Microsoft on March 11 released a new anti-malware engine to address the problem of Windows Live OneCare swallowing entire mail stores.

Users had complained that Live OneCare, in its zeal to quarantine infected Outlook .pst files or Outlook Express .dbx files, was also quarantining clean mail files. It was doing such a good job of quarantining them, many users complained that their mail stores seemed to have become unrecoverable.

A Microsoft spokesperson said that Windows Live OneCare customers whose PCs are connected to the Internet will automatically get the fix. "We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused our customers," he said.

Customers will automatically get the fix, but if they want to confirm that they've received the most recent anti-malware engine, they can do so via the following steps:

Click "Change OneCare Settings" in the Main OneCare user interface
Click the "Logging" Tab
Click the "Create support log" button
Scroll down to the "Virus and Spyware Versions:" section and check your AM Engine version number. If the text says the numbers "2306" after the 1.1. number—such as AM Engine:(1.1.2306.0)—your engine has been updated already. If "2306" does not appear, your engine may still need updating. To update, ensure your computer is connected to the Internet, then click the "Check for updates" link in the main OneCare user interface and OneCare will download and install the fix.

For customers whose Outlook .pst and Outlook Express .dbx files had been quarantined prior to this fix and engine update, Microsoft continues to recommend these steps to recover e-mail:

Close Outlook or Outlook Express
Click Change OneCare Settings in the Main OneCare user interface
Click on the Viruses & Spyware Tab
And then click on the Quarantine button and then select the pst or dbx file and then click on Restore.

If you're still having problems recovering your e-mail stores, please let me know.