I want to reinstall Windows Xp soon, as I got a virus and after cleaning the computer doesn't work as smooth as before. I gives some strange erros and sometimes it justs hangs up... I want to backup Outlook Express emails and settings before reinstall, and restore afterwards. Any help?
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Reinstalling outlook express emails is not trivial, and you have to do everything right.

But it's not that hard either, on the bright side.

Emails are located in:

c:/Documents and Settings/<user name>/Local Settings/Application Data/Identities/{ED69E21B- and more numbers like this 298B8B9993}/Microsoft/Outlook Express

if you are using outlook express.

You simply copy those all to a backup media of some type, then reinstall xp, then start outlook express one time, set it all up for your email account, then close it.

Then copy over all the files that were in the outlook express folder above to the corresponding new folder and number string in your new install, it will be different.

Warning: sometimes xp has really complicated permissions, and it might not like those outlook express files. Sorry, that's the fun of xp, which I would not use, unless the only other choice were Vista.

If you are lucky, your old emails will appear as they were before you reinstalled.

Consider using something like Thunderbird email program, which is much better than Outlook Express in pretty much every way, and is free, and far more secure than any of the junk Microsoft puts out. Once you have your outlook express setup on the new xp, you can simply install thunderbird and it will offer to import the outlook express emails automatically. But only if you install it AFTER you get your new xp and outlook express up and running.

And of course, if you are having problems with viruses, use a better antivirus product, like nod32 (good reseller here). And NEVER EVER use Microsoft Internet Explorer for anything other than doing system updates. Use Firefox web browser instead, it's much much more secure and also is a better browser in almost every way.

Remember, the way Windows works invites viruses into your computer by default, so the fewer of the Microsoft default programs you use, the safer your machine will be.

Norton and McAfee antivirus are the worst products on the market, and tend to simply allow viruses to install themselves. nod32 is the best I have tested, it works.
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<update>This original question was just a another sad attempt to setup yet another forum link drop, I won't mention the company or product that was being promoted, since it's just some commercial garbage.

Anyway, I'm leaving this thread up just in case real users ever need the information, normally we just delete this type of forum spam, but the question is general enough to make it worth having up.
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Geesh, will they never learn?

That IS good info though, I sent a couple people here just for it lately.
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