Windows 7 - Windows Live Mail won't open or delete mail

Hello all, I've been using "Windows Live Mail" now for about three months on a Windows 7 HP. No problems at all -
until yesterday when cleaning out my Inbox, all of a sudden, while trying to delete messages, I received an error "An Unknown Error Has Occurred" and I cannot delete the message. every once in a while, a second pop up box appears titled "Windows Live Mail" and it states it's deleting mail, however it just keeps running without doing anything, until I shut it down. I have also begun to have problems opening mail as well!

Re starting the mail program and re booting the pc has not helped the problem.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Bret

Hello Bret,

What antivirus program do you have installed?

If it includes a email filter, then test by either temporarily disabling the email filter option or the entire antivirus program to see if that may be the cause. Sometimes certain brands or features of antivirus program will interfere with email programs.

Thanks for the fast reply Brink, I use Avast Pro for virus protection, I'll try shutting down the mail filter and see what that does!

Bret

I had that happen with Avast once with the email filter included in the installation.

If disabling the email filter doesn't help, then uninstall Avast, and reinstall it being sure to uncheck the email filter option to not have it included in the installation.

Brink,what's the risk of leaving the mail filter disabled permanently?

Bret

The other main "Real-Time Shields" in Avast will also catch anything that you save from attached files in email to your computer, so it should have very little risk leaving it disabled.

Did disabling the email filter allow your Windows Live Mail to work properly afterwards?

Doesn't appear so, at first I thought it made a difference but the problem seems to be erratic, and mostly only affects the first e-mail (In Descending Order), If I change the order to ascending, It doesn't make any difference.
I can however sometimes move the first message to a different folder and delete it there??

It isn't happening all the time, which leads me to believe the program has gotten corrupted some way?
I'm leaning towards just deleting Windows live mail and reloading it or moving on to Thunderbird and trying that!
But I'm not sure if I will be able to import my contacts and mail from WinLive to Thunderbird or if ThunderBird is any better anyway? I doubt I will ever be checking web based e-mail on Live mail so that's not an issue.
I really was getting use to Win Live Mail though...errg!

Have you already tried uninstalling Avast, then reinstalling it without the email shield selected during setup?

You could also try a repair of "Windows Live Essentials" via Programs and Features. When you choose "repair" it will repair all the installed components of Essentials, including Mail.

I have tried repairing "Windows Live Essentials" and that didn't seem to work, I actually did that first.
But does one need to run the "Windows Live Essentials" repair more than once , for it to find problems?

As far as Avast, I have Not removed and reinstalled without email filtering at this point.

Please advise of the number of repair attempts for "Windows Live Essentials" to try before exhausting that fix.
I know through this form at times I have been instructed to run repairs several times before giving up, I just don't know if that technique applies to the "Essentials" repair.

Please keep me advised
and Thanks for all your help guys!
Bret