OE Address Book Import Problem

I have a desk top and now have a lap top as well both of which are using WinXP SP2 and Outlook Express 6

I created a new OE account on the lap top and then copied the address book file "myname.wab" from the desktop to the lap top into a temporary spot and then opened outlook express in the laptop and imported the file.

To my surprise there were a lot of entries showing up that were duplicates of people's names but one entry showed the current email address and the other an old email address that, on the desktop, I had either deleted or amended!! The old email addresses were NOT showing up on the desktop.

I then opened the "myname.wab" file in the desktop with a hex viewer and, sure enough, there was all the old deleted or amended information in the file!!

Somehow the imported file on the laptop shows the old names and addresses as proper entries but the desktop does not show the incorrect ones!!

To go through and check all the many entries to see which is right and which is wrong and delete the wrong ones would be very tedious and time consuming.

So if any one can explain this problem and provide a solution I would be VERY grateful!!

P.S. I have searched Google and MS Knowledge base without success :-(