Backup folders?

[Steve Hughins]

Where does the backup of OE folders reside? I have a XP SP2 unit that has a
number of .bak files in the Recycle Bin. Can these .bak files be restored
back into OE, and if so, will there overide other files within OE? Does the
entire 'store' get backed up or just the messages by themselves?

Thank you for your support,

Steve

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

OE does not maintain a back-up on its own.

In WinXP SP2 or higher and with the machine fully patched, every time you
(or Windows) compacts all OE folders, a back-up of each folder is copied to
Recycle Bin (e.g., INBOX.BAK).

If need be, a BAK file can be used to restore a given folder. See UPDATE
box here: http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#2

Example: Say all messages in your Inbox went missing. You would:

1. Close OE;

2. Delete the file INBOX.DBX from your message store
(http://www.insideoe.com/files/store.htm#storemain);

3. Restore INBOX.BAK from the Recycle Bin to your store; and then

4. Rename INBOX.BAK to INBOX.DBX.

Why do messages go missing? See:

http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/problems/bugs.htm#mailgone [and]
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx

Avoiding Such Corruption:

- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

- Frequently perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working
offline". More at http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

- Do not shut down your machine if and when Windows is automatically
compacting your message store.

- Disable email scanning by your anti-virus application. It can cause
corruption (i.e., loss of messages), it provides no additional protection,
and even Symantec says it's not necessary:

<QP>
Disabling Email Scanning does not leave you unprotected against viruses that
are distributed as email attachments. Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect scans
incoming files as they are saved to your hard drive, including email and
email attachments. Email Scanning is just another layer on top of this. To
make sure that Auto-Protect is providing the maximum protection, keep
Auto-Protect enabled and run LiveUpdate regularly to ensure that you have
the most recent virus definitions.
</QP>
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2002111812533106
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
DTS-L http://dts-l.net/

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

PS: Tip => You don't need multiple sets of BAK files crowding your Recycle
Bin. After compacting all OE folders, delete all but the last set of BAK
files from the Recycle Bin.