Vista - Cannot find or email to any contact groups; help!

Folks,

I've tried posting this to various other threads, but even though the "Quick Reply" button and windows seem available, after crafting and posting my message I always get a "you can't post to this thread because it's too old" type of message. So, forgive me if this subject has been done before, but I've followed several tutorials and something is amiss with my system.

I'm trying to find a contact group in outlook express to no avail.

My contacts are listed in "desktop/username/contacts" correctly. It also contains the correct contact group subfolder. However, whenever I open a new email and select "To", no contact group folder shows up.

Additionally, there is no "email" toolbar button available on my contacts folder toolbar (or the group's subfolder).

I've followed the tutorial linked above with no solution.

I do NOT see this:
5. To Add a Contact or Contact Group -

A) Click on one of the recipient buttons To: , Cc: , or Bcc: (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You can use Bcc: to send to the group without revealing their addresses. Just put your address in the To: field and the group in the Bcc: field. If Bcc: is not listed, then see: How to Add the Bcc Recipient to the Compose An Email in Windows Mail

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6. Select the contact or contact group, and click on the recipient button To: , Cc: , or Bcc: that you want to add it to in the compose message window.
(See screenshot below)

When I get to this step, my individual contacts are ALL I see; no groups at all.

Any ideas? Or does windows vista64 ultimate just not want me to email to a group?

Thanks,
Ken