To ThumperGT (and anyone else that is interested):
There are a number of different bugs with Windows Mail (and its "Live" cousin), as there are with most pieces of software that I have come across. I don't have a long enough remaining lifespan to investigate them all, so I focus only on those that affect me or my clients.
I jumped in here because I thought that the bug you were experiencing and the one I have been experiencing may have been one and the same. There is a chance that they are not, and if that is the case my apologies - I did not come here intending to hijack your topic.
In fact, if one wanted to argue the "different bugs" theory, I could tell you that in my case converting the "blank" emails to plain text does NOT make them readable. On the other hand, that could also be a slightly different reaction to the same bug by your Windows Live Mail compared to my Windows Mail.
While I no longer feel as strongly that you and I have the same problem, your last post does not convince me that they are not the same. Please consider...
Mac computers - Please re-read point (b) of my previous post. I have not argued that Macs don't cause the problem nor have I questioned your assumptions; I have merely stated that the issue might not generate exclusively from Macs. I am quite prepared to believe that receivers of Mac emails may experience the problem a lot more than I do. Emails that I receive from Macs are a tiny minority (though I know that emails from a particular Mac-using friend have never been blank). In a Windows Mail database of over 10,000 saved emails, I have only a dozen or so that exhibit the problem we have been discussing. Of those, it is likely that at best a minority would have come from Macs.
Internet Explorer - You have given no reason for dismissing my theory about Internet Explorer's role in all this. There is no disputing that both our email programs use IE components, regardless (as I have stated before) of whether or not the user him/herself consciously uses IE. I would be interested to know what makes you believe you that IE has no bearing, particularly given that you suspect HTML interpretation, but neither Firefox nor Chrome are involved in HTML rendering of your emails.
Since my last post here, I have gone one step further. I uninstalled the IE9 update, which caused the computer in question to revert to IE8. I then went back to my dozen or so blank emails - Every single one was perfectly readable!
So the conclusion? I was 100% correct about at least one cause of blank emails, and in my case - problem solved. (To some extent I have you to thank for the motivation.)
As for your case, again, it might be a different bug. However, without meaning to sound presumptuous, you may wish to try a 5-minute process that may resolve your issue. And if it does not, nothing lost. But it depends on how you obtained Windows 7.
Depending on the age or history of your computer, there are two possibilities: (1) Your Windows 7 came with IE8, and has since been updated to IE9 (for example, via Windows Update). Or (2) you obtained a late version of Windows 7, with IE9 already included. If yours is case (2), this may not apply. Otherwise, just go to "Programs and Features" in Control Panel, and uninstall "Windows Internet Explorer 9". (You may need to first select "View installed updates".) After rebooting, try those problem emails again.
The above procedure applies equally to Vista, where any inclusion of IE9 would have occurred after original OS install.
Cheers, all.
ManFromOz
(Occupation: IT Consultant, 30+ years)
