Thanks again Brian for that excellent treatise  - much of which I knew but didn't really appreciate - though not the specific details of the dictionary file naming so that's another tool in my armoury.

I've just taken a phone call from the laptop owner and he confirms that all is well so his thanks are sent to you as well.

Yes it is V4.63 so your fears can be allayed. I look forward to installing 4.7 shortly - I hadn't realized it was available . . . "If it ain't broke don't fix it"  mentality.

Pegasus is such a robust program that allows easy 'knife and fork' manipulation of existing data that I've only had to resort to the forum on three occasions over the nearly 20 years I've been using and recommending it.

A most unusual problem that I've not encountered before.

Even after 4 'clean' re-installations it still crashes every time I [Send].

I've seen other references to a crash after send on the forum and noted the removal of word4.db3 file but that was not a cure.

Even with a completely empty mail folder   -  just in case there was an 'odd' file in there  -  it still happens.

 This system has been 'good' for many years and only failed today.

 Any input would be much appreciated.

Turn off the "automatically check spelling before sending message" option then test and report back.  That option is in Tools > Options > Outgoing mail > Message formatting.

It seems that that has cured to problem - thanks for the pointer Brian.

I'm not yet 100% sure because the system in question belongs to a friend and he is currently some distance away but I expect a visit from him on Thursday.

Can you (or anyone for that matter) suggest why the auto spell-check would cause this problem and - more importantly - how to correct it . . . and return the spell-checker to 'normal' operation.

That crash happens when the spell checker is invoked but can't find the dictionary file.  Either the dictionary file has been deleted or has become corrupted.  In v4.63 or earlier it is easy enough to replace the bad dictionary file with one extracted from the Pegasus Mail installer executable (w32-463.exe).  I am hoping this is the case because v4.70 uses a different spell checker system with which I am only vaguely familiar.   I haven't heard of the crash problem occurring on v4.70 so the instructions below are assuming v4.63 or earlier.

The installed dictionary file is named PMDICT3.PMD but the extracted file will be in the form of PMDCT3xx.PMD (where xx are country codes).  Extract the appropriate file, rename it to PMDICT3.PMD, and put it place of the installed dictionary file.

Note:  The installer executable is a self-installing zip file so can be

unzipped just like a .zip file.  In fact, you can change the extension to

.zip and then open it with Windows File Explorer to copy out the

dictionary file.