urgent help needed-have i got a virus

[daddymayhem]

my inbox in outlook express has disappeared,when i try to add it again it says a folder with that name already exists,tried to do a system restore and all my restore points are wiped out,avg and nod 32 dont pick anything up,help !!!

 

[blackbeard]

Sounds like your email has become corrupted, this can happen without viruses.

OE stores its info in database files (dbx extension), if the folder.dbx / inbox.dbx is corrupted you will lose inbox .

You should try the micro$oft solution first, get back if this does not work

 

[daddymayhem]

tried this but keeps asking for service pack 2 disc,when i put this in it says incorrect disc

 

[blackbeard]

I assume you already have sp2.

To recreate your Inbox should be relatively easy. Search your disc for the "inbox.dbx" file. If this file is found and renamed to "inbox.old" the next time when you restart OE a new Inbox will be created. Do not do this because you will lose the messages in the old Inbox.

What you probably need is some software like DBXtract to read "inbox.dbx" to get your emails, then you can rename the file and put the extracted emails into the new inbox folder.

I am on my way out now, there may be an easier way of doing this, i will look at it later.

 

[blackbeard]

Had a think about it, OE can import dbx files, I suspect this may not work, because your dbx files are corrupt. I think you are going to need some software to recover the mail from the dbx files. That software allows you to try before you buy, not sure what the limits are.

Try google on importing dbx files, if you manage to get the mail off the files simply rename the dbx files to old e.g inbox.dbx to inbox.old etc, and OE will recreate the folders.

 

[daddymayhem]

cant find inbox file at all

 

[Purity]

File can be found at:

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{YOUR_IDENTITY_STRING}\Microsoft\Outlook Express\inbox.dbx

Local settings is a hidden folder. To see it go to control panel, folder options, view.

Select the option "show hidden files and folders", untick the option "hide extensions for known filetypes"