Microsoft Outlook

kookooshortman55

kookooshortman55

New Member
My dad's computer crashed with about 40 viruses on it. So now he's going to buy a new computer, but he has a business on his Microsoft Outlook Account. Are the e-mails stored on his hard drive, or are they stored online? I was wondering if I could retrieve them and put them on the new computer.
 
The quick way to find out is to see if your dad can access the account while online and not through OE. That will likely be missing the contact list since it was never manually entered there.

All incoming emails depending on OE settings like leaving mail on server for a selected number of days allows mail to be read there. That's found in the maintainence tab in the OE settings when dealing with an ISP account and not simply any free online email account.

Once downloaded you can't redownload the same emails but can move them into a drafts or sent mail folder when online. Later when setting up the new system and getting back online you can still go after those by logging while online to the server directly. All that depends on how the ISP is set up however.
 
I do it here all the time to see any spam blasted and then open OE or rather Windows Mail opened up. Despite a spam filter I still prefer not to see crap mail get in. :P

The one thing to do at this time however is simply increase the number of days the mail will be left on the server to avoid losing anything important while the old system is down and the new one is being set up. The incoming mail will still be available while may not come into OE there.

An alternative method while sometimes a little more involved is setting up a free online only account and having the mail imported there until the new pc is running. That's kind of bothersome however since a new system should be running as soon as you enter the IE information and contacts there and simply import the new mail instantly from the server.
 
Okay well the old system is completely unplugged. We're probably going to trash it and and buy a new one on Saturday. It had things on it I didn't know existed, haha. Apparently the Anti-Virus wasn't registered all the way. So we can probably hook up the computer again to save his mail. Now keep in mind I have no idea how Outlook works nor have I ever used it. Would I be able to recover the email without connecting the computer to the internet? If not, that mean's I should be able to recover it all on the new computer right? I'm a hardware guy, not a software guy. Lol
 
hook up the old pc and the new pc both to your router (if you have one)

and then run the file and settings transfer wizard

i think the outlook data files are .pst and live somewhere in docs and settings / aplication data
 
So as long as I have an antivirus program up, it would be safe doing this? I have no idea where the viruses are but there's a ton of them. I plugged in my flash drive to upload to file to his computer. When I plugged the flash drive back into mine, my antivirus went all crazy. My antivirus stopped it, but I'm just saying, it's pretty bad. Haha
 
it *should* be fine, but i cant guarantee it

control panel -> mail -> data files

will tell you where the .pst file lives
 
Any new emails should still be on the server long enough to see those come in when the new system is setup and running. You first have to create the OE account entering the assigned user name and password provided by your ISP.

Once you do that a few times it becomes child's play to simply re-enter those and make any setting changes required like incoming is the same as outgoing with a check box. Remember to extend the amount of days mail remains on the ISP's mail server however so nothing is lost or can still be retrieved online.
 
Okay an update here. We just bought a triple core computer to update our family computer so my dad is going to take the old one. We're transferring all the files off of our old computer onto a hard drive and I just set up my dad's old computer. Would it help to know that he's on Windows XP, and with Microsoft Outlook Express? I couldn't find Mail in the Control Panel. And apparently on Outlook express you could either set up a corporate email or a personal email. I'm assuming corporate would have the mail saved on a server and the personal would be saved on the hard drive correct?
 
Once you open OE and emails are downloaded copies remain on the server briefly unless you raise the default settings to see mail left on the server for the number of days specified. On some mail servers however once in OE it disappears instantly off of the mail server. That depends mainly on the way the ISP has that setup.

The first thing now would be simply seeing the number of days raised in the maintainence tab in the OE settings so the mail will remain on the server longer. Once downloaded in OE and you set up a new system you won't be able to download that same mail but still find it by logging into the account online.

You won't find any IE or OE setting in the control panel. When opening up OE go to the menu bar for the tools drop down list and click on options. From there go over to the maintainence tab and simply bring up the number of days. In Vista that would be the advanced tab now seen in Windows Mail.
 
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Okay well we couldn't get the Outlook Express opened on the old computer. It was too slow and full of viruses. His e-mail from Outlook is through Verizon.net so we went onto that website and we managed to find all of his emails on the site. Even the ones he deleted long ago. So I suppose they are all on the server, we just have to set up a new account on the new computer and transfer them somehow. I'm really sorry if this is getting repetitive for you guys, I really don't get ISP and IP and all that stuff. My software knowledge is very small. Haha thank you guys so much for your help so far.
 
I'm glad to see you were able to retrieve all of the mail by logging onto the account through the mail server there. You can also store mail by moving it into the drafts or sent mail folder while online just for safe keeping during any gap like a system swapout.

I generally log in there first before opening up either Outlook or Windows Mail as it is now called in Vista to first check off the report spam option for garbage that comes in. That saves time from manually removing each one when downloaded off the server when you go to open OE up.

:eek: "spammation!" :mad:GGrrr... Everybody gets hot under the collar seeing a pile come in! Plus you can also send emails or reply while logged in online.

The deleted from pc mail was still found most likely due to not having checked off the "remove from server when deleted" box in the OE maintainence tab there. You can also set the automatic empty deleted items folder when leaving OE option instead of trash and junk mail stored locally once you click delete on each.
 
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