Vista - email account deleted itself and now cannot add again

i had an email account already added using windows mail with vista ultimate
and had been using it for probably a month now, randomly i went to check my
mail one morning and i could not hit the send/receive button so i went to my
options and couldn't find anything wrong, so i went to tools and went to
accounts and all of a sudden my account that was there was gone, so i used
the same process which i had done when i first added the account but now i
get the message
"an error occured while reading the new account information. no changes have
been made"
i even tried a different account and got the same message
help???

Try going to the message store (location is found via Tools | Options |
Advanced | Maintenance | Store Folder). Then under the Local Folders
directory there is an .oeaccount file. Delete that. Then see if you can
add an account then.

Also see here and ensure no antivirus or other software is set to scan
email. www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

steve

"jowen" <jowen@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0FF8E068-9909-4130-A81B-9166E4B0F359@microsoft.com...
>i had an email account already added using windows mail with vista ultimate
> and had been using it for probably a month now, randomly i went to check
> my
> mail one morning and i could not hit the send/receive button so i went to
> my
> options and couldn't find anything wrong, so i went to tools and went to
> accounts and all of a sudden my account that was there was gone, so i used
> the same process which i had done when i first added the account but now i
> get the message
> "an error occured while reading the new account information. no changes
> have
> been made"
> i even tried a different account and got the same message
> help???