Windows Mail contacts disappeared

I opened Windows Mail and it worked fine, no problems until I attempted
to forward a joke to friends and discovered that all of my contacts had
disappeared. I use the Windows Mail in Vista Home Premium. Does anyone
know why this would have happened?

I could open the Contacts folder, but it was empty. I had a backup that
was a little old and know it didn't contain everything, but better than
nothing so I imported it. I'd like to know what caused this as I'm half
expecting it to happen again.

Thank you

Which AVirus application are you using?

I use BitDefender Internet Security 2008, but I have the anti spam
module disabled because it messed with my message rules. I have been
using BD for nearly a year and no problems with this until today.

To be honest I have not seen any bad references to BitDefender, but if it
messed up the registry entry for your message rules, I am of the opinion
that it could do the same thing to your Contacts, I could be wrong?

Most AV App's work well, untill the fatal update! ?

I would consider removing it and installing the AVG Free AV from
http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afe

I f you do get AVG, use the custom install option, when presented, and
disable the mail scan option.

I thank you for your time. However, I will not install AVG ever again. I
had the free version to start with, then went to the paid version 7.0 of
Anti-virus with Firewall. When they came out with the 8.0 I upgraded and
it messed up my entire system. For nearly three weeks I emailed AVG tech
support over and over and never once did I receive an answer. I ended up
having to completely reinstall my operating system after that fiasco. I
really did love the 7.0 version of the program but they sent me an email
that eventually they would no longer provide updates for that version,
which is why I upgraded to the 8.0. I know there can be problems and
mishaps with a program, but what upset me was being totally ignored by
their tech support department during all my considerable troubles and
problems.

However, I now seem to be having the same problem with BitDefender tech
support. The program works fine, but I don't get any logs. It is not
creating logs. Ever heard of that or have any clue what might cause it?
I've uninstalled using their uninstall tool and reinstalled, but it
didn't work.

Again, thanks for your time.

Well, it happened again. I booted, went to email and after a bit decided
to check to make sure my contacts were there. They were all gone again.
Do you really think this could be BitDefender?

This wouldn't be due to a virus of some kind would it? I have a spam
filter through my ISP, and I never open an attachment without saving to
my desktop and scanning with BitDefender first. But I just can't figure
out why this would suddenly be happening.

Personally, I tried Windows Mail and it was such a pain to link up web
based e-mail accounts. I switched to Windows Live Mail and it was a
breeze to set up with no problems.

Windows Mail cannot access any webmail accounts, only POP and IMAP.

Thank you for your reply, but I have no desire to hook up with web based
email accounts. Windows Mail is the simple type of format that I like
and it works very well for my purposes. Maybe I'm being a stick in the
mud, but Windows Mail is what I want to use. I had a Yahoo account,
never used it and am sure it's closed. I had a Hotmail account, lost
that because of disuse and then opened another one so I'd have that Live
ID, but I just prefer Windows Mail.

Yes I know that, but that's ok with me.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I see there are others this is happening
to also so maybe it does have something to do with the latest update I
just installed to Windows Mail a few days ago. I guess I will just make
sure to export to my external hard drive regularly and re-import them
every time they disappear and hopefully Microsoft will come up with a
fix if it is a problem with their update.

Gary -- I found the post on this forum but just discovered it was made
in November of 2007 by someone called Christi and it dealt with Live
Mail, not Windows Mail. There was another one in Dec. 2007 by PeeJay
that dealt with Windows Mail and you wrote back and asked her what anti
virus program she was using. There were no more replies to that one.

This seems to be the deal here ... I can import my contacts and they
stay in place for the duration my computer is in use. After shutting
down and then starting the next day they are again gone, as I just found
out again.

Gary, I discovered why my Windows Mail contacts are disappearing, but it
kind of doesn't make sense to me and wondering if you could offer
further advice.

Atomic Cleaner was recommended in the Worldstart newsletter. I
installed the program and was using it just before shut down and was
amazed at how much faster my computer boots after using it.

I just couldn't accept that BitDefender had suddenly decided to remove
Windows Contacts. Happened to remember about this Atomic Cleaner. So I
tested things out and it is that program that was removing Windows Mail
contacts.

I did a scan and then viewed the log and it was under temp files that I
found all my Windows Mail contacts deleted. But surely your contacts
folder wouldn't be considered temporary, would they?

I was previously using a program called Zappit and it never removed my
contacts. The contacts are stored under C/Users/My Name/Contacts.

Can you offer any advice on this?

I suggested WLM, for the sole purpose of school. I was told Microsoft
would rather you have a live.com account when scheduling exams with
Prometric. WM could not hook up with live. So for me WLM.

I don't see a sudden onslaught of problem reports identical to yours,
so I doubt this was caused by a recent Windows update.

Incidentally, Windows Live Mail can be configured to have as little
web involvement as Windows Mail. All the web features are optional.

As I indicated, it sounds like some third party security program is
interfering. You either have to change out that security program
or else switch to Windows Live Mail.

Well, I can't explain why Atomic Cleaner does what it does.
I tend to shy away from any third party 'cleaners' because they
tend to do more harm than good.

Agreed.

[puncball]

Hi Guys,

Thought I would let you know that my Contacts in Windows Live Mail also keep disappearing - I operate with Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 - don’t think that this is cause of the problem.

There appears no logic to the disappearances. Sometimes I notice that they have gone, after I first boot up; other times, after I have been up and running for hours.

Suspect it could be due to a recent Microsoft update, as it has only recently been a problem.

I also have Iolo’s System Mechanic, Version 9, which recently corrupted my registry, due to a corrupt update – Iolo have corrected this

[james062]

My contacts keep disappearing in XP Pro and Win7 , I do have the latest Windows live mail . Whats up with this , Cant work like this.
I would really appreciate some help in solving this problem .
My anti-virus is Avira and windows firewall , No other system cleaners installed on either system.
So where are the brainiacs , Comeon put on those thinking caps LOL.

That is a Windows Live Mail issue.
The newsgroup to which you posted is dedicated to supporting the
Windows Mail program.
You will get more help by posting that question in the WLM newsgroup:

http://www.microsoft.com/communities...e.mail.desktop
or via your news reader: news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsof...e.mail.desktop