Hi,

I use 2000 for one of my machines and Outlook Express 6 for emails.

When I logged on TODAY and started OE all my older emails were there but no new emails. So I closed out the program and started again. This time I got new emails but all my older ones disappeared! I closed out and tried again and the new ones disappeared too. The new ones have since returned but not the old ones.

The weird thing is that it's only happening to emails in my main Inbox folder. All other email accounts/folders are fine.

I tried Nortons Systemworks 2006 and CCleaner but no luck getting my old emails back. I remembered a program called ScanDBX that fixed a virus or some problem I had years ago. Is that worth trying? My antivirus (AVAST) shows the machine virus-free.

Please help. I'd hate to think I lost 1000's of emails. : (
Does no one want to help? I'm not sure I can help. I used Outlook Express for years but have now been away from it for years; Outlook Express is not used in Windows systems newer than Windows XP.

See Where are the Outlook Express message databases stored? The location could be different because users can change the location. If you have not changed the default location, then you should be able to find the .dbx files used by Outlook Express to store messages. However, merely locating them will not be very helpful unless you can recover your lost messages. I think you may need a recovery tool such as the one at http://www.z-a-recovery.com/outlook-express-recovery.htm; it is not free but you can try it for free. I believe the free trial only allows retrieval of 9 messages; in other words, it gives you a chance to see how it works before paying for it.

Another idea the comes to mind is to install Mozilla Thunderbird and import your Outlook Express mail to it. I can't say for sure Thunderbird would be successful in importing all OE messages; I'm just SUGGESTING this as one approach that might recover your messages, albeit in Thunderbird, not OE. But, Thunderbird is a good email client and you might consider a permanent transition from OE to Thunderbird.

But, before any ATTEMPT to retrieve you OE messages, I suggest you BACKUP those .dbx files. Tools to do this can be obtained online from various sources, such as Backup4all, or you can manually do it, as explained at Question: How I can backup the Outlook Express dbx files by manually?
[note: I have not used Backup4all; I merely found it from a search]