Question about Outlook Express

My email hotmail contacts list most often doesn't come up when I click on 'Contacts'.  But I can still import email addresses from the list into the 'To' box.  By the way, I hate the new contacts list format:  It's much too big, so scrolling down takes longer, and there's nowhere to click straight back into Inbox - I have to do two clicks, one on the arrow and the other on Mail.  And there's no alphabet to allow the user to click immediately on the letter for the person.  It's extremely unfriendly.  And why can I no longer click back from one screen to another with an arrow?