FAO Buenchico

[Eeeek]

Hi there, you kindly answered my question a few days ago about deleting emails. Well, I use Microsoft Outlook and did as you suggested - searched for *.dbx including hidden files - however nothing came up. Its probably obvious that I am not very PC skilled so I hope i did it right (it seemed to be) but I just wondered if there was a possibility that there was nothing there. If so does that mean there is no chance of my emails coming back to haunt me?? Thanks a lot, I am a bit paranoid at the mo!

[Ralph]

Outlook uses PST files whereas Outlook Express uses DBX files. Do the search again using PST and see if you find anything.

[Eeeek]

sorry to be a dork but does that mean i search for *.pst ?

[snook]

Hi there, Eeeek! Yes, if Ralph's right (I don't use Outlook so I wouldn't know about Outlook files) and it does indeed use PST files, then you need to do a search for *.pst.

Then, when you delete them (I'm assuming that's what you want to do), also delete them from the Recycle Bin, which will store them until you specify that you're really finished with them.

If you are indeed 'a bit paranoid' about stuff you've deleted (and why shouldn't you be, it's your business after all), then download Ccleaner from here:

http://downloads.zdnet.co.uk/0,39025604,39150665s,00.htm

and you will have a really handy utility that will clean up all your deleted files, temporary files, cookies, history, list of recent documents viewed, etc. It's excellent, and it also has the facility to scan for obsolete software, unused file extensions, etc, thereby cleaning up your system considerably.

[Buenchico]

It looks as if your question has more or less been answered before I read it. Everything in the existing answrs is correct. Outlook does use PST files rather than DBX. Right-clicking on any of these files (and opening with Notepad) should show everything which is really on your PC (rather than what you might think is there).

The size of these files is often a clue to how much 'secret' information is in there. For example, it's not uncommon for someone with only 2 or 3 e-mails in their inbox to discover that Inbox.pst (or Inbox.dbx in Outlook Express) has a file size of many megabytes. This is usually an indication that there are hundreds (or even thousands) of e-mails still lurking in there which the user thought had been deleted months ago.

If you're worried about what's in there, just copy the e-mails you want to keep to another folder and then delete Inbox.pst (or Inbox.dbx) preferably using one of the many free file-shredding programs that are available. Don't worry, this won't 'screw-up' Outlook. The next time you start Outlook, your PC will automatically create a new (genuinely empty) Inbox file and Outlook will continue to function normally.

Chris