Updates overnight now email gone! Everything!

[Chris Farr]

HELP!! Microsoft forced me to upgrade to 10 thru automatic updates. I said "NO" and the next day it was updated. I learned to navigate 10 and accepted what happened to me several months ago.

LAST NIGHT updates ran and after the reboot many of my applications were gone including email.

WHY???

HOW do I get my email back?

 

[Regedit32]

Hi Chris,

Welcome to the Forum.

If you open File Explorer > C Drive, you may see a Windows.old folder present. If so, that folder will contain your older third party email application and other documents.

Which email application were you using that you lost?

I may be able to assist you in getting it running again on your current installation.

Can you confirm to what you upgrade from. For example Windows 7 Home or Professional, something else?

Finally, is your computer 32 or 64 bit?


Regards,

Regedit32

 

[Chris Farr]

Hi Regedit32 and thank you for the quick reply.

I think we were using the free version of outlook express on our 32bit machine which was upgraded from Windows 7 Home, setup with the POP3 protocol. There are no contacts and all email folders are empty.

I think it is important for you to know that Windows Updates kept prompting me to upgrade to Windows 10 last year. I did not want to and kept saying no. Then much to my surprise, the computer had Windows 10 running on it one morning. I accepted and began learning 10.

Microsoft Word is also missing but I did find my .doc files on the C: drive. I double clicked one and the computer did not know what application to open the document with.

Thank you for the advice - I will look on the C: drive for Windows.old tonight.

Thank you very much for your help!!

Chris

 

[Regedit32]

Hi Chris,

Microsoft ditched Outlook Express around about the time Microsoft Vista was out, so given you upgraded from a Windows 7 operating system my best guess is you were using Windows Live Mail which is very similar to Outlook Express.

On Windows 7 and also on Windows 10, the Windows Live Mail are store at the following location:

C:\Users\The Name you log in computer with\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail

If you open File Explorer, a quick way to get there is to type the following into your File Explorer Address bar:

%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail

Then press Enter key to automatically be taken to the correct location.
​

Inside the Windows Live Folder you'll find your Account folder, and inside that your Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Trash etcetera folders, each of which will contain emails you have previously downloaded via the Windows Live Mail application.

Now as I mentioned in my original post to you, its likely that when Windows 10 was installed, your Windows Live Mail being technically a third party application was shifted to the Windows.old folder. If that is the case using File Explorer you can navigate to: C:\Windows.old\Users\Regedit32\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail, replacing Regedit32 with the Username you log on to your computer as.

You can if you so wish install Windows Live Mail(*) onto your computer again, then literally copy & paste the Account folder & all its subfolders and files from the Windows.old folder to your new installation.

(*) Note: Alas Microsoft ended support for Windows Essentials 2012 back in January this year, so if you need to download this to re-install Windows Live Mail, then you'll have to risk downloading it from a non Microsoft website; so if you do that make sure you check it for bloatware, and virus before running it.

An alternative email client called eM Client is worth taking a look at. Its quite similar to Windows Live Mail and you can import old emails from Windows Live into it. It's free if you are using it for personal purposes, otherwise for commercial purposes you'd have to pay for it.

It may be time though to bite the bullet per se and learn to use the free built in Windows Mail app.

Regards,

Regedit32

 

[bridgetrowing]

If you go to hotmail.com are the emails still there?

 

[bassfisher6522]

With a windows 10 upgrade......windows 10 will remove all 3rd party software. This is what you have now. You can still find your data but opening them is a chore. You will need to reinstall all the software that was removed...if you can remember and find them.