well i am back with another strange happening that i do not understand. I went to outlook express and went to file then folders and compacted all of my folders. Now when i GO INTO MY RECYCLOE BIN I have all those bak files which are from outlook express. should i delete all of this or have them restored to their original place. I am quite perplexed because I have done this before and this sort of thing never happened. could you tell me what has happened is it because I now have IE version 7 and if it is and it is safe for me to empty my recycle bin i will thank you for all your help.

I agree with you something is wrong here
I'm not an outlook user ..Use many other email services and they all do not put files in the Recycle bin

What I'd do is restore those files back
then open Your Outlook program (I'm using an older version.May be reworded?) Locate Help on the Top of the window then look down the menu on this link for Detect and Repair if that is ther click on this to start the repair wizard...Unknown what happens next ...But it should restore things to their previous state?

You know what? I don't have IE 7, but the last couple of times that I compressed my Outlook Express folders, an occassional folder would spark a message saying that it was in use... blah blah....

I have a feeling that these .bak files are THOSE files.

Good question. Do we restore them, or not?

Tree restore those files.
And you and LL can do an experiment
Open a Gmail account if you haven't done so and there is a brand New feature where you can operate the OE account remotely. The Gmail account can spoof the OE account name and grab and send from the Gmail A/c compose on Gmail
If that works all you have to do is empty the trash on OE?and it will still work if the Program is faulty (deals with MS's server as an agent ) you will collect and send from gmail thats the theory
As it stands I have got diverted AP Notications going to Gmail and they appear on AOL (was having an issue with them (showing back on APs server as bounces ) yet the workaround is giving me all the posts now
As I say this new way is Untested because it got posted today, details are on this link
http://mail.google.com/mail/help/whatsnew_getmail.html and Not every body can get this yet will take a few weeks to get to it to everyone

quote:

Get mail from other accounts
Now Gmail can check for the mail you receive at your other email accounts. You can retrieve your mail (new and old) from up to five other email accounts and have them all in Gmail. Then you can even create a customized 'From:' address, which lets you send messages from Gmail, but have them look like they were sent from another one of your email accounts

All I know is you Have to go into Settings>"Accounts" and there is a new section with a "Wizard" to help set up this feature.
Look for:

quote:

Get mail from other accounts:
(download mail using POP3)

If this is not showing go to the Top section

quote:

Send mail as:
(Use Google Mail to send from your other email addresses)

Should imagine the 2 addresses must tally to exert full control
Be aware that Gmail is still a "work in progress" Keep adding little bits every few weeks or months...
Looks really Good now ,and there's an almost 3 GB mailbox to play around with

What you're seeing is the result of installing an update from Microsoft as follows:

MS06-076 Cumulative Security Update for Outlook Express
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923694 (I think this is a little too detailed for most of us, thus the recommendations at the bottom for a simpler solution).

Why the need for the update...

With the Windows XP Service Pack 2 installed, your Outlook Express (OE) files are automatically compacted after every 100 times that you close OE. The need for compacting is a major cause of corruption (e.g., loss of messages) in OE. (See recommendation 1. below)

Compacting can lead to loss of messages if you attempt to close Outlook Express or shut down while the compacting process is going on. Now the Outlook Express development team at Microsoft has added a measure of safety with the update linked above. With this installed, every time you compact your OE store, be it manually or automatically, a full back-up of the store (including files related to Mail and News) is created in Recycle Bin (these are the .BAK files).

Here are some general recommendations to keep Outlook Express in top shape and reliable:

1. Don't use the Inbox or the Sent Items folders to archive messages. Move them to local folders created for this purpose. (Click the File menu / New --> Folder to create a new mail folder, then drag or move the messages you wish to save into that "local store folder".

2. Empty Deleted Items folder daily. (Tip) Click Tools --> Options and then the Maintenance tab. You can check the box to automatically delete the contents of the Deleted Items folder each time Outlook Express is closed.

3. Disable Background Compacting [sorry, this is not available in WinXP, SP2] and frequently perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

4. WinXP SP2 only: Do not shut down your machine while Windows is automatically compacting your message store.

Dwight

quote:

Compacting can lead to loss of messages if you attempt to close Outlook Express or shut down while the compacting process is going on. Now the Outlook Express development team at Microsoft has added a measure of safety with the update linked above. With this installed, every time you compact your OE store, be it manually or automatically, a full back-up of the store (including files related to Mail and News) is created in Recycle Bin (these are the .BAK files).

does that mean when I see BAK files in my recycle bin I can empty my recycle bin and I will not have any problems/

If you have no lost messages, then yes you can safely delete the .bak files in the Recycle Bin. If you have messages missing, then you can restore the .bak files in order to replace the lost messages.
Dwight