What information do my archive.pst, outlook.pst and extended dat files contain? I have reinstalled XP with a different username then I was using before and am wondering if I can use these files to restore the information I had in Outlook previously

Hello fire_poi,

The following article from Microsoft may be helpful:

"How to manage .pst files in Outlook 2007, in Outlook 2003, and in Outlook 2002":

http://support.microsoft.com/KB/287070

I've never done it before; I'm not sure if you need to perform the "Export" steps before performing the "Import" steps. You might just try following the "Import" steps to import your old .PST files.