Outlook Express - HELP

[KARL]

I have generally kept "pending" in the INBOX and SENT until it is finally dealt with by the recipient (sent), or else myself (received). Sometimes when I have been connecting to my ISP (BT) to send mail the whole computer has 'hung' and the only way out was to reboot. This has sometimes resulted in loss of everything from the OUTBOX, but this morning all my Inbox and Sent were wiped clean and I 'received' the standard Microsoft 'Welcome to..' letter as if I had just installed Outlook Express. My other OE files seem intact, but I want my INBOX and SENT messages back. Please tell me there is a way and describe it to me (I have done a search but cannot find them, but surely the vesdtiges must still be there somewhere, so long as they are not overwritten ?). Incidentally, my dial-up settings were changed too, reverting to a now superseded number. Help, please, this is more important to me than you can imagine.

[j2buttonsw]

They will be as inbox.dbx and sent.dbx. Do a search for *.dbx and include system and hidden files. I suspect they may have been renamed so if you look at the details search for the largest ones that have been configured the most recently.

[KARL]

Thank you, j2buttonsw, but no joy - nothing there except the ones which one would expect. This will seem like heresy to some, but I again feel this technology has some way yet to go before it is as reliable as pen and paper. How would people feel if they could never be quite certain that, when they reach for the lever arch file they know contains certain material, it will not suddenly contain only totally blank paper ? On another note, I am puzzled by seeing my original question is labelled "Edited by AB" - so far as I can tell it is there in full as the one "what I wrote".

[KARL - when you originally posted the question, you wrote "in the INBOX and OUTBOX", then posted a reply correcting yourself. I edited the question and deleted your response so it made sense to other users, and also so your question appeared to be 'Unanswered'. So that someone cleverer than me could come along and help you. Hope thismakes sense- AB Editor]

[j2buttonsw]

I am sorry you have lost your mail and I know this is rather "after the horse has bolted" but I would use outlook and backup the resulting .pst file in the future. When I used to use OE, I always forgot to backup the *.dbx file when I rebuilt my machine (which was very often) and subsequently lost loads of mail. I changed to Outlook and haven't looked back...

[KARL]

You are correct ABeditor, my mistake (I'm impressed that you are so closely in touch) - thank you for sorting it for me. Thank you also, j2buttonsw, for your advice - I will look into that. Jeez, how annoying these events can be.