Unlike Yahoo, GMail and other email services that keep the emails stored on their safe servers, Outlook Express stores the emails in a few files right on users computers, deleting it from the server after download. These files often get corrupted by viruses or other applications, leaving us in despair without our important hundred of emails, many times containing priceless documents or pictures.
And what makes it worse is there is no way to retrieve it. It is no longer on any server, nor in any other place, unless we would made a backup copy at any point in the past.
There is one way to prevent this: make an archived backup copy of your Outlook Express mail every once in a while. Then you can copy this backup file to a CD or DVD, and if ever in the future you encounter problems with your computer that renders it inutilizable, you can restore at least a big part of your previsious emails from the backup.
This can be done either manually, completely for free, by using the step by step tips from the Microsoft Website: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/270670 .
However, it might be burdensome for some of us to perform those manual steps very often, and what good is a backup if is very old? Also for less technical users, a manual backup can pose risks, as if is not performed exactly as needed will result in an invalid backup file.
An alternative can be a software tool such as Outlook Express Backup Genie . This product costs US $36 and is very easy to use, even by complete computer newbies. The advantages are multiple, but not anyone can afford to pay $36 for this excellent backup tool.
There are many Email Clients in use over the world, including MS Outlook, Incredimail, Eudora, Netscape Mail, Poco Mail.. All these email clients delete the emails from the mail server after downloading it, so the emails are stored locally inside files on the user computer. It is always a good practice to save these files periodically, because disasters such as viruses and computer problems strike without warning.
