TSGL: 2nd request -Outlook Express experienced

[Eric and Merna Bitter]

Hi, Ed.

I'm sending this message to the List and (because of the current delivery
problems) to you as a cc.

In the past when I have had OE problems I have successfully used information
from the http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com site which Craig provided in his two
emails in reply to your first query about this.

I don't know whether, or how, OE 6 is different from 5.5 which I still use
(with Windows 98 SE).  However, because (twice) I have had to reconstruct my
OE in the past (rather than reinstall because I was afraid of losing my
existing emails), I now periodically copy the contents of my OE information
to a backup folder (in my case on a different partition of my hard drive - I
have 98 SE on D drive and use G drive for backups).

I have a shortcut on my Quick Launch bar to my OE folder
D:\WIN_98SE\Application Data\Identities\{...........}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express     (where " ...."  is my identity letter/number string) for that
purpose.  I create a folder on my G drive with the current date and time
(e.g. 20070307_1600) and copy and paste the contents of my OE folder to the
new one.  I do this every few days and keep only the last couple of copies,
deleting the older backups after I have created new ones.

I have a LOT of non-default folders in Outlook Express to decrease the
chance of corruption in the system ones (Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items, Deleted,
and Drafts), and I try to keep the number of emails in the various folders
at a reasonable level (especially the system ones).  To do this, I move some
of my emails (especially subscription ones) out of OE to another part of my
hard drive.  (The TSGL ones have their own folders inside OE because moving
them to outside would involve extra work because of the same subject in a
thread so that trying to move a string of them outside results in messages
of "This folder already contains a file named 'Emails disapper' dated
01.01.01 - would you like to replace it with this file named 'Emails
disappear' dated 02.02.02?)."

I do not allow compacting in the background (Tools - Internet Options -
Maintenance).

In your situation I would:

(a)    Stop collecting emails on the problem machine, especially because too
many saved in OE might be the cause of corruption (if corruption is in fact
the problem here).  Is there a second machine in your house, or could you
use a friend's or even one at an Internet cafe for the time being to check
your email at your ISP - especially for other solutions from the List -
until you are certain your machine is okay again?

(b)    Copy the contents of your OE folder to a limbo or temp folder or a CD
/ DVD so that you have a copy even if you can't get into the emails.  Being
as paranoid as I am I would probably make two copies, one to play with and
one for safety.

The newest version (5.01) of DBXtract can be found at
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx  (cost $7.00).
Version 4.5 can be found at  http://www.321download.com/under100/page2.html
(free), and that link indicates it is for OE 6 as well as OE 5.  I have used
it successfully in the past to recover emails from corrupted .dbx files in
my OE 5.5.  At that site there is not much information about how to use the
program, and I recall that I played around with it (and an earlier version
4.01 that I also had on my computer) when I used it.  (Again, handy to have
backup/s of those .dbx files for playing around!)  There is a good
explanation of how to use it at  http://www.updatexp.com/tip23.html.

Googling     "Outlook Express 6" + "emails disappear"    gave me seventy
results at
http://www.google.com.au/search?num=50&hl=en&q=%22Outlook+Express+6%22+%2B+%
22emails+disappear%22&meta=  (watch the wraparound), including the following
which might be of assistance:

http://ask-leo.com/comments_000173.php?page=7
and the article referred to on that page at
http://ask-leo.com/the_contents_of_my_inbox_disappeared_can_i_recover.html

http://www.mcse.ms/archive/index.php/t-2351108.html

Since many of the answers refer to DBXtract, I also Googled      "DBXtract"
+ "Outlook Express 6"      which gave 2,320 results including:
http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t174523-re-outlook-express-goofed-up.h
tml     especially note the warning/s
http://www.uninets.net/~blaisdel/IE_7.html   (item 3)

Hope some of this helps.

Merna



----- Original Message -----
From: "EDLYNN" <edlynn at the-beach.net>
To: "TechSupportGuys" <list at tsgserver.com>
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 4:02 AM
Subject: TSGL: 2nd request -Outlook Express experienced


I use XPPro SP2 and OE6 + Firefox.

1. Somehow OE removes a message from my Inbox subfolder, after ONE reading,
and sends it somewhere - I believe to "store.dbx" - (After this first
reading, I either delete it, or close it to return later for reply. But it
disappears before I can return to it.)
2. Where is the corrective fix for that unwanted action?
3. I cannot open the .dbx folder which specifies OutlookExpress as the
program which is associated with it. Trying to open them with another
program like Word2000...either yields nothing, or unreadable unconverted
text.
4. I suspect that this archiving OE action has even taken UNREAD messages
and tucked them away in the storage files whose titles are the same as my
active subfolders under my Inbox, ie. "sent items.dbx",
"the-beach.dbx","tsgl.dbx"...

I did not make up any message rules like that, or remember checking off a
box somewhere to authorize such action. I don't know for how long it has
been going on - but at least 3 months.

I do not use McAfee, that at one time had caused a similar set of problems
which they had 'fixed' with a patch. I use Panda Software's Titanium
Firewall and anti-virus, AdAware, Spybot, and Windows Defender.

Please help. I've got to get rid of this action, as it is destroying my
emailing abilities to reply to read messages and respond to lost
correspondence.

Thanks.  ED
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