Where are Outlook Express emails and attachments filed

I want to encrypt my Outlook Express emails and email attachments in case my notebook is lost or stolen while I am traveling from the UK to Australia.Can anyone tell me here can I find them so I can encrypt them?

There is an executable program called Outlook Express in the Program Files Folder but I have a sneaking suspicion that the actual Outlook Express emails and attachments are stored somewhere else, for example in the Documents and Settings folder.

I don't even what the files Outlook Express Emails are collated into are called. for example Eudora emails used to be collated into .mbx files

Outlook Express attachments, especially, appear to be stored all over the place, even in temp files.

 

I found the .dbx files

Thanks Pete

I found the .dbx files

Now how the heck do find all the the email attachments that seem to be stored all over the show??

 

I have a different reason for wanting to know where OE 'hides' its attachments.

On occasions I have inadvertently altered a Word doc which is attached to an email and then saved it, or so I thought. When the email attachment is re-opened the changes are not present.

The question is where was the changed doc saved to ? I have a horrible suspicion that it isn't saved ??

Any ideas anyone ?

 

Thanks Guys - I will go and have an experiment and also to see what happens when a reboot is done.

 

Having had a play around with saving docs in Outlook Express (OE), I can summarise (rather long winded I admit !) as follows:

Scenario 1

• Open an email with an attachment (e.g. a .doc or .xls file)
• Open the attachment and make a change
• Use Save to save
• Close the Office application and then re-open the attachment
• The changes are still there

Scenario 2

• Open an email with an attachment (e.g. a .doc or .xls file)
• Open the attachment and make a change
• Use Save to save
• Close the Office application and close the e-mail
• Re-open the e-mail and the attachment
• The changes are not there

Scenario 3

• Open an email with an attachment (e.g. a .doc or .xls file)
• Open the attachment and make a change
• Use Save as to save
• Close the Office application and then re-open the attachment
• The changes are still there

Scenario 4

• Open an email with an attachment (e.g. a .doc or .xls file)
• Open the attachment and make a change
• Use Save as to save
• Close the Office application and close the e-mail
• Re-open the e-mail and the attachment
• The changes are not there

Scenario 5

• Open an email with an attachment (e.g. a .doc or .xls file)
• Open the attachment and make a change
• Use Save as to save AND CHANGE THE NAME of the attachment
• Close the Office application and close the e-mail
• Re-open the e-mail and the attachment
• The changes appear not to be there because the changes are now in a different file

However

All the scenarios put the saved attachment into

C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\ "random name "​

The attachment is deleted in scenarios 1 to 4 when the email is closed. Only scenario 5 will keep the attachment, that is, until the user deletes the Temporary Internet Files.

The "random name" is shown when the file is being saved with "Save as ".

I found that even setting hidden files to be displayed only took me as far as Local Settings. I edited the registry to be able to see Temporary Internet Files as follows

• Click on the Start button and select Run
• Type in regedit in the box and click OK to start up the Editor
• Once regedit appears, navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced​

• Right-click on ShowSuperHidden and select Modify
• Change the value to 1, click Decimal and click OK to save your changes.

It was still necessary to type in \content.ie5 in the Windows Explorer address bar to see the "random name" folders where the "saved as" file had gone.

Double clicking the "random name" folder displays the contents in which the saved as file may be found.

IN SUMMARY

1. Make a change to an attachment and save using either save or save as and close the email, the changes are lost.
2. Make a change to an attachment and save using save as AND change the file name the changes will be kept in

C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\ "random name "​

until Temporary Internet Files are deleted.

 

So, basically, if I understand this right, attachments will not change but appear to be changed as long as the email is opened. Because the attachment file saved in C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\ "random name" is really only a temporary copy of the attachment in the email that was opened.