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The Other E-Mail Threat: File Corruption in Outlook Express
By Tom Koch

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It is a rare day on the Internet that we do not see some scary warning about the latest e-mail threat from viruses, worms, and Trojan Horses. But there is another e-mail threat that can be just as damaging as a virus and yet is rarely discussed in computer media. That threat is file corruption, a somewhat nerdy term for damage to a file that prevents a computer program from being able to use it. For Outlook Express users, file corruption can often mean the disappearance of entire folders of saved e-mail. In this article we'll look at the common causes of corruption, how to avoid it, and how to recover messages if it occurs.

On This Page

• Understanding Outlook Express Files
• Signs and Symptoms of DBX Corruption
• When Special Folders Stop Being Special
• The Show-Stopper: Folders.dbx
• Viral Irony: The Most Common Cause of Corruption
• When the Cure Kills: Compacting and Corruption
• Minimizing the Risk Is Also Minimizing the Loss
• Recovering from Corruption
• Ten Steps of Prevention

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