Outlook Express 6 compacted my messages - how do I get them back?

[info]

I have accidentally agreed to Outlook Express compacting my messages.
Now I do not have anything in my inbox from before Feb this year, this
included important registration info for software etc. I have found
where they have been sent and outlook explains that they are .dbx
files. How do I open these files and what with, why would it archive
and then not give you something to open the archive with??????

How do I stop it asking to compact or archive?

Any help would be great
Nick

 

[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

This newsgroup is for support of Outlook 97, 98, 2000, 2002 & 2003 from the
Office family for Intel PCs. For Outlook Express (OE) support try posting in
one of these newsgroups:
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.outlookexpress for OE 4.x
microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie5.outlookexpress for OE 5.x
http://support.microsoft.com/newsgr...express&SLCID=US&sd=GN&id=fh;en-us;newsgroups
microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie55.outlookexpress for OE 5.5x
http://support.microsoft.com/newsgr...express&SLCID=US&sd=GN&id=fh;en-us;newsgroups
microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress for OE 6.x
http://support.microsoft.com/newsgr...express&SLCID=US&sd=GN&id=fh;en-us;newsgroups
microsoft.public.internet.mail.mac for the Macintosh version of OE
http://support.microsoft.com/newsgr...ess.mac&SLCID=US&sd=GN&id=fh;en-us;newsgroups

If those groups aren't carried on the news server that's carrying this group
try using msnews.microsoft.com (MS's public news server that's the source
for all the microsoft.public newsgroups). The links under the newsgroup
references are for use with MS's web newsreader (not exactly the best way to
post but it works for some people)

Also a good source of Outlook Express info can be found here:
http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/