live safety scan appears to have deleted important netscape email

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I have XP Professional. Although I usually surf with IE, I use Netscape mail
and not Outllook. I received an email from Microsoft, singing its praises of
the live safety scan. Because my computer has begun to slow a bit, I went
ahead and downloaded it and ran it. It gave me its recommendation to clean
my disk of unnecessary or duplicitous files and to delete temporary internet
files as the solution. Along with its recommendation, it assured me that
there was no way it could delete anything of importance. Just Copies
really... So I went along and proceeded as recommended.

When I went to check my email, EVERY PIECE OF INBOX MAIL IS GONE! Although I
am trying VERY hard not to panic, I cannot seem to find the mail. I ran a
system restore for a period immediately preceding the safety scan and,
although my computer says it has been successfully restored, the email is
still not there. If this program has deleted my email that was in the inbox,
I am REALLY screwed. I had very important email that is no longer on my IP's
server.

Please, can anyone help me? All of this has occurred in the last 12 hours.
 
jane said:
I have XP Professional. Although I usually surf with IE, I use Netscape mail
and not Outllook. I received an email from Microsoft, singing its praises of
the live safety scan. Because my computer has begun to slow a bit, I went
ahead and downloaded it and ran it. It gave me its recommendation to clean
my disk of unnecessary or duplicitous files and to delete temporary internet
files as the solution. Along with its recommendation, it assured me that
there was no way it could delete anything of importance. Just Copies
really... So I went along and proceeded as recommended.

When I went to check my email, EVERY PIECE OF INBOX MAIL IS GONE! Although I
am trying VERY hard not to panic, I cannot seem to find the mail. I ran a
system restore for a period immediately preceding the safety scan and,
although my computer says it has been successfully restored, the email is
still not there. If this program has deleted my email that was in the inbox,
I am REALLY screwed. I had very important email that is no longer on my IP's
server.

Please, can anyone help me? All of this has occurred in the last 12 hours.
Click to expand...

If you can, stop using the computer on which the emails were located and check
here (or elsewhere on the net) using a different pc. If you data really has been
deleted, the more you use the computer, the more likely it is that you will
overwrite the data and not be able to retrieve it.

System Restore does not protect user data, so your "successful restore" naturally
didn't help.

It's possible however, the actual email files have not been deleted, but that the
index to them, or your Netscape profile, has been corrupted. You don't say what
version of Netscape you are using. Assuming that it is 6.x or 7.x, mail is
stored in a file named "Inbox" (without quotes, and with no extension) in your
profile directory.

Using Windows Explorer, go to the folder
C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application
Data\Mozilla\Profiles\profile_name\salted_name\Mail\popaccountname.net

where:
"user_name" is your Windows XP login name
"profile_name" is your Netscape profile name, which is probably the same
"salted_name" is xxxxx.slt (where xxxxx is a string of random numbers and
letters)
"popaccountname" is the name that you gave to your mail account.

note that you may have to enable "view hidden files" to see the above.

If, in that directory, there is a file named "Inbox" (no quotes and no
extension), your mail has survived. I would suggest making a backup of this file
as the first step. Then, see the following:

http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/ns7mailopennot.html
http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/ns7lostprofwinxp.html

If still unsure, search on, or post at:
http://www.windowsbbs.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=5
http://sillydog.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=1
 
Lem said:
If you can, stop using the computer on which the emails were located and check
here (or elsewhere on the net) using a different pc. If you data really has been
deleted, the more you use the computer, the more likely it is that you will
overwrite the data and not be able to retrieve it.

System Restore does not protect user data, so your "successful restore" naturally
didn't help.

It's possible however, the actual email files have not been deleted, but that the
index to them, or your Netscape profile, has been corrupted. You don't say what
version of Netscape you are using. Assuming that it is 6.x or 7.x, mail is
stored in a file named "Inbox" (without quotes, and with no extension) in your
profile directory.

Using Windows Explorer, go to the folder
C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application
Data\Mozilla\Profiles\profile_name\salted_name\Mail\popaccountname.net

where:
"user_name" is your Windows XP login name
"profile_name" is your Netscape profile name, which is probably the same
"salted_name" is xxxxx.slt (where xxxxx is a string of random numbers and
letters)
"popaccountname" is the name that you gave to your mail account.

note that you may have to enable "view hidden files" to see the above.

If, in that directory, there is a file named "Inbox" (no quotes and no
extension), your mail has survived. I would suggest making a backup of this file
as the first step. Then, see the following:

http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/ns7mailopennot.html
http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/ns7lostprofwinxp.html

If still unsure, search on, or post at:
http://www.windowsbbs.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=5
http://sillydog.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=1
Click to expand...

P.S.
If your Inbox file still exists, the most likely solution -- after you have made a
backup copy -- is to delete the file Inbox.msf, which will be in the same folder. Do
this with Netscape completely closed (not running). The msf file will be rebuilt the
next time you open Netscape, and you then should be able to see your email.

If this works, and your mail is restored, (a) don't keep important email in Inbox,
but save it to a different file; (b) don't keep 1000's of old mail messages in Inbox;
(c) back up Inbox periodically -- the large it is, the more frequently you should
back it up.
 
Lem, thanks for your input. However, No, none of the fixes you proposed has
helped. The files are gone. This program is not only horribly SLOPPY but
quite harmful. I cannot believe that the notes for this terrible program
actually ASSURES you that all files to be deleted are but mere copies (which
a novice then feels comfortable moving forward since these assurances comes
from microsoft).

There is a reason Mozilla, which is not rich but nonetheless popular in its
own right. they provide a much better product. Microsoft can only be No. 1
because of their monopoly. They are sloppy and unwilling to take
responsibility for the mess they have made of the security issues that exist
for everyone today. one word sums it all up: piecemeal. Thanks Microsoft! You
keep proving how inept you are..over and over again..
 
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