Hi All I need some urgent help here. I have just cleaned out a virus on one of our computers here at work and I noticed Outlook Express had defaulted back to original settings, new empty folders (I had moved the store location for easy back up). I told OE to point to the new location where emails were stored but have now found all my existing emails & folders are gone & replaced with the new empty folders. I am in real trouble if I don't recover these emails. Please help anyone. I thought maybe scan/restore(?) might work, but I'm not sure. Regards Drew

I doubt scanreg /restore will help because this sounds like a files/folders issue rather than registry. In Find/Files or Folders search *.dbx which is the file type for OE folders. The correct location is: c:\windows\application data\a long number\microsoft\outlook express. But this will be the location of your new empty ones. If you find any elsewhere (larger files) they can be copied back on top of the new empty ones in the above location, provided you ensure the name is identical. Any you restore this way will now be as before but you will have lost anything that arrived in these boxes since. Derek.W

Hi Derek Thanks for the info, but unfortunately I can only find the new empty ones. I am going to try some data recevery software & see how I go. Drew

Hi again I have tried some data recovery software but these .dbx files don't appear. It's as if they have been completely overwritten by the new empty files. Any more suggestions? Drew

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=recover+outlook+express+folders+&btnG=Google+Search

Unfortunately data recovery from foot prints on the HD gets less likely the more you do on the machine. Worth trying #4 but if the .dbx search didn't find them I rather doubt that will work either. Hate to say this but I don't fancy your chances on this problem. Let's hope someone else has some different idea. Derek.W

Sounds like they may have been infected, so look in your quarantine folder(s). The "file type" may have been changed. Where did you move the "store" location to for back up? On the hard drive or to a server? If locally, the virus may have got them. If these emails are that critical, stop everything on that computer now, and try to find a data recovery company. They cost anywhere from $1,500 up. Depends on how valuable the email really is.