Any idea why Outlook Express 6 spell check now errors out?

Good day, all!

I run Win XP SP1, and OE6 spell check, using the checker built
into Word 97, has always worked flawlessly. Until this morning.

Now it fails with an error box that reads "An error occurred
while the spelling was being checked". This is even true if the
entire body of text is completely blank, which tells me the
spell checker just can't get started at all. Hmmm.

So, I did the obvious. Shut down, restarted. Still fails. Next I
opened Word 97 and verified that it's spell check function still
works, and it is A-OK. Ditto for Excel 97 and PowerPoint 97. All
work fine and can successfully and correctly do a spell check

About the only think I can think of that changed on my system,
was that I downloaded and installed a Microsoft Installer 3.1
update.

Could an installer change kill OE6's spell checker? Doesn't seem
right, but I suppose anything is possible.

Any ideas on where to look for the root cause of the error would
be appreciated. I've kept this post very short unless/until
someone asks specific questions about what I'm doing, to which
I'll immediately resond.

1.6ghz AMD
512MB RAM
nVidia Geforce

 

To check the spelling in messages

Outlook Express uses the spelling checker provided with the following
Microsoft Office programs: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft
PowerPoint. If you do not have one of these programs installed, the Spelling
command is not available.

a.. In the New Message window, click Spelling on the toolbar, or on the
Tools menu, click Spelling.
To customize the way your spelling checker works, on the Tools menu, click
Options, and then select the Spelling tab.

 

old jon commented courteously...

Top posting...

Thank you old jon, but did you not read in my post that I /am/
using Office 97's spell checker, which works just fine? I'm
fully aware of how to config OE6 for spelling, the issue is,
it worked early this morning and will no longer work, even
after a reboot.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/224176/EN-US/
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=253351

 

Top posted apologies. best wishes..J

 

old jon commented courteously...

This problem turned out because I was stupid and
unistalled MS Picture It! Bill Gates trampled on his own
O/W and killed OE6. I restored to yesterday and manually
uninstalled PI!

 

pcbutts1 commented courteously...

Thank you, but these have no-thing to do with this. Your
first link is for OE5, not 6. Your second link talks
about non-MS spell checkers. I have Office 97, which
works fine, and my OE6 worked yesterday just fine.

It was Picture It! that killed OE when I tried to
automatically uninstall it. Thanks, Bill!