Well, not the .wab file, just the addresses in it. Fortunately, I do backups
daily. Here's what I *believe* is the reason for the vanishing addresses -
perhaps someone can confirm this: I use OE, *never* Outlook. But, next
week, I need to assist someone by phone with a couple of setup processes in
Outlook. So yesterday, I started Outlook for the first time on this
computer, figuring now I'll be able to see the same menus they're looking
at. I went along with its initial setup questions, and figured "OK - I'm all
set here".

For the rest of the day, I didn't access my address book at all, so I didn't
notice that it had been replaced by the Outlook installation. Between now
and next week, I may want to add an address or two (after I restore the
backed up file). Is Outlook going to wipe out that file every time I start
it up??? If yes, is there a way to avoid that?

Running XP Pro SP2, by the way.