Hi again wdc202,
Seems like you're having a bad week with OE.
If you don't care about saving the messages in the Sent Items and Deleted Items, you can just delete the DBX files for those folders in the OE Message Store.
On XP it's located at C:\Documents and Settings\{Username}\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{GUID NUMBER}\Microsoft\Outlook Express. I think it was the same on 98.
Or just do a Search for Sent Items.dbx to locate the Message Store.
Make sure OE is closed before doing anything in the Message Store folder.
Once you open the Store folder, delete the Sent Items.dbx and also the Deleted Items.dbx.
New ones will be generated when you next open OE.
T.