What version of OE do you have now? If you have OE6, there is no newer
version as long as you are fully patched at Windows Updates. If you are
using OE5x, then you need to download IE6 to get OE6. I don't believe you
have to remove IE5x before you download V6, so the internet is not a
problem.

What kind of contamination do you have? If it resides in the dbx files, you
may be transferring the corruption to OE6 and eventually to the new machine.
If it is some form of malware, etc., you need to deal with that first.

Backup & Resto

http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/backup/

http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

Backing up and Cloning your OE Identities:
http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/backup/clone.htm

DBX File Location:

Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder will reveal the location of
your Outlook Express files. Write the location down and navigate to it in
Windows Explorer.

How to Reinstall or Repair IE6 and OE6:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=318378

Although written for WinXP, it works for all Windows operating systems 98 or
newer.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"sjh" wrote in message
...
My copy of Outlook Express has been contaminated and its giving me
problems
so I'm planning to download a new copy from Microsoft's site. Currently I
use Windows 98 which I know is no longer supported. I will be replacing
this
system with a new one after the holidays.
Anyway, I have two questions. I want to Backup the various email folders
that I currently have so that I can restore them when I download the new
version of OE.
The problem is that when I search for the names of these folders using
Windows Express I can't find them so I can't do a backup. How can I do
these
backups?
My second question is will I have to do a uninstall of my current OE? I
suspect the answer is no because I would have to uninstall IE too inasmuch
OE
appears to be part of IE. If I uninstalled IE then I would have no way to
communicate with Microsoft and download the programs. Is this correct?
Thanks...