!!!Urgent Email Help Required!!!

[Gram43]

Please, Please, Please let there be someone on YD who can help with this problem I have had overnight:-

Firstly, I run a PC with Win XP Pro and Outlook Express 6, use Norton Security (updating all the time) and regularly use Windows update. So I reckon I keep my PC well and truly up to scratch, as it's used for business also.

However, yesterday I took and update from Windows to upgrade to Internet Explorer 7, all seemed OK, had to fiddle slightly with the new look to get it to my satisfaction and I was away. During the day we're on email all day and last night when closing out of Outlook, the prompt came up to clean up disk space regarding my messages etc., as it has done many times before and it does it's thing without any problems.

I checked the messages later and it downloaded 3 into my inbox folder and when I looked in the folder, there was only 3 messages in there!! All other messages had gone, I also looked in my deleted items and this showed only a small percentage of the messages I know were in there. All the messages I had sent had gone, so had the draft messages and 3 additional folders I had, which were used to store certain messages.

So, how could this be??????????????

This morning I had a good scout around on the PC and found a folder where the cleaned up messages etc., appear to have been stored, but how do you restore them back to their original location so I can get at them??

They all have .DBX listed after their name, so what does this mean??
I have tried to open them but it just tells me thet there is no program associated with the files and would I like to select one or go onto the internet to get one. But what will open them?

I'm in the S**t here so any help will be appreciated, as I need these messages.

[chas49]

Try googling on "outlook express dbx" - seems to throw up some useful info.

I think you should have a few .dbx files on your system - relating to various folders. THey're probably hidden so you may need to set your explorer viewto show hidden files if you haven't already. Once you've found them, close OE and copy all the dbx files to a safe separate folder before you do anything else.

Might just be worth checking that you haven't accidentally changed the view in Outlook to show only unread messages or anything like that.

Then investigate the tools etc mentioned in the Google results.

[Julian Goffin]

Try this, it may work but you not gonna lose out.

go to my computer, click on the C drive, goto documents and settings, you will see the main folders all users, etc. Click on tools at the top of the page and then click on folder options, another box will open the tabs on the top should say general, view, etc.

Click on view and make sure that hidden files and folders has show hidden files and folders ticked, then click ok.

Go into your folder i.e. All users etc., Double click on Local settings, then application data, then indentities, then whatever folder is in there it will have lots of numbers and letters, in this folders there will be a folders saying Microsoft click on this and in there will be a folder Outlook express, these are all your messages and contacts etc, put the files that you have found in this folders then open outlook express, should work. (copy all the files to another folder first as a backup). Alternatively try to do a system restore to before the Internet explorer 7 download.

HOPE THIS HELPS

Julian

[Conor]

If you need to access them temporarily you may be able to over write the new .dbx file with the old one that you have found. Its probably just that the installer has created a new directory to store your mails in and it is not the same as the old one.


Just make sure you keep copies of ecerything before you start moving things around.

[Gram43]

I'm completely baffled as to why this has happened. My PC did lock out a couple of times yesterday whilst backing up our database, but OE was not running then.

I'll try all the above and thanks for the tips.

[Gram43]

Something even more strange has happened to the messges in my deleted folder!
When I click on some of them from yesterday and before there is a message coming on the screen saying "message has not been downloaded", Outlook Express has not yet dowloaded the message and it gives you 2 options to choose from. Click here or press space, but nothing happens!!

Incidentally I've done a virus scan and can't find anything!!

[Tricky]

This won't be much help to you right now but I'd suggest that, once you've got this sorted, you get on the web and download Thunderbird from Mozilla - it's a much better mail client than OE, and it's free

[XeN]

Try here - hope it helps