I got a small problem. I think I am close but can't seem to find the right answer.
I saved my old emails to cd...
I reinstalled windows xp -running slow, ad ware etc. so I killed it and reloaded.
I placed the old email from cd back into the my folder.

My outlook can't or hasn't been able to read them..............
Help.

What drive is the folder on and is this the drive that it was on before you killed XP and reinstalled it?

Yes same drive..................that windows was reinstalled.

I saved all ,dbx files.
when I reinstalled windows I placed the .dbx files in the same folder.?

Move em to another folder.

Open OE and click File ->Import and point it towards the new location.