I need to shred some deleted Hotmail emails & can't figure out how to locate them in order to shred them. Any help greatly appreciated.
barbarian818
2007-07-30, 15:30
The first thing to consider is where you read that email before deleting it. If you went to www.hotmail.com logged in and read/deleted your emails there, then all you have to do is shred your temporary Internet Files. These can be found at:
C:\Documents and Settings\<insert your profile name>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
However, if you have used a desktop email client such as Outlook, Outlook Express or Thunderbird you need to delete the appropriate file on your system.
For Outlook, you need to delete a .pst file. e.g. "Deleted Items(Hotmail).pst
Outlook .pst files should be located at :
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
**note** Application Data is a Hidden folder, you must enable viewing of Hidden files and folders in the folder options.
Outlook Express stores it's data in .dbx files. They are usually found at:
C:\Documents and Settings\i<insert profile name>\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\<big long hyphenated number\Microsoft\Outlook Express
Again, you are looking for a file called Deleted Items or whatever you have named your email trash folder.
Thunderbird stores it's files at:
Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Application Data\Thunderbird using an .msf extension.
***warning***
for all three applications, the email client *should* simply recreate an empty version of the shredded folder the next time it opens up. However, it is possible to corrupt your entire email setup if the wrong file(s) is/are shredded. I STRONGLY advise you to make a backup copy of the entire folder that contains your email information before trying this the first time.
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