Vista - Lost Contacts Vista Mail

My Contact list in my Vista Mail has disappeared. I would like to recover it
if possible. I have a 3 week old Acronis True Image Home 11.0 on an external
hard drive. The 'Contacts' folder in the back ups is empty. I have Microsoft
Office 2007 installed but use Vista Mail. My last Microsoft update was
9/10/08. My Vista Mail worked just fine as of 2:00pm September 30 ~ then it
vanished. I have imported a very old Outlook Express Address Book from my
desktop, but it is 6 months old and very outdated. I also did a Windows back
up on the same date, but the 'Contacts' folder in that backup is empty as
well. I'm stumped!
Can anyone help? I see an outlook.pst file, but couldn't open it. There is
an address book in Outlook, but it is very outdated as well.
Thank you!

I was reading another thread on What folder contains the Contacts in Vista
Mail? The answer was:
C:\users\{username}\contacts

MY contacts file is in:
C:\users\{username}\cookies\contacts
Could that be contributing to my problem???

Thank you!

"skibuz" wrote:

In order for Windows Mail to be able to use your contacts, they must be
in the folder C:\Users\{username}\Contacts\ .

--
Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (Mail)


"skibuz" <skibuz@xxxxxx> wrote in message news9EA5C5D-3151-499F-978E-A1D05EA972A9@xxxxxx

Thank you Gary,
I created a new folder under C:\users\{username}\contacts and moved the
contacts file over to it. Could you please clarify that what is needed is a
FOLDER named contacts with the contacts file underneath it? Or is
C:\users\{username}\contacts Is the contacts the filename? I have tried both
ways and have not been successful. The system keeps changing things! Sorry
to be so dense. I've been looking at this a long time.
thank you

"Gary VanderMolen" wrote:

There is no "contacts file".
Each individual contact is in its own file. So, for example, a contact
named Joe Smith is in a file name 'Joe Smith.contact'. All the
contacts are stored in the Contacts folder.

--
Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (Mail)


"skibuz" <skibuz@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:E6901D95-64EC-47A2-B73C-9651A0D94584@xxxxxx

Thank you Gary, that really helped me understand how this works. Through
Windows Explorer, I deleted all Contacts folders (and therefore all of the
contacts below that). Then I imported my old Outlook Express Address book to
let the program put the contacts where they belong. NOW I have a
C:\Users\{UserName}\Contacts Folder with 4 more Contacts Folders below and at
the end is the Blue (I assume system created) Contacts folder with my
contacts. THEN I have another Blue Contacts folder that is under
C:Users\{username}\Blue Contacts Folder that ALSO has my old contacts in it.
This thing seems to have taken on a life of it's own! When I try to delete
some of the seemingly extra folders, it tells me I need permission to do
that. I'm afraid I've made a big mess...........
Any suggestions would be welcomed!
Thanks!

"Gary VanderMolen" wrote:

Why do you have "4 more Contacts Folders" under
C:\Users\{UserName}\Contacts\ ? That should not be.
Only the individual contacts should reside in that main folder.
There should not be any sub-folders.

--
Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (Mail)


"skibuz" <skibuz@xxxxxx> wrote in message newsFEFE7BC-9923-4B95-9EF2-E69D00C5C0EF@xxxxxx

Gary,
I do not know HOW those 4 folders were created! But I can't delete
them....it tells me I do not have permission to do that. Also, coincident
with all of this mess, it does appear that my Trend Micro Internet Security
2007 might have been compromised. I have (obviously) reactivated my security
modes and run all of the scans....and there are no problems found. But I did
NOT create those 4 'contacts' folders. I had deleted them all, then imported
my old address file from Outlook Express and the folders just appeared. I
don't know how to determine if this is:
Microsoft Issue or a Security Issue or a Vista Issue.
Thank you for hanging in there with me on this!


"Gary VanderMolen" wrote:

Exactly how did you import your old address book from OE?

--
Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (Mail)


"skibuz" <skibuz@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:C289D17A-E2CB-407F-9B8D-6F617264141C@xxxxxx

Just an aside to this thread - after an automatic update to my Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit system this morning I found my Contacts folder on my desktop and when I clicked on it I found it empty. I cannot say the data got lost as a result of the update but I did not have the contact folder on my desktop prior to that time. I had to import a b/u copy to recover my files. I have no idea what happened.