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Outlook inbox content completely disappeared - What virus?
Thread poster: Steffen Pollex (X)
Steffen Pollex (X)
Steffen Pollex (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:15
English to German
+ ...
Dec 3, 2004

Hello,

can anybody give advice on the following:

when I opened Outlook Express 6.0 a few minutes ago, the inbox appeared to be completely empty.

Ih had stored about 15 messages there, not really important, can be recovered.

But does anybody know which virus that could be?

Just yesterday I did a complete virus check on my computer, and nothing in dicated a virus attack (Norton Internet Security 2005).

And, of course, I... See more
Hello,

can anybody give advice on the following:

when I opened Outlook Express 6.0 a few minutes ago, the inbox appeared to be completely empty.

Ih had stored about 15 messages there, not really important, can be recovered.

But does anybody know which virus that could be?

Just yesterday I did a complete virus check on my computer, and nothing in dicated a virus attack (Norton Internet Security 2005).

And, of course, I have the monitoring functoion activated all the time. Also no alerts.

Does anyone have an idea what I should do next and how to get rid of this?

Thank you all in advance

Steffen ▲ Collapse
 
Andrzej Lejman
Andrzej Lejman  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 09:15
Member (2004)
German to Polish
+ ...
Get rid of Norton, first... Dec 3, 2004

This ressources-consuming application is not very reliable.

Have you tried Windows Restore function? Try to restore to the last Restore Point - this should work.

Good luck.
Andrzej
 
Steffen Pollex (X)
Steffen Pollex (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:15
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you, Andrzej Dec 3, 2004

Could you advise me how to do this?

Would this this mean to initialize setup by inserting the windows disk and then "restore the last functioning version" or whatever the comand would be in English (I have a German OS)?
 
Andrzej Lejman
Andrzej Lejman  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 09:15
Member (2004)
German to Polish
+ ...
Provided your OS is Windows XP, Dec 3, 2004

go to Start > All programs > Accessoires > System tools > System recovery (names can slightly differ, since I'm using Polish OS).

Than select "Restore my computer to a previous point", and click "Continue". On a calendar tab you will see the last month - bold fonts indicate restoring points, created by the system. Chose the latest one.

Important: it DOES NOT affect your data, speak documents. Only if you have installed new software in the meantime, you will have to do i... See more
go to Start > All programs > Accessoires > System tools > System recovery (names can slightly differ, since I'm using Polish OS).

Than select "Restore my computer to a previous point", and click "Continue". On a calendar tab you will see the last month - bold fonts indicate restoring points, created by the system. Chose the latest one.

Important: it DOES NOT affect your data, speak documents. Only if you have installed new software in the meantime, you will have to do it once again.

I hope, this helps.

Cheers
Andrzej ▲ Collapse
 
chance (X)
chance (X)
French to Chinese
+ ...
Scan virus on line Dec 3, 2004

Try some scan on line to find the virus :

http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/license.php

... See more
Try some scan on line to find the virus :

http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/license.php

http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

If you find and remove the virus, do not use the restore function. This will bring back the virus.

But you can deactive the restore function before removing the virus. Once the virus is removed, reactive this function.

Good luck ▲ Collapse
 
Andrzej Lejman
Andrzej Lejman  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 09:15
Member (2004)
German to Polish
+ ...
The problem is Dec 3, 2004

chance wrote:

Try some scan on line to find the virus :



that MOST of recent viruses are NOT destructive, so I assume rather a technical problem, including an unintended removal of the folder (by accident).


Andrzej
 
Brandis (X)
Brandis (X)
Local time: 09:15
English to German
+ ...
Try Gemail from Dec 3, 2004

It doesn´t catch Hotmail though, but all other POP3 and relative solutions are cleared. You can also catch multiple accounts using the same client.Brandis

[Edited at 2004-12-04 09:03]
 
Mathew Robinson
Mathew Robinson
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:15
English
Outlook Express Folder Files Dec 4, 2004

Outlook Express works differently to the full blown Outlook programs that come with MS Office.

Outlook Express stores emails in a seperate folder on your hard disk for each folder you have. e.g. inbox.dbx, sent items.dbx, etc.

If one of these default folders cannot be opened when starting Outlook Express for any reason (corrupt file, missing file) then Outlook Express will create a new empty folder. This is the most likely cause of your problem.

There is a ... See more
Outlook Express works differently to the full blown Outlook programs that come with MS Office.

Outlook Express stores emails in a seperate folder on your hard disk for each folder you have. e.g. inbox.dbx, sent items.dbx, etc.

If one of these default folders cannot be opened when starting Outlook Express for any reason (corrupt file, missing file) then Outlook Express will create a new empty folder. This is the most likely cause of your problem.

There is a VERY REMOTE possibility that your original inbox.dbx might still be intact but with an appended file name.

Open 'My Computer' and navigate to:

C:\Documents and Settings\
[your login ID]\
**this will be the name you log in as when starting Windows**
Local Settings\
Application Data\
Identities\
{C9A5F990-86C2-4D8D-81FC-F6678D2CBA9C}\
Microsoft\
Outlook Express\

Note: You will need to set the folder options in 'My Computer' to 'show hidden/system folders' to be able to see the 'Local Settings' folder.

When you get into the correct directory, you will see a list of files with a .dbx extension. Rename any that have a strange extension (e.g. inbox.bak) to temp.dbx, temp1.dbx, etc. then try opening Outlook Express again. ▲ Collapse
 
Steffen Pollex (X)
Steffen Pollex (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:15
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks to all of you Dec 4, 2004

None of these worked out, actually, but no problem.

The files lost have been resent in the meantime.

Thank god, it was not the address book and not 100 incoming mails.
 
Mollanazar
Mollanazar
Iran
Local time: 10:45
Persian (Farsi) to English
+ ...
Disappeared messages Dec 5, 2004

I encountered this problem several times. It is not due to viruses, but due to sudden disconnection while your Outlook Express in open. You may synchronize your folders and your messages will appear again!
 
Christel Zipfel
Christel Zipfel  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:15
Member (2004)
Italian to German
+ ...
Alternative solution for Norton? Dec 6, 2004

Andrzej Lejman wrote:

This ressources-consuming application is not very reliable.



I agree totally with you. For my part, I would prefer to get rid of Norton today rather than tomorrow.

But which valid alternative solution would you or someone else suggest?

Thanks.
 
chance (X)
chance (X)
French to Chinese
+ ...
You may try Bitdefender and Avast Dec 6, 2004

Both they are efficient.

http://www.avast.com/eng/down_home.html

http://www.bitdefender.com/bd/site/downloads.php?menu_id=18
 


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Outlook inbox content completely disappeared - What virus?






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