outlook error since forced windows upgrade

[chrissib]

Hi, I have an old version of microsoft office, which was working fine until the 1st of december. Then windows decided to force an upgrade on me, and by the time it was too late, my outlook stopped working and reports an error.

"Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. Outlook requires Microsoft Outlook Express 4.01 or greater"

I have tried to download this, but I've followed endless links and trails, and cant actually get to anywhere where I can get this file.

I was quite happy with the original, very professional, business like Outlook, but now I cant run it. And what makes it worse, I have hundreds of archived important emails, receipts and information, which I cannot access now.

I have been on to outlook support, and all they did was to give me access to a very unfriendly, very limited, web based 'outlook' program. This is better than nothing, and I can access new emails, but cant see anything older than a month ago, which was awkward in itself, when I had a web receipt of over a month ago, that I couldn't access.

Also I cant sync this with my phone, so anything unread just accumulates to hundreds of unwanted emails in my phone inbox.

I realise that all you experts will say, yeah move with the times, use web based and other programs, but that's not the issue here. The issue is that I had something important, and now I have lost it, and want it back. I want access to all my old emails, templates, addresses, contacts, receipts, records.....not just a month's worth.

I want my original program to work, however old it is.

I have a Lenovo laptop running windows 10, and I bought Microsoft Office XP standard, some years ago, which was more than adequate.

Any help would be appreciated..

 

[SpyderTracks]

Can't comment on the old outlook not working anymore, but regarding only being able to see the previous months emails on the new solution, in settings you specify what period of emails to cache, usually 1 month, 3 months or all time. I always set mine to all time.

 

[ubuysa]

If Windows 'forced' an upgrade on you then use the rollback facility (you have 30 days) to go back to the OS you had before. You can then access and archive your old emails from the old outlook.

To be honest, you can't expect any company to keep supporting out of date software for ever, in addition you've had an upgrade to the latest version of Windows for free. This is a bit like the time they stopped putting lead in petrol and all older cars had to face an expensive top end conversion or buy expensive lead replacement petrol. Times change.

This is also a salutary lesson in making sure that you have backups of everything that is important to you, and that includes emails - even those on webmail systems. You are responsible for your data......

 

[chrissib]

yes most people backup on web domains, or hard disks etc. I believe my data is still on the server, but now i cant see it. I also have an outlook data file, which also, I cant access. It's all very well telling people how responsible they should be for their data, but maybe if proper information was informed up front, before the rug gets pulled, then maybe people can do something about it.

I was hoping to get some proper help on here, instead of someone telling me how stupid I am.

I was hoping I could get some help on how to get the 'Outlook express' version file I need, to make outlook work again.

 

[SpyderTracks]

yes most people backup on web domains, or hard disks etc. I believe my data is still on the server, but now i cant see it. I also have an outlook data file, which also, I cant access. It's all very well telling people how responsible they should be for their data, but maybe if proper information was informed up front, before the rug gets pulled, then maybe people can do something about it.

I was hoping to get some proper help on here, instead of someone telling me how stupid I am.

I was hoping I could get some help on how to get the 'Outlook express' version file I need, to make outlook work again.

Outlook express was retired years ago.

 

[ubuysa]

yes most people backup on web domains, or hard disks etc. I believe my data is still on the server, but now i cant see it. I also have an outlook data file, which also, I cant access. It's all very well telling people how responsible they should be for their data, but maybe if proper information was informed up front, before the rug gets pulled, then maybe people can do something about it.

I was hoping to get some proper help on here, instead of someone telling me how stupid I am.

I was hoping I could get some help on how to get the 'Outlook express' version file I need, to make outlook work again.

I'm not telling you that you're stupid, I'm simply pointing out that you pack your own parachute. As far as the rug being pulled, Microsoft have been making it clear for months now (and so has the media) that upgrades to Windows 10 will be done as part of normal Windows updates, it can hardly have come as a surprise.

Have you tried my suggestion of rolling back the upgrade to the original OS? That should be possible and you can then access and archive your outlook data.....

 

[chrissib]

I'm not telling you that you're stupid, I'm simply pointing out that you pack your own parachute. As far as the rug being pulled, Microsoft have been making it clear for months now (and so has the media) that upgrades to Windows 10 will be done as part of normal Windows updates, it can hardly have come as a surprise.

Have you tried my suggestion of rolling back the upgrade to the original OS? That should be possible and you can then access and archive your outlook data.....

Maybe what you are saying is right, but I didn't know my outlook, which was working perfectly, wouldn't work after the update. And I didn't know it would be near on impossible , it seems, to obtain a simple file which supposedly would, according to Microsoft, correct the issue. Had I known all of these things, I would have made provisions. At the very least, copied my templates to Word, and made a list of my contacts, archived my emails receipts.

However, I am not giving up this easily. I contacted Outlook support, and they remotely took over my PC. They supposedly rolled back the change, but this didn't work.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Maybe what you are saying is right, but I didn't know my outlook, which was working perfectly, wouldn't work after the update. And I didn't know it would be near on impossible , it seems, to obtain a simple file which supposedly would, according to Microsoft, correct the issue. Had I known all of these things, I would have made provisions. At the very least, copied my templates to Word, and made a list of my contacts, archived my emails receipts.

However, I am not giving up this easily. I contacted Outlook support, and they remotely took over my PC. They supposedly rolled back the change, but this didn't work.

Can I just ask, what link did you use to contact "Outlook support"? Can you provide the link where you got the details? Microsoft do not give support to the public without a Microsoft support account which costs a lot of money. The likelihood is that you've been duped and they have remote accessed your PC and installed malware and other nasties that link all your details back to them.

MS only have forum support and release general patches to the public through that, they would never offer remote support, especially on legacy software that was discontinued many years ago.

You've been had I'm afraid, I would disconnect your PC from the network immediately and seek professional help to have it cleaned or reinstalled.

 

[chrissib]

You've been had I'm afraid, I would disconnect your PC from the network immediately and seek professional help to have it cleaned or reinstalled.

Ok, the link was from outlook.com, live help, but they weren't helpful, but clearly they tried. I disconnected all my personal stuff before they logged on, but even then I believe there are genuine people in the world that try to help, but that doesn't appear to be the case on this forum.

instead of practical help, all I've had since posting, is condescending answers, saying how stupid I've been and further responses saying I've been an idiot, been duped, and should have known better.

Not once has anyone offered any proper help.

Think I'll try a different forum.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ok, the link was from outlook.com, live help, but they weren't helpful, but clearly they tried. I disconnected all my personal stuff before they logged on, but even then I believe there are genuine people in the world that try to help, but that doesn't appear to be the case on this forum.

instead of practical help, all I've had since posting, is condescending answers, saying how stupid I've been and further responses saying I've been an idiot, been duped, and should have known better.

Not once has anyone offered any proper help.

Think I'll try a different forum.

I was trying to be helpful in letting you know Microsoft don’t offer that sort of support to the general public, only to business who have a support contract with them, for which they pay a small fortune, but if you’re so certain that you’re safe despite this then I guess there’s nothing more we can do to help.

 

[ubuysa]

Ok, the link was from outlook.com, live help, but they weren't helpful, but clearly they tried. I disconnected all my personal stuff before they logged on, but even then I believe there are genuine people in the world that try to help, but that doesn't appear to be the case on this forum.

instead of practical help, all I've had since posting, is condescending answers, saying how stupid I've been and further responses saying I've been an idiot, been duped, and should have known better.

Not once has anyone offered any proper help.

Think I'll try a different forum.

That's not true, I have twice (three times now) suggested that you rollback the 'forced' upgrade to the original version of Windows. The Windows 10 upgrade should allow you to revert to your previous version of Windows and once that is running you should be able to access your outlook stuff again and archive it properly.

Alternatively you could use the Windows installation disk that came with your PC to do a clean reinstall of the original version of Windows, and from there you could access your outlook stuff and archive it properly.

I think it is a mistake to go looking for some sort of 'quick fix' that will enable you to access your old outlook data from the upgraded Windows 10 system. The facts are that you took the risk of running an outdated version of Office without archiving your data and whilst knowing that at some point Windows would do an automatic upgrade, and sadly you've been caught out.