Outlook Express sends multiple emails to a recipient when an image is attached

Since we're on the topic of Outlook Express, I thought I'd add more coal to the fire and ask the Infopackets Readers for yet another problem that I do not have the solution to. Here is what Harold S. says about his problem:

" When I go to send out my pictures as an attachment (using Outlook Express), the recipient receives anywhere from 5+ of the same email (from me) in a row. I checked for a virus several different ways, and found none.

I also found that the I cannot change the font size, change the colors in the font, and plagued by several other minor things I can't change and it all happens in MS Outlook Express 6. I am also looking for the fix but as this moment I have found none. My next course is to Uninstall Outlook and then re-install it however, it also requires changes in the registry and this is far from an easy task. If you have any suggestions I would appreciate any assistance you can give. "

My Response:

I received this question once before, and my suggestion was that it is highly likely that there are remnants of a virus still on the host system (present in the Windows Registry) which is most likely trying to replicate itself unsuccessfully. As a result, outgoing emails are being "replicated".

I also remember reading somewhere on the Internet that older versions of Norton Anti Virus 2002 were wreaking havoc during outgoing email virus scans; this may also be the problem. The solution was to disable outgoing email virus scans from within Norton Anti Virus, or change your virus scanner to something like Grisoft AVG (free virus scanner).

As for not being able to change the font / font color -- that option will become available once you enable HTML in your emails. Since you can't "upgrade" to the same version of Internet Explorer / Outlook Express in hopes of "installing over top of an existing copy to fix the problem", -- I would personally love to know how to "uninstall" a previously installed version of Internet Explorer or Outlook Express via some Registry Tweak (as Hal mentions). Currently, the only way to replace an installed copy of Internet Explorer or Outlook Express is if you download the "upgrade" from the Microsoft web site -- but, again, you can't be using the same version as the "upgrade" or it won't download and install.