I received some very valuable information from an expert member who really gave me insight into what might have happened. I goofed up by answering him personally instead of in the post so his valuable information is lost to everyone but me, unless he would like to post it himself.

Here is what I learned from him:

1. I'm grateful to know that the Windows Registry does not rule Pegasus. That's a huge relief so I don't have to dig through it for lines to correct and I don't need to worry about one standalone program confusing Windows by the installation of another.

2. I may know now what happened to cause my problems in the first place, now. My computer was "crashing" right before the Pegasus copy folders got all mixed up and my Pegasus nightmare began.

As I have now been taught, Hierarch.pm loads the order of the folders into memory, which I will assume the Cache.pm file is all about. If the computer or Pegasus happen to shut down before this process has been completed, it can corrupt the Cache.pm file since the information in Hierarch.pm has not fully loaded. 

I keep my computer on all the time, especially so my virus patterns can update. And my Pegasus program is open all the time since most of what I do relates to using email. I keep my system on full power, with no power-downs, no hibernation, no energy savers... always just flat-out running at maximum. This may cost more, but I don't like anything taking over my system unless I command it thus.

I do have an APC UPS system on at all times, especially as I live in Florida, the "lightning capitol of the USA."   So, I figured that I was pretty safe from potential for corrupting files.

But, suddenly I was getting "insufficient resources" messages and the computer was either freezing up or shutting down.. Of course, Pegasus was usually always open. So, it was not being shut down properly and sometimes it was not allowed to load fully before the system froze and I actually had to power off since there was no other way to recover.

Now that I have been taught by a kind and generous expert member, I can easily see why my Hierarch.pm and my Cache.pm files may have contained inconsistent information. Once the files were corrupted, I was not able to track down the problem and correct it.

At first I thought I had a bad memory chip or that I was running low on hard drive space. But nothing I did helped. As it turned out there were some drivers on my computer which needed updating and once I updated, and removed some large graphic files, and adjusted virtual memory for the umteeth time, the resource insufficiency went away...but I was still stuck with the copy folders mess in Pegasus.

Now I have cleaned out what seems to be the damaged folder and I'm hoping things will work the way they are supposed to.

Another thing I noticed, and I have no idea how this happened, but an email I sent from my Android phone and opened in Pegasus, as I normally do, somehow went from about 350 k to 5.2 megs... No idea how that happened but surely it was a corrupted file. I weeded it out with two others which somehow grew.. and I"m hoping now that I've had a good shot of Penicillin to fix all that has ailed my machine.

It still remains to be seen whether or not I've got this all fixed, but I may need to download a fresh program and reinstall to overwrite any program files which might have been corrupted in the interim. 

This has been a tremendously valuable learning experience for me and I sure hope that the generosity of the expert members who have been so kind to me will go on giving for a long time as others read this thread and find their way out of a similar mess.

I will report back when I have had my "shakedown cruise" and am sure this boat will now stay afloat.

Thanks again sooooo much.

Judi :-)

I've had a recent accident of unknown origin with my two stand-alone Pegasus programs (4.51 and 4.62), which used to have separate stored file folders, having gotten mixed together in both programs. I've not been able to figure out what program files have been corrupted and caused this problem so I've attempted to weed out, rearrange, and combine emails stored in the various folders so that I can store the old ones away in directories and make new folders for those that are current. In some cases, I've moved files to the new folders and deleted the old folders trying to reorganize my filing system so it's workable.

It sounded like a pretty logical way to fix this mess but it's been problematic. 

In moving some folders into directories and then cleaning out other directories and deleting the files within them, I've ended up with totally empty directories which I cannot delete because I keep getting error messages telling me that I can't delete them because they are not empty. Yes, they are, but arguing with the program is like trying to argue with a bank ATM machine... hopeless!

Also, folders that I have created to store new emails within have given me error messages that they are not accessible and I've been instructed to re-index them, which I have, but it has not done any good... as I still cannot access them and when I try, the program crashes.  So, I have renamed the folders and sometimes I can access and sometimes I cannot.. and reindexing does no good at all. Usually, the program just abruptly quits so whatever I'm trying to do, I am not able to finish.

The last disaster I had I was finally able to access one of these folders and was attempting to just move the files to another folder when I got an error message that I could not access the folder I wanted to move the files to. The program crashed again before I could get the files moved and I lost 1800 emails stored in them. I was shocked because it seemed to me that if the operation was not able to complete, that at least the files would remain where they were originally instead of totally disappearing.

Obviously there is some kind of demon living in my Pegasus programs, the worst living in 4.62, and I have not found the right kind of weapon to bring it into submission...    My frustration is beginning to boil over.  Pegasus has always been my reliable filing system for all matters both personal and business since 1999.  My 3.11 still works like a charm....   Maybe too much "progress" creates too much complexity?

Any suggestions would be gratefully accepted.

Thanks

Judi :-)

I feel we should start with the most basic and beginning at square one. In the copy of winpm=32 you want to run use top toolbar and Help, About, Info button and select and copy that display text and past to a new post. That will show us what OS version and winpm-32 version and to where it is installed. It will also show the home mail and new mail location as currently configured.

 The admin user name being asked for is simply Admin and that user's location by default is c:\pmail\mail\admin and home and mail location will be same if you have a default install to default location.

Partial sample display from a win7 machine:

User name and ID: admin, 0
Windows version: 6.1
Windows flag word: 0
WINPMAIL.EXE directory: C:\PMAIL\Programs
Home mailbox location: C:\PMAIL\MAIL\admin
New mailbox location: C:\PMAIL\MAIL\admin

Jerry Wise,

Thank you so much for responding. As suggested, here is the information displayed in my Help about/info:

"Pegasus Mail for Microsoft Windows
Copyright (C) 1992-2011, David Harris, all rights reserved
Electronic mail to support@pmail.gen.nz.

WinPMail version: Version 4.62 (Win32), Aug 11 2011, build ID 191
Language resources: Standard UK English resource set
Extension Manager version: 1.14
Operating mode: Standalone
User name and ID: Single-user mode, 0
Windows version: 5.1
Windows flag word: 0
WINPMAIL.EXE directory: C:\Pmail
Home mailbox location: C:\PMAIL\MAIL
New mailbox location: C:\PMAIL\MAIL
TMP environment variable: C:\DOCUME~1\Judi\LOCALS~1\Temp
TEMP environment variable: C:\DOCUME~1\Judi\LOCALS~1\Temp
LAN-based SMTP support: N, N, N
NetWare MHS support: N, N, N
Built-in TCP/IP support: Enabled
  - WINSOCK version: WinSock 2.0
  - WINSOCK path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\WSOCK32.DLL
Commandline:
Active -Z options: 32768
PMR variable: (None)
PML variable: (None)
MAI variable: (None)
NB variable: (None)
Autofiltering folders: 0 (0 active, 0 inactive)
Last new mail count: 166
Message size soft limit: 0 bytes
Message size hard limit: 0 bytes
Attachment size soft limit: 0 bytes
Attachment size hard limit: 0 bytes"

I hope this will reveal some solutions and I thank you again so much for responding.

Judi :-)

Ok, that shows that XP machine has winpm-32 installed to correct drive  and location, probably as an update install in old single user mode. You had 166 new mail messages *.cnm files at the moment. Is that the only place there are *.cnm files at this time? The next questions is where are the *.pmm files located and is that the one and only place or ;are there others; like possibly in ..pmail\mail\admin location? Program as configured thins they should be in \mail and won't see those in mail\admin location.

If that is the case either PCONFIG will have to run to reset paths or else the folder file pairs will have to be moved. My guess is there another configuration somewhere that shows locations of Admin user and files being in c:\pmail\mail\admin location. Admin will normally have home and new mail set to \admin folder under \mail location. On a new full default install to multi user mode setup new mail *.cnm files and messages folders *.pmm and *.pmi pairs would also be in \admin folder.

Do a search from command line or win explorer and for *.pmm files on whole computer and report or copy what turns up and what location(s) are shown. My guess is that multiple locations are going to be shown but in winpm-32 as configured currently only some messages folders are being displayed and same also for new mail too.

How to rectify the results is the task at hand and there are multiple ways to do it. There is also built in temporary ability to add other mailbox locations (drive locations) and to access those messages in the currently running setup. 

If, as I suspect, your "Empty folders" are "Empty trays" then it is very
probable that such trays previously contained one or more message folders
which are no longer in the Home mailbox system directory.

When a folder is explicitly deleted in Pmail then, as well as deleting the
folder's messages(.PMM) file and its index(.PMI) file, Pmail also removes
the folder's entry from HIERARCH.PM.

If a crash has occurred which has caused the PMM to be deleted or moved to
another system directory then, when Pmail is next started, the folder's
entry in HIERACH remains but its title, in HIERARCH, gets replaced by
Name_Unavailable. Pmail does not allow deletion of a tray that, in HIERARCH,
contains any folders including any titled Name_Unavailable.

Close Pmail then open HIERARCH.PM in a text editor, such as Notepad, and
delete any lines that end with Name_Unavailable: when you next open Pmail
you should be able to delete the empty trays.

Bob

Hi, Bob!

I can't thank you enough for the valuable information you have given me. You have answered three very important questions for me that I really didn't know how to ask. I"m going to print this post and keep it with my Pegasus troubleshooting information.

Thank you so much again.

Judi :-)

I'm still having problems with the filing system where I create files and folders to save copies of my outgoing mail.  All other parts of the program work fine but no matter what I've done I can't overcome a multitude of problems in the filing system. I hope someone will read this old thread and offer some suggestions before I go bald from pulling all my hair out.

I gave up on 4.62 and 4.63 and I installed a completely new version of 4.51 because it was the last version where I had no problems. I was not able to copy over any of the mail I had saved in my copies files from other versions so I actually resent them to myself from the older version where I could access them and then opened them in the new version of 4.51 and made new files and folders to store them away so I could continue keeping my valuable email copies.

But there is once more trouble in Paradise as I am once again having the same problems which I originally had where I tried to save a copy and I get an error message that it has not been saved because the folder is ether damaged of the disk is full and it wouldn't open. If I am lucky enough to be able to save it again, this time I try to save it in the "copy to self" default folder.  If I am able to actually save it there, I am not able to then move it or copy it over to the folder where it belongs and I get the same error message that the folder is either damaged or not accessible. I am told to reindex, which I try. Sometimes that works, but usually not. So, I try again and then I try to recover the deleted space. Sometimes that works and sometimes it just shuts the program down.

I've looked at the heirarc file to see if there are any errors there, but there are none, so I look at the pmail.ini for errors and find none there either. 

When I tried to access the folder I want, I am not allowed to access it because I get an error message that it is damaged. Then I notice that it is completely gone and now there is a blank folder with no name and no number of files, so I think that all the files in the suddenly missing folder have gone there. I am not able to access that blank folder either and if I try, the program shuts down. 

I'm really at a loss now to know what to do. I have now FIVE Pegasus standalone programs installed on my hard drive because I can't afford to not have access to the old emails which I had filed away and the only way I can find them now is to open one of the other Pegasus programs and try to find them in the copies folders, which are pretty much mixed up anyway, as this was my original problem when this mess began in the first place. I can't really delete any of these programs or all my important saved copies will be gone and I won't be able to find them again.

My oldest Pegasus program 3.11 is still tried and true and still gives me access to ancient saved copies but the ones since that time are not as reliable and I don't know how to copy emails over to the newer programs, as I used to be able to do in the past, and I have no idea at all where the copies in the filing system are.

At this point the only way I seem to be able to get into the copy files once I've been disallowed access seems to be continuing to close the program and continuing to index until I can finally get in. But I feel very uncertain about being able to either file away a copy or be able to access it again once I have successfully filed one away. I thought starting all over again with the last really reliable program (4.51) and mailing myself the last most important copies would solve my problems with the copy filing system would be the solution, but it seems not to be.  I tried only saving to the "Copy to self" folder, which seems to work, but then it's iffy as to whether I can either move of copy that email into the file or folder I have created to store it.

I am wondering if there is some error in the Windows Registry that needs fixing but I'm afraid to start playing around with this. The current version 4.51 is the only one which is at C:\Pmail right now.. All the others are at different locations and I've gone into the pmail.ini files and edited them so that the mailbox can be located.

I love Pegasus and I"m dependent on it for a filing system and I am at a loss now to figure out what's wrong so I can fix it.  Can anyone offer a suggestion to help me? I would be so grateful for the help.

Thanks

Judi :-( 

I seem, so far, to be able to save copies only in my "Copy to self" folder, but when I try to copy to any other folder I have created, usually I get the error that the folder is damaged and can't be opened and I should reindex it. When I reindex, sometimes I can get into it, but usually I cannot. When I attempt again to reindex I get an error message about problems with "inconsistency." The the program crashes and I get dumped out of it. 

If I save everything to "Copy to self" and then attempt to "move" or "copy" to one of the other folders I've made, I usually get the request to reindex again and then that is unsuccessful and I get an error message about inconsistencies again.

I've gone back to the Tools menu to see if there was something wrong in how I selected where to save copies and I have the same setting that I've always had... to save in "Copy to self" and to ask where I want to save a copy.  Both are checked.  Maybe I'll try playing around with that.  I'm about at my wit's end here... HELP!!

I sure appreciate the generosity of those who have written me personally offering suggestions, so this is more of an update to add information in the hope that it will add some more light to the subject. 

 Thanks.

 Judi :-(

In addition to what you have stated are your also using any copy to self filtering rules? Is it when an automatic rule triggers that a problem is happening? Is it blank when you hit Edit rules button while is the Copies to self (outbox) section under Tools, Options? Is there no apparent program fault when a message does not trigger any rule?

It may be that there is a problem with one or more of the folders that the rule points to rather than any problem with the basic copies to self folder. It may be necessary to open and Edit rules and check the disable block for one or more rules in order to test.  To do it the "hard way' open WPMCSELF.PMC in Notepad which will also show you the ID of the folder the rule points to.

Help  "Copy-to-self filtering  The most powerful option of all, this allows you to create a special set of filtering rules that act on your copies-to-self. Using these rules, you can choose which folder should receive the copy to self, send copies of the message to other users, even print the message at send time. "

Thanks for the comeback, Jerry. 

No.. I've never made a filtering rule. In fact, I really don't even know how. I looked in that section and it's blank.  I run such a simple setup here. It's just me and just one email address. I like the KISS Principle so I very seldom want to automate anything and prefer to do everything manually so it remains simple and under my control.

Something seems to periodically make automatic changes to the hierarch.pm file. I renamed it to "xhierarch.pm" and then relaunched the program. A new hierarch.pm file was generated. In it there was still a directory in the filing section but one main folder was missing. It still gave me the same error messages, though, and told me that the folders were damaged so I had no access. So I wondered what program instructions told it to make the new hierarch.pm file and set up the new directory of folders. Maybe that's the place where the problems are being generated.. Maybe??

Thanks again.

Judi  

This report may be a little premature but I'm going to share it anyway in case someone else is struggle with this same problem.

Thanks to a little kind and generous help from my friends here in this wonderful forum I had a diagnostic tool to dig away at this problem and what it did was identify that there were a few problem areas:

1. The heirarch.pm file

2. The cache.pm file

3. And a specific folder which was locking me out all the time and presented a corrupted line in the cache.pm file. The "master file" for that folder was also indicated as being corrupt.

So, what I decided to do first was try to move everything out of that folder and into the "Copy to self" folder, which seemed to mostly be accessible to me most of the time.  I had a problem in as much as sometimes I was totally locked out of the "damaged" folder and when I was finally able to get in, it was very hit-and-miss about allowing me to "move" any files over to the "Copy to self" folder.. and it was also often resistant to allowing me to delete the files that I figured I could live without. With persistence I was ultimately able to get the folder cleaned out.

Having saved the copies that I really wanted, I began to poke around in the Cache.pm file and the Hierarch.pm file.  One thing which jumped out at me was that the folder (Named "Kathy") which was indicated as corrupt and damaged by the diagnostic tool was listed in the Hierarch.pm file but NOT listed in the the Cache.pm file.  Since I noted that all other folder names were duplicated between these two files, I thought maybe I had found the problem. Being able to edit a file to fix a problem is wonderful IF you can figure out which file needs editing.

Having cleaned out the "Kathy" folder, I not only deleted it from the copy folder window, but I tracked down the FOL**** folder and it's counterpart, the pmi version and I deleted both of them so there were no corrupted files for this folder left behind. 

Then I made two brand new folders for my "Kathy" and for my "Julie," which had also been a problem for me.. Then I opened the copy window to observe that they are both there now and I opened both the Hierarch.pm and the Cache.pm files to see if those new folders are now listed in BOTH files. They ARE!

 One could assume that there will be smooth sailing ahead now.. but that would surely be assuming too much.. and you know what they say about "Ass U Me" ing......

After I know the answers, I will report back and share the results.

NB: If these two files are supposed to both list the folders in the copy window, one wonders what caused them to become corrupted in the first place ... since this started in my 4.62 version originally..  But this question is for another day.  It's possible that I may need to download fresh versions of the programs from this web site..  We shall see!

Thank you to those of you who have tried so diligently to help me. It is much appreciated.

Judi :-)