OpenOffice.org problem solved by removing Outlook Express

[Aloone_Jonez]

I have GoOOo on my machine and was having problems with it insisting on loading Outlook when I wanted to email a document. I had the default Windows email client set to Thunderbird and Googled for other solutions to no avail. In the end I decided to uninstall Outlook Express but it wasn't easy. I followed the guide linked below, checked everything was OK, deleted the renamed files, then I searched the registry for all references to Outlook Express and either deleted them or changed the path and file name so it pointed to Thunderbird.
http://www.tweakxp.com/article37318.aspx

I thought it might break OOo but amazingly it didn't, it started using Thunderbird instead - brilliant.

Then I thought, perhaps someone should write a script to do this? Surely it's in the spirit of the forum to help people remove unwanted MS applications.

I could write a simple batch file to do this but ideally I'd like it if it could be reversible.  An ideal script would backup the relevant registry entries, save them in a directory somewhere, delete them and move all the program files to the same directory which could be compressed to save space. The script could write another script which could be used to reverse the process.

I only saved around 30MB of disk space so it's probably not worth it for space saving but it might help other people who have had the same problem as me.

I've also removed Netmeeting, MSN Messenger and MSN Gaming zone, just as a matter of principle. I used a similar method as the one described above for Outlook.

The Windows file protection is really annoying, I'm tempted to nuke dllcache but I won't because some day I might regret it. One interesting thing is that even now I've removed all the files from the MS Outlook directory and dllcache, Windows still won't allow me to delete it and if I boot in safe mode and remove it, Windows resurrects it, even though it's empty.

[Kintaro]

If OpenOffice didn't suck so badly and just used the Win32API method to open the default email client whether its alpine or outlook in the first place this problem wouldn't happen. A tool that removes OpenOffice would suffice. In any case, I think you should be looking for the way OpenOffice handles this for n00bs because even I don't think those guys are stupid enough not to leave a tool to fix this.

[Aloone_Jonez]

No idea how OOo does this, from what I've read it uses a program called senddoc.exe which is supposed to use the default Windows email client, so there shouldn't be any need to alter any other settings.
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/Administration_Guide/Accessing_Email_Clients

I've not had any problems with this before. I use both OOo and Thunderbird on my other PC which also has Outlook Express installed and it uses the default email client: Thunderbird in this case. I don't know whether this was a problem with the Windows registry or OpenOffice is broken on that machine.

OpenOffice is fairly easy to remove using add remove programs. I agree the normal OpenOffice is shit, I use GoOO which includes lots of patches and improvements Sun doesn't want to implement. OxygenOffice Professional is also good but I find it a bit too fluffy and it's always a couple of versions behind and I'd rather stay up to date.

[worker201]

Getting rid of Windows would also solve this problem.

[Kintaro]

Isn't openoffice cross-platform? Because we can all see where the bug is. Windows has had a solution to this problem for eons, since before Linux was even a desktop OS, and OpenOffice in some rare mistake has done it wrong. There is probably an update, or you can use a previous version.

I am sure ordinary open office would not have this problem.

[Refalm]

A lot of programs that seem cross-platform, really aren't, like Pidgin has special coding to handle GDI, VLC media player has DirectDraw support, etc.

[Aloone_Jonez]

OpenOffice in some rare mistake has done it wrong. There is probably an update, or you can use a previous version.

I am sure ordinary open office would not have this problem.

I don't know, I used GoOO on both machines and I've only had a problem with one machine. Both machines run Windows XP SP3 and the same version of GoOO, yet only one has had the problem. I didn't bother trying to reinstall GoOO which would've probably been the easiest option.

How do you know it's definitely OO's fault?

Yes, it uses senddoc.exe to email but how do you know it does it the wrong way? Have you looked at the source code?

It could just as easily be a problem with the Windows install on my PC not setting up the email client properly.

GoOO seems to work well with Thunderbird, it's only once I've had a problem. The only piece of software I've really had a problem with is Adobe Acrobat reader which definitely does it the wrong way. It uses the same Internet options as Internet Explorer which is also shit; it has a separate email client setting which applies to all users and can only changed by a user with administrative privileges.