How to backup WLM when it won't open?

This post is kind of related to my request for help here:
WLM not starting msmail.dll not initialised

I figured the answers may be useful to people in different situations though, hence the new post.

Basically, Windows Live Mail won't open anymore. I keep getting an error message. I could try reinstalling it to see if that helps but I don't know how to backup all of my contacts, messages and mail settings without opening it to export. I think I may have found my message folders and settings but I can't find my address book. I need to be sure I have them backed up before I try a reinstall.

I'm also considering switching to Thunderbird if the reinstall doesn't fix the problem. Is there a way of importing WLM settings etc in to Thunderbird?

Many thanks

Well I went ahead and formatted my drive anyway, all the problems I was having were driving me nuts.

I had an old Outlook Express .wab file backup which I imported into my Vista contacts and from there exported as a .csv file. Thunderbird imported the csv file no bother.