Outlook Express will not retain blocked senders list

[ceri sheeran]

Hi,

My Outlook Express 6 has stopped retaining the blocked senders list built up over some time.

So far I have deleted and re-installed both IE 6 and OE 6

Imported and re-imported the list from the registry per the MS KB instructions

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=276511

The blocked senders list is still located in the registry at the correct location

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{...alphanumerics...}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Block Senders\Email\Criteria.

but is obviously not being picked up by Outlook Express anymore.

I have also tried deleting the registry key.

Even if I do this, the blocked senders list will not stay there.

My mail rules listing with all the words such as "medication" "prescription" and numerous others, is still there.

Nothing it would seem will restore the ability of Outlook Express to retain this list.

I've run all the Spyware and AV scans I can

Win XP Pro with IE 6 & OE 6 on Dell Dimension D4100.
All recent MS security updates (checked today)
Norton AV 2003 updated today, with SpyBlaster, Ad-Aware Plus & SpyBot Spyware removal tools.
Zone Alarm Pro

I could post a Hi Jack this listing if requested.

Any ideas, would be gratefully received

Thanks

Ceri Sheeran (Mr.)

 

[eddie5659]

Hiya

I've moved you to the Web and Email forum

How many listings do you have in your Blocked Senders, as it may have reached a limit. I know Hotmail does this, the limit being 100. Not sure with OE though.

It may be that the Registry key is corrupt somehow.

According to the link that you gave, the blocked senders list is at

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{Identity Number}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Block Senders

You've quoted

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{...alphanumerics...}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Block Senders\Email\Criteria

Was that a mistake?

Regards

eddie

 

[ceri sheeran]

Hi

The registry key with the list of blocked senders is at

HKEY_CURENT_USER\Identities\alph numeric\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Blocked Senders\Criteria\000 through 0009 then 00A to 00Z and onwards to 4F7

My apologies for the error

A quick copy of the blocked senders list into Excel and a sort revealed 1271 blocked senders.

I believe there probably must be a limit but don't know what it is likely to be.

My ISP, virgin.net, has very recently introduced advanced features on e-mail filtering. So I am actually now getting very little spam or other e-mail that I would normally add to the blocked senders lsit.

I suppose "spam" is the "price" we all have to pay for advanced and fast communication.

I still use mailwasher which is also finding a lot less since Virgin updated things.

If I look at the listing from the Registry in Notepad they are all of the format

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{218D9D8A-D5FB-43CE-93D0-0B13EAE9A303}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Block Senders\Mail\Criteria\003]
"Type"=dword:00000017
"Logic"=dword:00000001
"Flags"=dword:00000000
"ValueType"=dword:0000001e
"Value"="rpylhp@swordfishmedia.com"

The last line being the actual e-mail address I've blocked.

Ceri

 

[eddie5659]

Are the numbers after each line above the same as these:

Type"=dword:00000017 (23)
Logic"=dword:00000001 (1)
Flags"=dword:00000000 (0)
ValueType"=dword:0000001e (30)

eddie

 

[ceri sheeran]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply to this mystery.

Each entry in the exported blocked senders list, when opened in Notepad does have the same numbers as the original posted earlier.

This entry is from around the middle of the list

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{218D9D8A-D5FB-43CE-93D0-0B13EAE9A303}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Block Senders\Mail\Criteria\256]
"Type"=dword:00000017
"Logic"=dword:00000001
"Flags"=dword:00000000
"ValueType"=dword:0000001e
"Value"="1sbsp3l49by8@netease.com"


This is another, from near the bottom of the list

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{218D9D8A-D5FB-43CE-93D0-0B13EAE9A303}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Block Senders\Mail\Criteria\4F6]
"Type"=dword:00000017
"Logic"=dword:00000001
"Flags"=dword:00000000
"ValueType"=dword:0000001e
"Value"="vvlvlizihgmuzf@yahoo.com"

I'd appreciate any help on this. My ISP's new spam filtering systems(s) seem to be quite good. Very little is getting through.

Thanks

Ceri

 

[eddie5659]

Thing is, I've noticed this with my Outlook. The reason can be that all a spammer needs to do is change one letter in the address.

eg vvlvlizihgmuzf@yahoo.com

can become

vvlvlizihgmuzj@yahoo.com

Just changed the f to a j, which then doesn't get blocked.

However, it may be a corrupt registry key, as mentioned before. This is from the newsgroups:

To delete the key from the registry, close OE and click Start|Run and type
regedit. In Regedit, navigate to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{GUID}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook
Express\5.0\Block Senders

where {GUID} is the Global Unique IDentifier for your Identity. Under the
Block Senders key, you will see a key for Mail and another for News. Delete
the one that is not working, or delete the entire Block Senders key if the
problem occurs in both mail and news. OE will create a new key when you
reopen it.

Before you do that, you might want to export the key as reg file and then
attempt to salvage the list of names (for those that are not corrupted yet)
by using the following technic:

Export your blocked sender list from the registry as "blocked senders.reg"
and export the entire key as "blocked senders.reg" and save it to the root
directory of your hard drive. Then open a command window by typing on the
Start/Run line (depending on your OS as below):

command (W95-WinMe) or
cmd (Win2000/XP) and then type in the window:

C:\>find "@" "blocked senders.reg" | sort

You will then get a text listing of all of your blocked senders that you can
copy/paste into Notepad.

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&th=f5c9c87ba5ffda4b&rnum=1

eddie

 

[ceri sheeran]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, the upgrades recently made by my ISP and more the use of Mailwasher is now keeping things under control.

My ISP has not been able to help on this.

Blocked senders that were still getting through were such basics as @hongkong.com. Where I have blocked the entire domain name, not just one specific address.

The complete domanin name "honghong.com" is not listed in the blocked senders list, nor is it listed anywhere in the registry as just "hongkong.com" but the individual names are.

So O.E. would not now appear to be able to block a complete domain name.

The problem still exists, but, with the changes made by my ISP and use of Mailwasher, is a great deal less of a pain than it was.

I do have the blocked senders list as a Notepad listing.

Until I next do a FDISK & FORMAT I'll just live with it.

Thanks again for the help, it is a mystery,

I'm certain like most things there is a fix, but where and what seems a mystery.

If I find a solution I'll post it up.

Ceri

 

[eddie5659]

Maybe a Message rule will work for the Domains instead.

Tools | Message Rules | Mail

Click New

Tick Where the From Line Contains People in the first box

Choose what you want in the second box, say Do Not Download From Server

Now, in the third box, click on the bit that is in blue:

Apply this rule after the message arrives
Where the From line contains people Do not Download it from the server

Type in the Domain name, and click Add

Click OK, OK, and click Apply Now.

Just to see i it works, choose the Delete option, instead of the server bit. Then, see if they get deleted instead of going to the Inbox.

May need a bit of a playaround with the options to get it fully working.

eddie

 

[ceri sheeran]

Eddie,

Thanks for the reply,

Will work through this on bank holiday Monday tomorrow when I have time. Its either that or DIY.

Ceri

 

[Deke40]

This worked for me:



This is stored in the registry and has probably become corrupted. Open regedit.exe and delete this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{GUID}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Block Senders

where GUID is the long number identifying your Identity. After rebuilding the list export that key so that you can restore it should it become corrupted again.

I noticed you deleted the key already.

I had to delete the key and completed rebuild the list then it worked. There might be a was you could copy the list and add them to the block senders list a get it to work and not have to start all over. Mine wasn't near as extensive as yours.

 

[ceri sheeran]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply,

I've tried deleting the registry key. On reboot, this leaves me with a blank blocked senders list.

If I then start to add addresses to the blocked senders list, either manually or by adding senders to the "blocked senders list"

They are still not retained.

The upgrades by my ISP have stopped a significant proportion of spam. Mailwasher also helps a lot.

I'm going to give up on this for the time being.

When I next FDISK and FORMAT then re-install, this will probably put things right.

My thanks and regards to everyone who has come up with things to try to resolve this.

Ceri

 

[Deke40]

Have you tried a rule that will only let you receive email from people in your address book?

Go to OE/Tools/Message Rules/Mail/New/ Tick the first item "Where the from line contains people"/ Tick an item in the #2 box(You have a choice to copy, delete, move to folder, do not download it from server or delete it form server) you might want to set up a junk folder and put them there. Now click "contains people" under box #3/click "address book"/highlight the first name and scroll down to bottom of list and hold "Shift key" and click the last name/click "From" at top right and it will copy address to "Rule Addresses"/click "ok"/click "options"/tick "Message does not contain the people below"/click "ok"/click "ok"/Then click "Specified Folder(if you chose that option earlier)/pick a folder/ click "oK"\Apply Now\Apply Now\Ok\Close\Ok.

http://forums.techguy.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=1071937

 

[ceri sheeran]

Deke,

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

I have thought about this option, but decided not to use it some time ago

But I would have to add numerous web sites and addresses to my already large address book to do this.

For example I regularly receive e-mails regarding such things as technical information & updates, forum posts on this and other forums plus AV updates. Even this forum site would have to go in my address book, to allow me to receive e-mails regarding replies to posts.

( my address book goes back some 9 years, when I started using e-mail and the www. ) Transfered between several computers over the years.

With the upgrades my ISP I now get only a few spam e-mails a day.

I have for example wondered if I am actually now getting warning e-mails about AV updates. Depending on how the distribution of these is configured by the sending companies, These might be identified as spam by my ISP as they are sent out several times a day at times. They are not identified as spam by my ISP as they are only sent to one address.

As I said earlier I'm leaving things as they are at present. I've tried numerous things and thank you for your help and ideas. When I next wipe my system an dre-install XP Pro it will probably resolve this.

I have all my blocked senders listed separately in a notepad file. It will only take a couple of hours to put them all back in as blocked senders. Given the significant reduction the upgrades by my ISP have made, it simply is not worth FDISK'ing to resolve what is now a minor issue.

I do wipe everything and start again a couple of times year to remove all the debris that accumulates even with AV & good spyware removal.

My thanks again

Ceri

 

[missfuffy]

This AM I found in the (delete) folder, a message from someone whom I had blocked several months ago. Somewhere I read that blocked addresses e-mail is now being sent to the deleted folder. I might be wrong, but check it out anyway... from
missfuffy

 

[Deke40]

Ceri

I don't use my main address for notifications but a free email like, myway.

Roadrunner allows me 5 address, so if I start getting a lot of spam on one I just delete it and establish another one and notify everybody of the change. I have only had to do this onece so far.

I don't know if it is RR or what but I get very little spam.