Need Outlook Express Help

What a mess. Before I stop using OE, and forget I ever heard of it,
maybe someone can advise..

My OE is hopelessly hung. When I start it up, it displays the inbox
and highlights the first email therein, but then hangs forever. Delete
task is required to get out of there.

I am using XP SP3. I thought I was using OE v6, but when I try to
re-install a V6 I freshly downloaded, I get an error message that
there already is a higher-version OE on my system (oh???). I had the
thought that a complete re-install might get me going again (I thought
I could import the old mailboxes, that I have saved in an image
backup).

I notice that ControlPanel>Remove Programs does not even show OE. So
I can't do that. I went to Windows Explorer>Program Files to delete
OE manually from there, but I can't do that because it says OE is in
use (which it is not). I can't even do that in Safe Mode.

Again, I feel hopeless here. Anyone?

XieXie
Wei