This question has been posted before. I don't want to be redundant, but the replies I found didn't help me. I hope someone can help! In a fit of stupidity I tried to move my Outlook Express .dbx files to a different location so that I could overwrite them with old .dbx files from another computer. OE never moved the files and I no longer want to do so, but every time I start up OE I get the error message:"Cannot delete NTUSER.dat. It is being user by another person or program." Is there any way I can get rid of the error message? It doesn't affect the operations of OE, but it is an annoyance. I will clarify that I do not have a virus or any other odd happenings. This is definitely caused by trying to move the .dbx files. Thanks much.

Can you provide the link or message number for This question has been posted before. I don't want to be redundant, but the replies I found didn't help me? i_XpUser

This issue is touched upon in the following message: http://computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/91579.html I didn't find the reulting posts helpful for my situation. Thanks.

OK. From what I understand, NTUSER.DAT is the registry settings for a user profile. Tweaking with this file in the wrong way can prevent you from logging in as that user. Since I don't use OE, I suggest you check out THIS LINK just to see if it helps. Good luck :-) i_XpUser

Thanks for the reponse, but it appears that I would have to pay for a membership to view that link. I'm not prepared to do that. Can you giveme an overview of what it said? Thanks

No you don't have to pay anything to view the answers, Go back to the link and scroll down past the advertisements. The solution is after the advertisements. i_XpUser

Thanks for your help. I actually posted another message right after the last one that apologized for my not seeing that I did not actually have to subscribe to see the solution. I don't know what happened to that message. At the risk of flogging a lame horse, I wanted to post a step by step of what I did to fix the problem- just in case someone else needs this info. Thanks again for your help!! 1) I created a new "identity" in Outlook Express- set it up with the same email address, folders etc that I had in my old account. 2) Via "manage identities" I deleted my original "identity"- the default name was "main identity". 3) Opened "my computer" and "c" then clicked "show hidden files" on the left panel. 4) Went to c:\documents and settings\(whatever you user ID is)\local settings\application data\identities\{identity number for original email account}\microsoft\outlook express and copied my .dbx files (ctrl c). 5) hit the back button to get to {user ID numbers} clicked on the new user ID number and hit ctrl v to paste my old .dbx files into new email identity. (Be sure the files you are overwriting are smaller than the files you are replacing them with.) Start OE again, check if old emial messages are there. If not, go back to the directory and delete any filees that have more than one incidence- the new files will usually have a (1) after the folder name.