I did exactly what you said. Closed down Outlook Express. Found the
..wab file. Copied it to C:\.
BTW, when I double clicked on the found .wab file I had to specify that
I wanted to use notepad to open the file ... and I could see my
contacts therein.

I then opened the registry and made the modification. I had to specify
modify - then I modified only the data... which now looks like
C:\BONNIE.wab (not .wab~). I then exited the registry editor and
rebooted.

Before opening Outlook Expess, I actually did another regedit and
confirmed that the right address was there.

I finally opened Outlook Express and nothing had changed.

Surprise - I then went back and did another regedit and the entry had
reverted to what was there originally: C:\Documents and
Settings\BONNIE.USER-blahblah\Application Data\Microsoft\Address
Book\BONNIE.wab.
MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You haven't commented about the fact that my Outlook Express Import
file (the address where another .wab file is located were I to execute
the import - which I DID NOT) is another location... the same as the
above .wab address but with Bonnie instead of BONNIE.USER-blahblah
after Documents and Settings.

I am pretty sure my computer guy was trying to save stuff - like my
address book when reloading XP from scratch (to fix the previous
problem).

But - it is the Registry that dictates which address book is used,
right?

I am pretty convinced that it is Outlook Express that is corrupted, not
the address file.

As I said in a previous mail, the Add/Remove program under Control
Panel seems useless because I can uninstall and then re-install Outlook
Express while working off-line. That seems to me that I am just
re-installing the same corrupted version of Outlook Express?!?!?

It seems that the best idea is to uninstall Outlook Express (and
Internet Explorer) and then re-install from the microsoft site.
When I read this article you sent:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;q318378

and then clicked on the XP SP2 install:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...p/default.mspx

all it seemed to do is check for any updates which I didn't already
have... and these were two updates that I seem to have downloaded
previously. There is no attempt to download Internet Explorer (and
therefore Outlook Express).

When I am trying to do is to simply download Internet Explorer after
removing it (using Add/Remove Programs).

Nothing seems easy.

BAZ





Jim Pickering wrote:
OK, let's try something fairly simple (hopefully). Close Outlook Express.
Do a file search for any file ending with [ WA* ] w/o the brackets. If you
find several, double click on each one until you find one that has the
contacts you need and write down it's file location. Then open Windows
Explorer (WinKey+E) and navigate to that location and right click on the WAB
file and select Copy [to copy it to the clipboard]. Now navigate in Windows
Explorer to your root drive [ C:\ ] and right click on a blank spot in the
right hand pane of the Explorer window and select Paste. This will place a
copy of the desired address book on the root drive.

Now, still with Outlook Express closed, open the registry editor to the WAB
file path:

\HKEY_CURRENT_USER
\Software
\Microsoft
\WAB
\WAB4
\Wab File Name

and in the right hand pane, clear the existing entry and insert in its place
"C:\nameoffile.WAB" [substituting in place of nameoffile for the actual name
of the file you moved]. Exit the registry editor and reboot. Now open
Outlook Express and see if the address book is working correctly.

As for your problem with Word/Office/Outlook, if you have never installed
Microsoft Office, how did you get a copy of Word? Was it installed from
some other application program? If so, you may have to find that older CD
and run a repair installation, but to get advice concerning that, I'd
suggest posting to whatever newsgroup is appropriate for the program you
installed that gave you Word.

Good luck and let us know the results.
--
Jim Pickering
MVP-Outlook Express/Windows Mail
Please reply to newsgroup only so that others may be helped with your
feedback.

"BAZ" wrote in message
oups.com...
Jim,

I hope I see that I sent you a message... but it is buried above ...
with all of the previous messages beng displayed!

BAZ