> On Wednesday, October 08, 2008 5:22 AM Thomas Bartlett wrote:

> On my old home computer with cable modem link and a home LAN, I ran Office
> 2003 for several years, but was unable to install it from my old disks when
> I bought a new computer. But I was able to install Office 2002 on the new
> computer, and ran the old pst files, created on Outlook 2003, with limited
> function until I was able to buy a new set of Office 2007. When this was
> installed over the 2002 version, it took over the several old pst files
> which had been displayed in the 2002 installation.
>
> I was soon surprised to see a Reminder window appear, showing email
> messages, because I when working in 2003 in the past I had only seen
> Reminder windows used in regard to calendar events. So I thought my using
> drag and drop on two occasions to transfer messages from one pst file's
> folder to another had somehow corrupted the Reminder function.
>
> Altogether there were over 3,000 such messages included in the Reminder
> windows. At first I was unable to get any response by clicking the
> 'dismiss', 'dismiss all', or 'snooze' buttons, and the window would not
> accept my attempt to change the time setting from 5 minutes to a longer
> time. I could only close the window by clicking the red 'x' at the top
> right. And it kept reappearing, often causing lengthy disk activity that
> displayed the hour-glass causing me to be unable to use the application.
>
> From Windows Control Panel's 'Add & Remove Programs' icon I removed the
> entire Office Enterprise 2007 suite, then reinstalled Outlook, Word, Excel,
> Power Point, and Tools. But the disconcerting Reminders window kept
> reappearing. I used Outlook Express to access a news group and learned to
> run the 'cleanreminders' switch, but the Reminder window kept reappearing.
>
> After speaking to someone today, I learned that Reminders are meant to be
> displayed for flagged messages. That function was not active in my previous
> installation of Outlook 2003, so I mistakenly thought it was due to my
> having corrupted the pst file by drag-and-dropping the messages in 2007.
> After I ran the cleanreminders switch, I noticed that the Reminders window
> did allow me to depress the 'dismiss' and other buttons.
>
> The above is the background to the present problem:
>
> At an advisor's suggestion, intending to resolve the vexing distraction of
> the Reminder windows, I uninstalled Outlook, but I am now unable to
> re-install it. Hoping to avoid the Reminder windows, which I thought were
> due to a corrupted data file somewhere (which had caused the Reminders to
> reappear when I re-installed all of Office the first time, as mentioned
> above), I therefore renamed a number of folders and files at the end of the
> following three paths (to force the re-installation process to build new
> versions):
> (1) 'documents and settings / user / application data / microsoft / office'
> (2) 'documents and settings / user / application data / microsoft / outlook'
> (3) 'documents and settings / user / local settings / application data /
> microsoft /outlook'
>
> I then attempted a re-installation of Outlook but the Configuration process
> took so long and seemed to stall, so I cancelled it. After a while, I
> renamed the changed files and folders back to the original names, and
> undertook again to re-install Outlook. That process began by asking if I
> wanted to abort a paused previous installation, to which I said 'yes', and
> so the new re-installation was satisfactorily completed.
>
> But now I am unable to open Outlook. The first error message says 'Cannot
> open your default email folders. Outlook cannot start because a data file to
> send and receive email cannot be found. To add a data file, such as a
> personal folder file, double click the Mail icon in Windows Control Panel'.
>
> I attempted to do taht by clicking first on the 'email accounts' tab, then
> the 'change folder' button. Then a 'new email delivery location' window
> appeared, with a 'new Outlook data file' button, which I clicked. Next I
> selected the 'Office Outlook Personal Folders File (pst)' option, and
> clicked 'OK'. When the window opened, called 'create or open Outlook data
> file', I selected the default 'Outlook' file which appeared under the path
> 'documents and settings / user / local settings / application data /
> microsoft /outlook' .
>
> An error message then appeared, 'The information service is not installed on
> your computer'. I don't know what further I can do at this point, to
> complete the configuation of Outlook. I'll appreciate very much any
> informed guidance which leads to a solution. Thanks in advance.
>
> Thomas