automatically when you
open OE.

Compact all folders as described below.

To help prevent this in the futu

Do not archive mail in the Inbox or Sent Items. Create your own user
defined folders and move the messages you wish to save to them. Empty
Deleted Items folder daily. Although dbx files have a theoretical capacity
of 2GB, I recommend about a 300MB max for less chance of corruption.

Information about the maximum file size of the .dbx files that are used by
Outlook Express:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=903095

After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually while
working *offline* and do it often.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything
until the compacting is completed.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant
layer of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems
such as time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program
will continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in background
and leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2 or SP3}.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP [Mail]
Imperial Beach, CA


"Rick Morrison" wrote in message
...
Working on a friend's computer. All of a sudden he can't delete
anything. If I highlight an email then hit the delete button nothing
happens. If I open the message then hit the delete I get a dialog box
that says "This message can't be deleted" Any ideas?

Thanks,
Rick Morrison