How to Delete an Outlook Express Identity

We all forget things at times--including our email passwords. It can be a bad thing when you have to use Outlook Express to send out an email to somebody, and you cannot remember the password. Really, the only thing left to do is to delete the identity. Luckily for you, Outlook Express keeps track of your information in a very accessible area. There are two steps that must be completed to delete the identity.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Open the "Start" menu in windows.

2. Type "Regedit" without the quotes in the search box. When Regedit appears, double-click it. Once the registry opens, you will see in the left-hand pane a very long tree to manipulate.

3. Click on "HKEY_CURRENT_USER," then "Identities," and then "{GUID}" in the left-hand window. Look at each GUID (there may be one or many, depending on the number of users), in the right-hand panel you will see a user name. When you find the username you are looking for, then click the plus sign next to the GUID in the left-hand pane.

4. Navigate in the left-hand panel. Click "Software," then "Microsoft," then "Outlook Express," and then "5.0" (This is the version number of Outlook Express. If you have version 6.0, then this will read 6.0). In the right-hand pane you will see several pieces of information. Find the key that says "Store Root." This address is the location of the folder that is holding the information you are after. Write down this information.

5. Right-click on the GUID in the left-hand pane that you want to delete, and select "Delete."

6. Close the "Regedit" window. Open "Windows Explorer." Follow the path that you wrote down in step 4. You will see the "Store root" folder.

7. Delete the "Store Root" folder. Your identity has now been deleted.

Tips & Warnings

• Be very careful in the registry. This is not a playground. Making even a simple mistake can cause your system not to reboot.