Windows 7: Strange Not A Valid Email Address Error Message

Hi Everyone,

I've been experiencing a weird error message in Windows 7 - when I have to enter my email address to sign up for things in various places I get a strange error message saying this is not a valid email address. This happens irrespective of which browser I use (Chrome, Firefox, Safari) and across numerous websites and some applications like iTunes.

I tried typing my email adddress in Notepad, then copying into the relevant place and I was able to complete the registration without this error message, so the problem is not the email address. It's almost like Windows is doing something with the formatting of the address, that my browsers / programs don't like.

I've virus scanned the machine and actually done a complete clean install of Windows 7, but I still have this problem.

Anyone have any ideas what the issue could be???? Be very grateful for any help.

Many Thanks



F

Which email service do you use? Or is the problem occurring with multiple email providers?

Hi Marsmimar,

Thanks for replying. The problem occurs when I use any email address in a registration form, whether it's a corporate email or web based email like Gmail, but as I say, if I copy the email address into Notepad, then paste the same email address into the forms, the email address is accepted, which indicates the problem isn't the validity of the email address itself, but something else in the process of entering it directly which is why I was wondering if there is some sort of Windows setting that I'm missing or something...

The problem is cross browser as well, so it's not linked to a specific browser...

Thanks

F

Couple more questions if I may. When did this problem first appear? Had you installed any new programs or updates just prior to the problem occurring? You say you did a clean install. Did you try logging in to any websites before installing windows updates? After installing WU but before installing any other programs or apps? It almost sounds like something on your machine may have changed permissions somewhere, somehow. I found this previous Seven Forums post. The OP finally determined that something that was loaded by the computer manufacturer was preventing him from logging in to websites.

Can't Log into Websites

Don't know if this will help or not but it may provide a clue. Go to safe mode with networking via advanced boot options. Try logging in to some websites using one or more of your email addresses. You could also try a clean boot to troubleshoot problems.

Advanced Boot Options

Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup

Could you post a screenshot and a copy\paste of your notepad text ?

Hello Colin and welcome to the dilemma. Hope your engineering skills can come up with a fix.

Please do not post your real address, instead express the address in an example:

My-email_address%20@SomeDomain.com

Are there any spaces or special characters in the address? It is not consistant, right (numerous sites/form, some applications). So it appears to me that there might be a code page issue. What is your default language / code page set to

English (us) Western Latin, UTF-8 ?