BleepingComputer.com: Outlook Express Email Disappearance

Hello guys.
My dad uses outlook express for his emails. A month or two ago, all his emails disappeared from his computer, so he took it to a service centre to fix the problem.
Now it happened again, but he is leaving on a business trip today, so he has no time for a technician.

He uses outlook express along with IE5 and WinXP. If anyone has heard something about this, or know a solution, i would greatly appreciate it, for he needs those mails, and he's not very good with comps.

cheers

I know several reasons causing this problem:

1. Outlook Express settings. Run OE and Click View | Current View and be sure it is set to "Show All Messages". Also verify that "Show replies to my messages" is not checked or you will see only replies to your messages.

2. Antivirus software. Sometimes happens Outlook Express *.dbx files (files where OE stores messages) are deleted by antivirus software. For example older versions of McAfee VirusScan are known to delete DBXs. If this happened I'm sorry to say your messages are lost.

3. Damaged *.dbx file. In the case of a damaged "Inbox.dbx" file, a new Inbox will have been created automatically, and will now be using the file "Inbox(1).dbx" or similar. However the original Inbox.dbx will still exist. Locate it by going to OE store folder (Tools | Options | Maintenance). Then you can try to extract messages from this file using DBXtract tool.

Also, I recommend to backup your OE messages periodically to prevent such situations. I'm using outlook express backup from abf-soft. Simple and handy (not an advertising, just sharing the experience).