Outlook 2003 downloads email but doesn't show email

[heedthewarning]

The last few days I have been using Outlook 2003, and on the bottom right corner, it shows the download status of all the emails I am receiving. Unfortunately, when it has completed downloading, none of the emails are in any of my folders.

I have scanned my computer with online antivirus scanning, just in case my Avast isn't working, but nothing showed. Adware found a handful of tracking cookies, and they are now gone.

I haven't reinstalled or repaired Outlook, since I'm paranoid about losing these unread emails. I have backed up my .pst files to a separate folder also.

I'm stumped at why I cannot read the emails and appreciate any help I can get.

[renegade600]

are you using any type of spam feature for your email, maybe a spam folder?

[heedthewarning]

Thank you for your reply. SIDE NOTE: Renegade600 - I appreciate your links - especially pcflank, with their article for the JPEG virus vulnerability. That is a little scary, but I'll tell all my friends.

My ISP has a junk mail filtering option included with their service. I have it preset to tag the emails as 'Suspected Junk Email' and I still receive them.

As well, I can check my email online through their webmail, and received emails this afternoon no problem (I was originally doing this until I got Office 2003). Just as I did this afternoon, I checked my email online and had 5 emails. When I opened up Outlook after I was finished online, it showed that it was downloading 5 emails, then indicated "Send/Receive Complete", but still no emails in any folders.

I tried doing a comparison of my main .pst file and my copied .pst file I created this morning. The size is nearly identical, with the original .pst file slightly larger. As well it did indicate the original .pst file was modified in the afternoon, when I checked my email (as above). Based on this, I believe I am receiving the email.

While I am baffled as to why I cannot view the email, I might just uninstall and reinstall Outlook 2003, as I am confident I do have the emails on my PC.

I'd feel better if there was another program that could view the .pst files separate from Outlook. I even exported each folder into .txt files just to see if today's emails were in there, but no luck.

If anyone has any other options for me, it would be much appreciated