When you try to send a reply to a newsgroup message in Outlook Express 6 Service Pack 1 under a Windows 2000-based or Windows XP-based system, you may see a dialog box with a check box, an information icon, three buttons and no text. Clicking any button does not do anything and therefore you cannot send the message.

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This behavior may occur if the update number 897715 was applied instead of the update number 823353. Windows Update detection engine offered update 897715 as a replacement for update 823353, describing the former as a cumulative security update. This issue in Windows Update is now corrected. Update 897715 is not a cumulative update, whereas update 823353 is.

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Caution: Perform the following steps with extreme care as they may render unusable your Outlook Express installation. Please backup your Windows installation and/or your Outlook Express data, or create a restore point if you are using Windows XP. You should print this article because some steps might require a restart to be completed.
 
Verify you are running Outlook Express 6 Service Pack 1 on Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 or Windows XP Service Pack 1:
a) Open Outlook Express. Go to Help menu and click About Outlook Express. The version number below the Outlook Express logo must read 6.00.2800.xxxx, where xxxx must be greater or equal than 1106.
b) Follow these instructions to determine your Windows version. If you are using Windows 2000 or the classic Start menu in Windows XP, go to Start menu, Settings, Control Panel and open System. If you are using the improved Start menu in Windows XP, go to Start menu, Control Panel and then open System. Don't continue if you are not running Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 or Windows XP Service Pack 1!
 
You need to be logged on with administrative privileges and Outlook Express must not be running. First close all Outlook Express windows. Then open the Task Manager, click the Processes tab and check whether a "hidden" Outlook Express instance is running: If there is a process named Msimn.exe, select it, click the End process button and then confirm the operation.
 
Update 897715 needs to be uninstalled before update 823353 can be applied. Update 887977 must be removed as well if it was installed. Perform these steps to uninstall updates 887977 and 897715:
 
1. If you are using Windows 2000 or the classic Start menu in Windows XP, go to Start menu, Settings, Control Panel and open Add/Remove Programs. If you are using the improved Start menu in Windows XP, go to Start menu, Control Panel and then open Add/Remove Programs.
   Tip: You may also start Add/Remove Programs if you type the following text in the Run dialog box or a command prompt window:
      control appwiz.cpl
   Additionally, you can create a shortcut in your desktop with this command line:
      %Systemroot%\Control.exe Appwiz.cpl
2. Click the Windows 2000 Hotfix - KB897715 or Windows XP Hotfix - KB897715 item in the Add/Remove Programs window, then click Remove and follow the instructions. If the Remove button is not available, you will need to review the Workaround section later in this article.
   Note: This uninstallation should not require a restart. If you are instructed to do so, don't reboot your computer.
3. Click the Windows 2000 Hotfix - KB887797 or Windows XP Hotfix - KB887797 item in the Add/Remove Programs window, then click Remove and follow the instructions. If the Remove button is not available, you will need to review the Workaround section later in this article.
   Note: This uninstallation should not require a restart. If you are instructed to do so, reboot your computer.
4. Install cumulative security update 823353. Refer to the More Information section for a download URL.
 
   Note: An error message like this may appear in the screen.
 
         This update requires Outlook Express 6.0 Service Pack 1 to be installed.
 
   The executable package of the cumulative security update 823353 has checked the version of the Inetcomm.dll file and had encountered an unexpected version number. Refer to the Workaround section for further troubleshooting.
 
5. Install updates 887797 and 897715. Refer to the More Information section for a download URL.
   Note: If you received a hotfix for Outlook Express 6 Service Pack 1 from Microsoft Corporation, you should check if it is superseded by the mentioned updates or it requires a special installation order.
6. If a reboot is pending, restart your computer.
 
 
WORKAROUND
 
This section is intended to reinstall update 823353 if the version number of the Inetcomm.dll file is greater than 6.0.2800.1306 and updates 887797 and 897715 cannot be uninstalled. Updates 887797 and 897715 install a Inetcomm.dll file with a version number greater than 6.0.2800.1306.
 
You may need to download the IE6.0sp1-KB823353-x86-ENU.exe file for the cumulative security update 823353. Refer to the More Information section for a download URL.
 
Only the executable package IE6.0sp1-KB823353-x86-ENU.exe checks the version number of the Inetcomm.dll file. The actual update program embedded in IE6.0sp1-KB823353-x86-ENU.exe does not make any assumption about file versions. We can make use of this fact to install the cumulative security update 823353 properly with no complaints from the System File Protection (SFP) feature.
 
Please extract the contents of IE6.0sp1-KB823353-x86-ENU.exe to a folder of your choice. You can use some unpack utility or you can pass some command-line parameters to the executable. Review the More information section below for a very basic reference about working with the command prompt.
If you want to use the command line method, open a command prompt window, change to the folder in which IE6.0sp1-KB823353-x86-ENU.exe is located and type:
 
   IE6.0sp1-KB823353-x86-ENU.exe /T:"C:\Updates\823353" /C
 
   Note: Both switches /T and /C are required, as well as the double quotes around the value of the /T switch. "C:\Updates\823353" is a placeholder for the destination folder.

If you unpacked the files with an unpack tool, open now a command prompt window.
 
Change to the folder in which the files were extracted and type:
 
Oeupdate Q823353

Cumulative security update 823353 installation will start. This process will take a few seconds and no indication will appear when it finishes. Installation will end when the Oeupdate.exe process disappear from the Processes tab of the Windows Task Manager. Then, you can continue with the steps 5 and 6 of the Resolution section.

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You can download the updates mentioned in this article from the following addresses:
 
Cumulative Security Update for Outlook Express 6 Service Pack 1 (KB823353)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ad6a96bc-daf0-4eab-89b8-bd702b3e3e5d&DisplayLang=en

Cumulative Update for Outlook Express 6 Service Pack 1 (KB887797)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=fda6678b-69b0-4813-9856-a1a3da675baf&DisplayLang=en

Security Update for Outlook Express 6 Service Pack 1 (KB897715)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=89e4d8ee-4d8e-4660-a53d-28502b3d2518&DisplayLang=en
 
 
Two basic notes about the command prompt:

* If you want to open a command prompt window in Windows 2000 or Windows XP, go to Start menu, (All) Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt. Also, you can go to Start menu, Run, type CMD and click OK. Cmd.exe is the main command line interpreter in Windows NT family-based systems such as Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
* You can use the CD (Change Directory) command to change to another folder:
   CD <path>

   If <path> starts with a drive letter, CD will change the current folder in that drive but won't change the current drive. You may override this behavior by using the /D switch. So this:
   CD /D D:\Letters\Family

   Equals to:
   D:
   CD \Letters\Family

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