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Outlook Express User Files In Windows XP!
 
In Windows XP, the Outlook Express user files, including *.wab and *.dbx files, are by default marked as hidden. To view these files in Explorer, you must enable Show Hidden Files and Folders under:
 
Start | Control Panel | Folder Options | View.
 
Opening the store root in Windows Explorer reveals a collection of *.dbx files. These are the files where all your messages are actually stored. The Folders.dbx file is the master index of the entire store. Likewise, the *.dbx files for the OE default mail folders will also be created if missing. If one of these folders stops working properly, deleting the corresponding *.dbx file will usually solve the problem. (Be sure to move the contents of those folders in OE before you attempt this). Special attention should be paid to the Inbox, Sent Items and Deleted Items folders. It is easy for these folders to grow extremely large. OE is not a dedicated database program, and can have problems with very large files, making them prone to corruption and data loss. For this reason alone, you should not use the Inbox to store messages. Instead, create other folders for storing mail and leave the Inbox for incoming mail. You should also make cleaning and compacting the Sent Items folder part of your regular maintenance
 
You can avoid a large Deleted Items folder by configuring OE to empty the Deleted Items folder automatically upon exiting. Do this under Tools| Options| Maintenance. If you choose to disable that, be sure to include Deleted Items in your regular maintenance.

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