how do I delete

I know this is elementary for everyone, but I'm not good at these machines. I want to delete the majority of my messages in the "deleted" files in Outlook Express. I've held down the control key and dbl. clicked each one, but to delete 10,000 messages, that's going to take awhile. Is there a faster way to do this? There are some in there I want to save so a complete delete is out of the question. I really need to find a good handy manual on all these elementary questions for right brain users. Reading "help" is not a fun thing to do for me. It seems as though there are way too many questions to get to where you're going. Thanks for any info you can give.
Hilary