While in the Inbox, View | Current View. Is Show All Messages checked and
nothing else?

If that is the case, and the Inbox.dbx file is empty, (130KB is essentially
empty), In Tools | Options | Maintenance, is: Compact messages in background
checked? If so, OE was probably compacting the message store when you shut
OE down, causing the loss of messages. (Why this option was removed with
XP?SP2).

Should this be the case, DBXpress run in Extract From Disk Mode has the best
chance to recover messages:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx


General precautions for Outlook Express:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupt. Create your own user defined folders for storing mail and move your
mail to them. Empty Deleted Items folder regularly. Keep user created
folders under 100MB, and Default folders as empty as is feasible.

After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually while
working *offline* and do it often.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything until
the compacting is completed.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant layer
of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems such as
time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program will
continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in background and
leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}.

And backup often.

Backup & Resto
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/

This is a great two click program:

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB)
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
In OE 6, Windows 98, the entire contents of the Inbox just vanished after
restarting computer. There were about 4 weeks of e-mail in there.

Other folders do not seem to be affected.

I looked in the Outlook Express folder on my hard drive, and the Inbox
file
at this address:

C:\WINDOWS\Application
Data\Identities\{9226D728-E116-11DA-8D61-00045A5FABE0}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express

was down to something like 130 KB, containing just a lot of unreadable
code.

I normally move Inbox contents to other folders regularly to keep Inbox
from
getting too large.

I've never seen anything like this. The contents of a huge file simply
vanishing.