Windows Mail

endeavor · 27 Feb 2014

Ex_Brit said:

Which bears out what I've been preaching for what seems to be 1000 years in various forums, keep your computer up to date, all of it, even bits you may not use, especially browsers and their add-ons.

Yes this time it served you well, but sometimes equally it's a 'not so much' too, since leaving it on Automatic Update is many times a two edged sword, especially for techs, find that many times it automatically updates to some other problem or especially something they did not want that was before its time. (Yes I do see Peter you mention you have WU set to alert you first)

I am in the middle of the road with Auto Updates, and I prefer to be in control of my computers destiny on my own terms, and so always manually check for updates when convenient for me, and certainly before I do any updates #1 is to make a partition image backup, as well as take software file/registry snapshots so that if needed I have mi-nute abilities to see every single change in original GUI layout for both, that was made, and to reverse any of or parts of the changes - very helpful for troubleshooting techniques, as well as watching an update flow is to me a learning, knowledgeable, teachable and informational moment as to let's say the...philosophy of the updates intention and its target.

Don't want to get OT here, but thought it was worth mentioning in contrast.

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endeavor · 27 Feb 2014

Hi Bill,
Yes understood, and you're right.

Neat stuff.

Thanks very much for your support as well.

I'm too very happy it was an update that fixed the problem rather than any 'modifications' on our part, and thanks to MS for the update which was needed for the whole anyway.
At any rate it couldn't have turned out any better for all of us concerned.

Ex_Brit · 27 Feb 2014

Well all's well that ends well, as the saying goes. Whodathunkit, that an MS Update would actually fix what is basically a hack....no offense meant to its authors of course.

kewl1 · 27 Feb 2014

Sorry for the slow reply Endeavor as I had to go away on a fast trip to Quebec and just got back. I can't thank you enough for helping me to get my beloved Windows Mail working on my new laptop. If you think of any more questions please ask. I don't think I ever would have figured out that there was a relationship between IE11 and Mail.

Slartybart · 27 Feb 2014

Ex_Brit said:

Well all's well that ends well, as the saying goes. Whodathunkit, that an MS Update would actually fix what is basically a hack....no offense meant to its authors of course.

There were many authors of the tutorial, I don't think anyone would take offense

The real issues was that IE 11 introduced things in the 64-bit version that broke more than just WinMail. I think the Feb 11 Windows Update (WU) might have 'cured' a lot of hangs / crashes / BSODs etc.

What MS 'breaks', MS has to fix, eh wot!

The trick is to accept all WU and see how your system runs. If issues do crop up (rare) then you have to figure out which update caused the issue - easy if there's only one update, but cumulative updates present another difficulty.

I tend to err on the side of caution with non-core updates for any application unless it addresses an issue on my machine. Even then I watch carefully after apply the update and roll it back if new issues crop up.

It's a delicate dance.

Thanks for your involvement in solving this issue Ex_Brit. I'm sure endeavor was scratching his head - "Why doesn't Ex_Brit have this problem when I set up the 'same' test environment and the issue shows in my lab"?

Bill
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kewl1 · 28 Feb 2014

Thanks Endeavor. You are certainly dedicated and this is much appreciated. I find it ironic though that MS has fixed something for us that they no doubt don't want us to use. What's next? An update to crack Office?

endeavor · 28 Feb 2014

kewl1 you understand that Microsoft did not fix it for WinMail per-sey, but they fixed 25 important issues that affected many different problems that were corrected, but WinMail's 64 bit HTML particular problem thankfully shared similar instances affecting other supported softwares too, and so those are the ones that really got fixed, and thankfully by it's very nature ended up fixing it for WinMail too.

Also to everyone I wanted to say this update not only fixed things for 64 bit IE11 WinMail issues, but it also definitely, tested & confirmed, improved/stabilized WinMail HTML operation on WinMail IE11 '32bit' as well. I say that from observing during bench testing found that I actually could make it so that WinMail on 32bit OS's crashed on the problematic .eml files but Only 'if' I tried to forward one of them and then edit a portion of the original body, then it would crash; also I noticed on another of the problematic .eml files sent in, that even though WinMail did not crash upon opening any of them, but for instance on this particular one the inserted signature portion of that email would show in a 'Different' font each time I opened it - which of course was dysfunctional, and so my point is with the same IE11 update done of Win7 32bit OS's, those same anomalies just mentioned are now fixed as well, and so WinMail 'on those counts' is more stable.

Tracking the 32 bit install I can see it replaced all the same files on 32 bit as it did on 64 bit OS's as well.

All in all, when it comes to WinMail MS14-010 (KB2909921) is an update to install on both Win7 32 bit & 64 bit respectively.

roncerr · 28 Feb 2014

kewl1 said:

...I find it ironic though that MS has fixed something for us that they no doubt don't want us to use...

Whatever effect Microsoft patches have on Windows Mail, good or bad, is coincidental and unintentional. It's like being ignored rather than hated or loved.

grits · 28 Feb 2014

Wow, and to think I held off of installing KB2909921 for fear of having it mess up my WinMail. I don't recall having any problems with it (WM) tho' like the other posters did. Thanks for easing my mind, now I'm off to go ahead & install it.

A bit OT here, my fear comes from the fact that I have no back ups, no images. I haven't been able to afford an external drive so just keep crossing my fingers.

endeavor · 28 Feb 2014

roncerr said:

Whatever effect Microsoft patches have on Windows Mail, good or bad, is coincidental and unintentionl. It's like being ignored rather than hated or loved.

@ Ron,
I don't want to agree with you Ron because I am a true WinMail user, but you know... ...you are surly right, as far as MS goes, we are coincidental and unintentional, but that's the excitement and advantage of living on the edge, especially if you are in control of it, and if you prefer all the advantages and nostalgic of using WinMail... and personally I do, so imho&e, I'd rather use WinMail than any other :)

@ Grits
Hi, good to see you, you are a part of an innocent and enduring history you know!
..but as for your fear, even at the very least, if you have the MS built-in System Restore enabled and know how to use it, then for free of charge, you are set free with only the off-chance limitation that depends on your HD longevity.