I have found a software for backup Outlook Express message and all other settings: http://www.genie-soft.com/products/oebackup/oebackup.html It creates a EXE file for restoring OE setting and messages. As I plan to clean install my OS again, I would like to ask if anyone has used this software before? Does it work?

Way to test is create the exe then floppy it over to a friends house and see if it works. It can be done manually if that doesnt workout for you. This Microsoft Article explains how its done. Im downloading the product now:) If it works it will save me hours talking my twin thru it when she upgrades her pc.

I know the process of manual backup is quite complicated and that's why I'm finding the software of OE backup. I'm afriad a floppy can't work as my outcome file is about 57MB. I would use another drive to save it. (The outcome file for my brother even 150MB.....he has so many mails not deleted.) Hope to hear any good news from you!

Jacky, i just finished testing the software. I created the backup and chose to create the executable file. I then deleted all of my emails from outlook express. I ran the exe and they were back. I ran into one problem that might be of interest. After connecting to the internet and opening outlook express.. OE decided to finish its off line task which of course was to remove those emails i deleted. This means that the files i manually deleted and then reinstalled with the backup software were deleted again. I guess the software confused OE. I just ran the backup again to restore my email so it wasnt a big deal. All my emails are just as they were when i first created the backup. There is an option to just save the backups to your hd for local reinstall or create the exe for transferring files to another machine. It took all of 15 seconds to backup my files (2MB) inlcuding favorites from IE and my address book into a 600k exe file. An additional 15 seconds to reinstall them. Im definately going to get this and im glad you brought it to my attention. Thanks.

Thank you for your information. I've found that the official web site of this software also mention about the "deleted mail" problem.

I tried (and bought) OEBackup two days ago. I installed it on my husband's Windows Millenium computer which has Outlook and Outlook Express. When I ran OEBackup, it would not back up the Address Book because it was linked to Outlook (my husband uses Outlook Express). Does any one know how to unlink the Address Book from Outlook? Also if you have multiple identities, you have to do a backup for each identity but it doesn't explain how to do this, not even in their Help menu. Does any one know?

Hi everyone, Nicole from OEBackup was kind enough to answer my email as follows: "You can backup and restore identities separately. Outlook Express Backup Wizard backs up and restores only the current identity. That is, when you choose to 'backup', it saves the data from the current identity to the backup file. When you choose to 'restore', it replaces the data of the current identity with the data from the backup file. Therefore, to backup all identities, you should 'cycle' through them, making each of them current and backing it up into a separate .oeb file. For example, if you have 8 identities, you will have 8 .oeb files - one file for one identity. To restore them, you will need to create all identities first, and then import the data into each identity by making it current and restoring a corresponding backup file. As you can see, the process is somewhat complicated. We are working to improve it, I hope we will make it easier in future versions of Outlook Express Backup Wizard. Regarding to your second question, please try the following steps to disassociate the address book from Microsoft Outlook and to back it up: 1. Click 'Addresses' button (or Tools > Address Book)> Tools > Options > Choose "Do not share information among Microsoft Outlook and other applications". 2. Open Microsoft Outlook. Click Tools > Address Book 3. Now you are having both address books open. Drag and drop your contacts from the Microsoft Outlook address book to the Outlook Express address book. Then you can back up your Outlook Express address book. Let me know if you are still having problems. I will be happy to help you. Best regards, Nicole Ross, Outlook Express Backup Wizard support team support@outlook-express-backup.com" Hope this helps.