Oh the humanity!

So my 82 year old moms XP machine I put together 8 years ago finally got so slow with toolbars and helpers I decided to get her a new machine.
Office Depot has a nice $350 HP with lots of memory and 1TB hard drive and windows 10. Cool.
I have the exact XP machine at home that I only use to run iTunes for my iPads and haven't been following windows except for work where we have a network version of 7.
Mom uses her computer for email and to check the side effects of her latest prescription on the web.
You all know where this is going right? I set up the native email in 10 and try to import her contacts from outlook express from thenXP machine and windows 10 doesn't recognize a .wab file. Really? A freaking windows address book (wab) file. Can't import the addresses into the "people" app. It will only sync her years old emails from the last 3 days from the host server. Wait I have a terabyte of space, what gives?
Okay do a search, for $25 you can download outlook classic and it will run like the old days.
Not a search within windows mind you, oh Cortana will help with that as soon as you create a MS account and agree to the terms that allow them to optimize you browsing experience.
A quick google search and oh with a few simple registry edits you turn off Cortana.
As you might have guessed, I'm not impressed with 10 even after a restore of the OS to a virgin version to get rid of all the crapware that HP agreed to put on that phoned home and demanded updates the instant I plugged in the LAN cord.
In years past I received a lot of help from this website cleaning viruses, reformatting hard drives and overclocking pentiums. But after using an iPad on IOS for the past few years I conclude that for an old lady to check email and an occasional web search, windows 10 is an abomination and will be trading in the windows machine for a Mac.
Thanks Arie and the rest who have been helpful over the years.
Dan (johnsdp)

 

XP and outlook express only allow export as .wab. When I double click the .wab file on the 10 machine I see the addresses go flying by to somewhere. If I search using explorer, for contacts there is a file under users with the addresses but there is no option to move them to the native win10 email or the People app.

 

Thanks Tony, I'll try that again but it seems like I remember .wab was the only option.
Also I talked with local pc builder and he showed me the classic shell utility that might make 10 more usable for an old lady.
Thanks for following up,
Dan

 

Okay, so far I've installed classic shell and she seems okay with the start menu and structure appearance.
The native email still stinks. Why can't I have regular email with inbox, outbox and sent items?
Have open more, sent items, scroll through new mail to see if the last one was actually sent.
Why show the most recent unopened inbox mail while viewing the sent items?
I'm transitioning her to gmail. Microsoft dropped the ball on the wn10 native mail app.
Dan

 

You can download Windows LIve Mail. It isn't really supported anymore, but it looks just about like OE did. It is called Windows Essentials. Take what you want when it gives you the option. Download Windows Live Essentials - MajorGeeks This is a safe site. I as many others have downloaded tons of stuff from them.

 

Hey thanks Bill for the reply.
I was able to save the address book in a .csv file and import it to her gmail account.
Trouble is she doesn't use that account for anything. I'm trying to convert her to it but it's tough.
I don't want to create a Microsoft account for her and import the contacts to the native mail in win10 for fear of all the social media and other notifications she will get.
I am reviewing the gmail app in the Microsoft store to see if that has a simple UI.
Like I mentioned, I put classic shell in and have it looking a lot like XP but I see now that classic shell is not going to continue being supported and we may have to uninstall it after some future windows update.
Dan

 

Pegasus? Great email program from Kiwiland! May take a brief learning curve for installation, but once in, no problems I've seen. Do a recce on it first.

 

Thanks frayed, I'll look into Pegasus.

 

Back at it. signed her up with a Microsoft ID and logged into the web version of mail but am stuck at the contacts import,
I was able to export the contacts from Gmail. It had an option for outlook .csv file so i tried that and saved it to the desktop.
when I try to import it using these instructions:
Importing Contacts in Windows 10
I get a message the file is not a .csv.
I can upload the .csv file here if needed, just not sure if the contacts would like their email addresses posted online.
This shouldn't be that hard to do.

 

Thanks Tony, I'll try to get to it in the next day or so.
Appreciate the help,
Dan

 

Tony, here is what it looks like in Note pad:

First Name,Middle Name,Last Name,Title,Suffix,Initials,Web Page,Gender,Birthday,Anniversary,Location,Language,Internet Free Busy,Notes,E-mail Address,E-mail 2 Address,E-mail 3 Address,Primary Phone,Home Phone,Home Phone 2,Mobile Phone,Pager,Home Fax,Home Address,Home Street,Home Street 2,Home Street 3,Home Address PO Box,Home City,Home State,Home Postal Code,Home Country,Spouse,Children,Manager's Name,Assistant's Name,Referred By,Company Main Phone,Business Phone,Business Phone 2,Business Fax,Assistant's Phone,Company,Job Title,Department,Office Location,Organizational ID Number,Profession,Account,Business Address,Business Street,Business Street 2,Business Street 3,Business Address PO Box,Business City,Business State,Business Postal Code,Business Country,Other Phone,Other Fax,Other Address,Other Street,Other Street 2,Other Street 3,Other Address PO Box,Other City,Other State,Other Postal Code,Other Country,Callback,Car Phone,ISDN,Radio Phone,TTY/TDD Phone,Telex,User 1,User 2,User 3,User 4,Keywords,Mileage,Hobby,Billing Information,Directory Server,Sensitivity,Priority,Private,Categories
al,,hamele,,,,,,,,,,,,xxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Normal,,My Contacts;Imported 1/18/18,
alice,,drake,,,,,,,,,,,,xxxx@charter.net,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Normal,,My Contacts;Imported 1/18/18,
bernt,,tweit,,,,,,,,,,,,xxxxx@holycrossmadison.org,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Normal,,My Contacts;Imported 1/18/18,
Betty,,Hull,,,,,,,,,,,,xxxxxxxx@earthlink.net,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Normal,,My Contacts;Imported 1/18/18,

edited by TonyT to remove email usernames

 

I did see that when I double click on the .csv file from the desktop, a Rolodex card type box pops up with the first contact in the list and the others after I close each.
I couldn't see an option to "add to contacts" though.

 

Really? Thunderbird?
So the new Microsoft commercial: "With innovative technology such as artificial intelligence and mixed reality, we have more power at our fingertips ..."
should end with "oh and by the way you can't import your contacts"
C'mon man!
Okay I give... mark it solved.

Dan

sorry for the snarkiness but you have to admit this is pretty lame.

 

Is this the method you tried?
How to import contacts from Outlook Express (.wab file)? - Windows 10 Forums

 

Yes Retired, that was my first try.
Like the poster says, the contacts go flying by like they are loading and then they are nowhere to be found.
That is when I went with the .csv instead of the .wab version.
Dan
Looks like the only option is to add them one at a time as new contacts via cut and paste from the .csv open in word pad.

 

Any help here?
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/r...ata-and-settings-from-corrupted-user-profile/