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9:02am on Wednesday, 12th May, 2021:
Outburst
I wasn't intending to spend two and a half hours yesterday evening trying to make Microsoft Outlook behave, but I did.
The content of emails wasn't showing. Emails I sent showed what I'd typed until I hit return, then the text disappeared. It was all still present (I could select all and copy it, then paste it into Notepad and see it) but it was invisible. Sometimes, I could see the text for a split second before it disappeared. Sometimes, I could see the first line of the email but not the rest.
My AVG anti-virus software had just done an update so I put the blame on that. It's usually AVG's fault when something weird happens, so I uninstalled it. That didn't help, so I had to install it all over again.
I was reluctant to uninstall and reinstall Outlook because I didn't want to lose all those Zoom-linked appointments I have in the calendar. I messed around with some settings, which didn't work, then I spent more time than I intended attempting to get everything to look like it did before I made the changes (at which I failed). I don't know what the font is I use for my Deleted Items folder, but it's not the one it says it is; it's the one I want for all my folders, though.
It occurred to me that when AVG restarted following its earlier update, there was a message about installing updates. Could it be that there was a Windows update at the same time? Hmm, if so then perhaps reverting to a previous version of Outlook would fix the issue? I didn't want to revert all of Windows, though, just Outlook.
One of the first things I'd done when I'd found my problem was to look to see if anyone else had it. People do have plenty of problems with Outlook, and there are many web sites cluttering the first few pages of a Google search that insist they can solve them, but there was nothing about my particular problem. I checked again, though, looking specifically for the magic word OfficeC2RClient.exe . There, 30 minutes earlier, was a link to a post from someone in New Zealand who had encountered the problem and who listed the version number of Outlook I needed to use to revert it. Google had managed to index the forum and return it in its search, albeit some distance from the front page.
I typed in the magic words; an old version of Outlook was downloaded; my problem went away. Phew! Now I could send the email I wanted to send two and a half hours earlier.
I don't like Outlook and wouldn't use it except that both Essex University and Uppsala University insist that I do, and I have all my past emails archived in it.
If a hacker or disgruntled programmer got access to Microsoft's Windows 10 updater, that would be quite bad.
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Copyright © 2021 Richard Bartle (richard@mud.co.uk).