Bill, you hit a Google gold mine :) .  This is a known bug, especially if you're using IE7.

The most common solution is to uninstall and reinstall IE7.  I'd follow the instructions in this thread:

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general/browse_thread/thread/5af3839a19da4c11

Thanks so much...you had it right!

Bill

Wish I got it right more often!  :smileyvery-happy: .  Actually, I figured it might have something to do with your recent PC restore in another post and the pile of updates you had to get, including IE7.

Glad it's straightened out, and hopefully this will be your first and last "hiccup" :) .

Well, as it turned out, me re-install of IE7 did not work out despite following the instructions in the thread.

I re-installed it twice, re-booting twice, but no cigars.  So I just left in on Explorer 6.  Yes, I downloaded from MS Download Center.  You mentioned a "bug"...did you mean a virus?

Many thanx for your help.  Bill

No, not a virus - a bug as in a Microsoft programming error with Outlook Express and IE7.  This is about all Microsoft has to say about it directly - basically there is no such thing as an MSHTML.HLP file in the first place:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q190250/

If you want to slog through it all, here's the search I used.  There's no conclusive fix for it, but several workarounds.  One clunky but apparently effective way might be to right click and copy the picture, paste it into another program like MS Paint, then save it from there into the My Pictures folder:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4DMUS_enUS216US216&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=mshtml.hlp&spell=1

One possibility is to simply use a different email client.  Microsoft is phasing out Outlook Express anyway, but does offer Windows Live Mail as a free alternative/upgrade if you want to try it.  From what I've seen this bug is specific to Outlook Express and not other email like Outlook, Live Mail, Thunderbird, etc...

http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview

Alexandra,

Just for fun, I re-downloaded Ex 7 again and what do you know!...I can transfer pictures from my Outlook Express mail box again!  C'est la vie!

Bill

Ain't Windows fun? 

Glad it's working now for you.  Heaven knows what kind of weird PC magic juju made it work this time :) .

Alexandra,

Now that Bill's situation is fixed, can you tell me what I do - same deal - but I have IE8 installed on my computer?

Thanks,

Bessie

Bessie:  Are you also still using Outlook Express on XP?

3 years ago (when this thread started) I was willing to fuss with it, but Outlook Express has now been unsupported by MS for 5 years - when Vista/IE7 came out, MS dropped it.     To be blunt, it's obsolete - and it was never designed to deal with emails we get now with pictures and videos.   OE is both too heavily entangled with IE and is prone to corruption when file and folder sizes get too large.

I transitioned to Live Mail for XP myself not long after I posted here (OE no longer supported my ISP's mail protocol).   It's a bit different, but not much  - it will easily import all your Outlook Express accounts and folders without a problem.    The biggest change is no longer having "identities" - if you want to keep email accounts completely separate for individual users, you have to create new XP user accounts.  

Honestly believe that's your best option, rather than trying to fight with it.  

explore.live.com/windows-live-mail-xp

EDIT:  Forgot to mention -  Live Mail and Outlook Express coexist peacefully, it's not an either/or situation.  Just now I opened up OE for the first time in months and it still sees emails I got today.     If you want to use both programs you can. 

Why not uninstall IE7 and download and install IE8 instead?

but I have IE8 installed on my computer

Sorry was tired. :(