On Fri, 26 May 2006 16:56:26 -0700, "Michael Santovec"
wrote:

If messages are still accessible in the Inbox folder, do the following:
- Create a new mail folder (e.g. Mytemp)
- Copy (not Move) the existing Inbox messages to the new mail folder
(Mytemp)
- Close Outlook Express
- Locate the file Inbox.dbx (OE5+) in the mail directory and delete it.
You can use Start, Find (or Search), Files or Folders, Inbox.dbx to find
it
- Open Outlook Express again.
- It will create a new empty Inbox. Copy the messages back from the
Mytemp folder. You can now delete the Mytemp folder.


It worked a treat! thanks.

While I was at it, I split up the inbox file into four smaller files.
One day I'll get round to deleting some of the junk.