Outlook Express on my home desktop Dell Dimension 4600i deleted or moved
e-mail messages that I had filed away in some, but not all, of my mailbox
folders.

This might have happened when I saw (for the first time on this 1 1/2 year
old computer) a pop-up box saying that Outlook Express could compact messages
in the folders to save space if I clicked the “yes” box. I did, but the
program locked up after a few minutes and I had to shut down the computer by
the on-off button. Later, on investigation, I noticed on scanning the files
that the missing files apparently were not deleted, but (by noting the size
of the folders) are in other similar-named folder files.

For example, my stripped out folder for USF messages (I teach at USF) I
saved are in:


C:\Documents and Settings\J. Thomas McCarthy\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{020A159C-8D78-4E7A-B147-66259B969DF3}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express\USF.dbx

But the equivalent files with (apparently) all of the original messages in
them that I saved for USF are in:

C:\Documents and Settings\J. Thomas McCarthy\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{68C8549C-B54C-49C8-AE06-8BBD06069FA8}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express\USF.dbx

Is there a way to retrieve or move those e-mail messages in the folders so
that I can access them?


--
Professor