Hello,

First time posting here, and what a way to start things off. I'll get right into it then. (Long Post)

OS: Windows 7 64-Bit Home Premium Edition

I was setting up Windows Live Mail 2011 as a POP3 account. Set up everything according to my ISP'S FAQ then went to download my emails. (Months worth due to having to reformat the hard drive and re-install Windows 7) I went to restore my backup emails through the import option and everything imported correctly, although it put it all in an odd place under storage and would not let me move it from there.

I downloaded my emails to the inbox, and temporarily moved them to the deleted folder to make a new folder. I went under the options to not keep messages on the server, and the instant I did this all of my emails where deleted! No warning, no nothing! I never emptied the folders or compacted them. I had my ISP's web mail up in Firefox as well as had Thunderbird running as IMAP and saw all my messages disappear on both screens instantly. I went under folder options to show hidden files, went under User/App Data and nothing was there!

I contacted my ISP and they told me all the messages where deleted using IMAP. I told them that's not possible, because I set Windows Live Mail 2011 as a POP3 account, it showed the messages downloading, but when I checked on my system nothing was there. They said they can't recover anything and I had to call Microsoft. Well I spoke to the Help Desk, and they where no help at all. I explained everything, and they said Windows Live Mail 2011 is not supported by Microsoft which I told them I got from Windows Update, so how is that even possible? They where of no help at all.

I tried two data recovery programs and preformed deep scans to try and recover the messages and .eml files came back, but it was all random gibberish. Nothing could be recovered at all. And I did this immediately after this all happened. There was no time for the files to be overwritten.  Also Windows backup never made an image, so I could not restore anything. I also tried a system restore, but again it was useless.

So here's the condensed version:

1. Set Windows Live Mail 2011 as a Pop3 account.

2. Checked email and it showed it downloading to the client.

3. Moved emails to the deleted folder temporarily and made a new folder.

4. Unchecked to leave messages on the server.

5. All emails instantly deleted without any prompts, or me clicking empty trash/folders on both the POP3 client (Windows Live Mail 2011) or the Imap clients.

6. Files are literally just gone. Ran two data recovery programs using deep scan, and what it could find was gibberish.

7. Contacted Support only to be told they don't support it, and to call Microsoft.

I need to report this as a critical bug, as I don't want anyone else to lose data because of this BS. There's no listing for Windows Essentials or Windows Live Mail 2011 at https://connect.microsoft.com/  so what am I supposed to do now? Who do I contact about this, so it can be escalated to the proper department to make sure it gets patched ASAP, so millions of other folks don't lose their data as well?

Thanks