Bruce,

Thank you VERY much for all this valuable information. I've forwarded it to
my friend and she's very appreciative.

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
Windows version? OE version?

What kind of account does she have? Pop3, IMAP, Hotmail?

If it is a pop3 account, then it is possibly a corrupt Inbox, or one that
has not been compacted in a very long time.

Send her this.

General precautions for Outlook Express:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupt. Create your own user defined folders for storing mail and move
your mail to them. Empty Deleted Items folder regularly. Keep user created
folders under 100MB, and Default folders as empty as is feasible.

After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually while
working *offline* and do it often.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything
until the compacting is completed.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant
layer of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems
such as time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program
will continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in background
and leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}.

And backup often.

Backup & Resto
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/

This is a great two click program:

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB)
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Joy" wrote in message
...
I know messages aren't supposed to be kept in Inbox very long, but a
friend just wrote and said this:
"My computer keeps e-mail messages in my Sent file but if I don't reply
and just keep it in the Inbox file then often my computer erases all the
e-mails I have received from a certain date to a certain date."
Does anyone know why this happens to her mail? And/or what she can do
about it?