# Email sent from outlook express: Can I check



## fionamaye (Mar 27, 2005)

Hi,

Is there any way I can check if an email was sent from my outlook express account yesterday at a certain time.

Someone else had access to my computer and I know it was between 6pm and 8pm. If an email was sent it would have been deleted, there is nothing showing in my outbox but I need to know for sure that my account was not used.

Is there a log kept on my computer somewhere down at the code level?
I rang my ISP this morning but they were not very helpful and said to check my outbox! Doh!

The don't seem to think there is a way of checking from their end that an email was sent.

Has anyone got any other ideas?

Many thanks.

PS I don't need to know the content of the email or anything like that.


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## fionamaye (Mar 27, 2005)

I'm very sorry for being impatient. I have to find a way of knowing today if this is possible as this was a very important doc. 

Anyone available? I accept that I will get a telling off for this.


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## fionamaye (Mar 27, 2005)

Anyone?

Is there any log of events kept on my computer that I could check against for activity in my outlook yesterday ie there should be no email sent from my computer at all yesterday.


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## fionamaye (Mar 27, 2005)

Just to say that I'm still here waiting patiently (checking many times during the day)for anyone to come along that can help.

Many thanks.


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

I assume that you already checked "Sent Mail", correct?


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

"Sent Items" not Sent Mail


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## fionamaye (Mar 27, 2005)

Oh yes I did!

It's been deleted from the sent items.

What I am asking is if there are any log files stored on my computer that would let me see if an email was sent from my account yesterday. I did not send any myself at all yesterday.

I have been looking for info on the web, there is something called an pop3 log file that you can use but you have to switch on this facility in outlook first so this is no use to me. 

The document would have been sent directly from word using the mail to: recipient option.

I have to explain that I am not technical. If I am using the wrong terminology, sorry. But basically I need to know if there is anything on my computer that shows me if an email has been sent or a word document has been sent.

My ISP will only let me know this information if there is involvement from the police and as I stupidly let someone on my laptop, it's my own fault.


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

You could use Event Viewer to tell you if your computer was turned on while you were gone, that is unless you leave your computer turned on.


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## fionamaye (Mar 27, 2005)

My computer was turned on, I allowed this person to view a letter in word but had to leave for about 5 minutes when I suspect they found and sent another word doc to their own email address. It's not as if I was not aware they were on my computer. Thanks.


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

Well, I'm still looking around for a solution. 

I'm sure that you're fully aware of those other programs that were designed to recover deleted items from outlook express, of course you have to pay for them. Well, we'll consider that a last resort.


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## fionamaye (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks for that. I appreciate it. I am vaguely aware of those programs from some searches today but would not know which one would be the best or would actually work. Cheers.


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

Try this freeware one for now:

Scroll down to posting #3:

http://forums.techguy.org/web-email/493547-how-do-i-recover-deleted.html


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## fionamaye (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks tosh9i - is it the WOE5Extract.zip I use?

This is where it usually goes a bit pear shaped for me.


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## fionamaye (Mar 27, 2005)

Tried it and nothing got extracted. A bit typical for me.
Brings up an: untitled 'windows outlook express 5 extraction' page which is blank.


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

Try the other one:

OutLookExpressExtraction


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

And if that one doesn't work, then try this one:

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,23383-order,1-page,1-c,email/description.html

Note: Oh, and please keep me informed, I'm very curious to see how this turns out, all of it. Someone "possibly" stealing a document, you, uncovering details he/she supposedly tried to cover up, it's so interesting.


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## fionamaye (Mar 27, 2005)

Ok, I tried both of those previous extraction programs - brings up blank page and lots of other icons that I don't know what they do. I can't say its very user friendly but then again - its free so don't expect much.

I'm not sure if I'm using it wrong or not as I said - I'm not so hot on running programs.

I'm about to try the PC world one now. Thanks again. Will keep you posted.


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

So how's it going with the DBXtract? I just tried it and it seems simple and fast.


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## fionamaye (Mar 27, 2005)

Hi, thanks -got distracted for a while there now back to examining what the DBXtract has thrown up. Seems to have created a new email system 'Mozilla Thunderbird' and put the results in there - is this right? Am looking through but can't find a deleted folder. The outbox only goes up to the 18/7 but seems to be a copy of my outlook outbox. Am a bit confused still. The trash folder goes up the 20/7/2007 then skips to 6/7/2101??


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

Assuming you haven't moved the data files for OE, then go to My Computer > C: > Documents and Settings > your username > Local Settings > Application Data > Identities > here, you should find a folder with lots of numbers as the title. Open it and then copy the address in the address bar.

Paste the address in "Path" (under Input) in DBXtract

Under "File", select Deleted Items.dbx


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## fionamaye (Mar 27, 2005)

Hi again. I've tried to follow your instructions but get as far as c: > doc & set> me> 
then there are a few folders in there but no local settings, I can't seem to find this anywhere nor app data or the identities. 

You'll be sorry you tried to help me! Think I will try again tomorrow as I'm tired and it's very late here. Whatever I'm doing I'm not doing it right. 

Thanks so much for helping me this far. I might get somewhere tomorrow again.


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

I forgot about the "hidden files and folders".

Open any folder > Tools > Folder Options > View > Click on Show hidden files and folders > OK

Now you should be able to see Local Settings.


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## fionamaye (Mar 27, 2005)

Tosh9i - just back to say thanks so much for your help. The DBXtract works! I deleted some mails today and restored them, almost all the content, they appear back in notepad form. I was so relieved to see that there was no mail picked up from Sunday so I think I may have been paranoid. Fingers x'd. I don't know if there is a time limit in restoring mail so I have permanently deleted a test mail today and will try to restore it Thursday to see if it's picked up.

Thanks once again.


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

When you extracted them, did you have the "Recover Mode" checkmarked? I honestly don't know what it is, but I found this info:

"Recover Mode 
The purpose of this mode is to recover messages that have been deleted from the deleted items folder. With the DBX files, Microsoft chops each message into 512 byte pieces. When a message is deleted from the deleted items folder (that has not yet been compacted), then Outlook Express removes the first 4 bytes of each piece, so it is not possible to recover a message in its entirety. 

However, with this version of DBXtract, one can recover from the deleted items .dbx file, such pieces that are still there and reassemble what is left of the pieces. 

To accomplish this, check the Recover Mode box. Then browse to the deleted items.dbx file and set the Output folder. "

http://www.updatexp.com/tip23.html


One more thing, when you go to MS Word and click on File in the Menu bar, do you see the "document" that you were talking about listed there? Is that what set you off in the first place, seeing the document listed there, or something else?


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## tosh9i (Aug 3, 2006)

Another thing, you said that you were only able to restore a couple of emails, mainly the ones that you just deleted that day, Do you remember anything else that you deleted a couple of days ago, spam, newsletter etc.? If so, then those should have also appeared.


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## fionamaye (Mar 27, 2005)

Hi toshi9i, thanks for the info on the recover mode, I did tick this the other night after discovering that very page and it brought up nothing as I haven't permanently deleted any message in ages. I'm lazy so my deleted messages folder has over 1000 msgs in it! So, I had to test it out by deleting a few msgs which it recovered ok. I've deleted another msg tonight and will try to recover it on Sat to see if it works after 2 days (forgot to permanently delete a msg the other night after I said I did)

The reason that I thought this person might have sent the doc to themselves was because it was actually open in word but minimised. This is what set me off. I'm not too worried if they had a read on the screen, it's still a breech of trust but would be more worried if it was out of my hands so to speak. Any ways, I think/hope all is ok. Will try to recover this deleted mail on sat to see if there is a time limit on this recovery. Cheers for all your help.


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