Microsoft Outlook won't open and repair tool is not on my system

[Lura]

Hi everyone again.

My Microsoft Outlook Inbox won't open and Windows 7 is telling me that I need to use something called Scanpst.exe to repair it.  But this file is not on my system.  I have looked in all the appropriate files as instructed by Microsoft and I have shown hidden files.  It is not there.  I cannot reload Microsoft Outlook 7 as I purchased this netbook computer from someone on Ebay and I do not have a backup disk for the program.  I found a place to download the file Scanpst.exe online.  Can't seem to download it from Microsoft.  The download site is:  www.emailaddressmanager.com/outlook/repair.html but, even if I can get the file, restoring the Outlook program looks kind of tricky.  Any suggestions?

Lura

[Hoov]

Have you tried doing a system restore to when it worked properly?

[Lura]

Hi Hoov.

The newest restore point I had was, it looked to me, AFTER the problem had developed, but I tried it anyway.  It did not solve the problem.  The next newest restore point was back in July, and I didn't want to use that one.

Regards,
Lura

[Hoov]

I would not download that file to use in the repair. Do you have another computer that you can move the files to, and run the repair there?

[Lura]

I actually got all worked up and went to that website, which showed as excellent on Web of Trust.  I downloaded the file and placed it in the folder where I was instructed to place it by Microsoft instructions.  I tried to run it, but it would not run because it was looking for another file and so I read the Microsoft instructions a little more carefully and discovered that I had placed it in the wrong folder for Outlook 7.  I then went to the correct folder and found the tool, ran it, and my Microsoft Outlook is fine.  In fact, it's running faster.

But now I am left to wonder why I have no restore points on my computer.  It is supposed to be creating a restore point every week and it is not.  Also, I backed up my system at the end of August unto a Go Flex device and....that backup was not there.  There was a backup from July, but I didn't want to use it.  Does anyone have some pointers on backups and restore points?

Regards,
Lura

[Hoov]

Take a look in your event viewer logs and see if you are having VSS problems.