How to Uninstall Outlook Express

Outlook is a POP3 and IMAP-compatible e-mail client program from Microsoft that is available with Internet Explorer for Windows. In case you only use a web-based e-mail client program and have no use for Outlook Express, you may use any of the following methods to remove Outlook Express.

How to Uninstall Outlook Express

Method 1

  1. Click the Start menu, and then click Run.
  2. In the Open box, type the following command and press Enter

 C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\setup50.exe /APP:OE UNINSTALL
/PROMPT

Method 2

Important: The steps illustrated here involve editing the registry. Only proceed if you are comfortable editing the registry. As a precaution, backup the registry before editing. You may use a piece of advanced Windows registry maintenance software, such as RegGenie, for this purpose.

  1. Run the regedit command to open the Registry Editor window.
  2. In the left-pane of the Registry Editor window, browse the following registry entry:

    3. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
    \SOFTWARE
    \Microsoft
    \Active Setup
    \Installed Components
    \{44BBA840-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015C}

  3. In the right-pane of the Registry Editor window, right-click IsInstalled, and then click Modify.
  4. In the Value data box type 0, and then click OK.
  5. Close the Registry Editor.
  6. Restart your computer.

Method 3

The following method is for advanced computer users and should be used at the user’s own risk.

Before uninstalling Outlook Express, we recommend you to back up your Outlook data, including e-mails and address book details. After you have done that, in the Files and Folders View settings:

  • Select the box before Show hidden files, folders, and drives
  • Uncheck the box before Hide extensions for known file types
  • Uncheck the box before Hide protected operating system file

Now, log on to your Windows computer with Administrative rights and complete the following tasks:

Task 1 – Locate and Rename the Outlook folders

Rename the following folders:

  • The Stationary folder

The default path is C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery.

  • The Address Book folder

The path to the folder is:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book

–Or-

 C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Address Book.

  • The Identities folder

The path to the folder is:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Identities
-Or-

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities

You may rename these folders as stationary_old, address_old, and identities_old, respectively.

Task 2 – Delete the Outlook Express Registry Keys

  1. Run the regedit command to launch the Registry Editor.
  2. Delete the following registry entries

    3.  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WAB
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WAB
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{44BBA840-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015C} 
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{7790769C-0471-11D2-AF11-00C04FA35D02}

  3. Exit the registry Editor.

Task 3 – Locate and Rename the Outlook Express Files

Use the built-in Search utility to locate the following files and then rename them.

Msoe.dll
Msoeacct.dll
Msoeres.dll
Msoert2.dll
Msimn.exe
Inetcomm.dll
Oemiglib.dll
Oeimport.dll
Oemig50.exe
Setup50.exe
Wabmig.exe
Wabimp.dll
Wabfind.dll
Wab.exe
Csapi3t1.dll
Directdb.dll
Wab32res.dll
Wab32.dll

All of these files are located in two folders: C:\Winnt\System32 folder and C:\Winnt\System32\Dllcache folder.

Perform the following steps to rename all the files listed above:

  1. Check your CD-ROM drive to ensure it is empty.
  2. Right-click the Msoe.dll file in the Dllcache folder, click Rename, rename the file to Msoe.dll_old (filename_old), and press Enter.
  3. Now, right-click the Msoe.dll file in the System32 folder, rename the file as Msoe.dll_old (filename_old), and then press Enter
  4. Click Cancel when prompted about Windows file protection.
  5. Click Yes when prompted if you wish to keep unrecognized file versions.
  6. Repeat steps 1-5 for all the aforementioned files.