"Windows Mail can compact the message Store" can or could do harm?

[rda426]

I am having the window poping up every time. I was told that you have to be
careful as it can harm your computer if certain other things are installed. I
do not recall what they were but I choose to just ignor the message and quit
it. Then one day about a week after I was told this when I left Windows Mail
I must have hit it by mistake as it started doing the compacting right away ,
it seemed automatic. After it was done, I did not have the message popping
up but I DID start having all sorts of anoying problems with my computer,
like Outlook closing suddenly and my wireless being disconnected amongst
other things. I decided to do a System Restore and picked a point a week
before it did the compacting. It solved the problems I was having with
Outlook shutting down or being disconnected due to my Wireless being turned
off. Now, I have the pop up again constantly - "Windows Mail can compact the
message store". Can anyone really help? I have read all the comments on the
subject but do not see a solution I can trust as none work for all who try
that particular solution. Please, help me if you feel you have a solution
that has worked. What might I have installled that would cause the
compacting to do harm?

 

[slk759]

Generally it is recommended to do compacting when you will not be sending or
receiving mail - seems reasonable that a compact in progress might adversely
affect that operation or visa-versa. File - Work Offline helps with that.
I don't know of any software conflicts (if that's what you mean by
"something you installed"). Maybe an IE add-in conflict but I've not read
about anything specific.

 

[Bruce Hagen]

When you see the prompt, let it compact and don't touch anything until
it's finished.

I doubt what happened had anything to do with your Outlook issue. More
likely a coincidence.

 

[Steve Cochran]

There were some problems with OE in XP, but the process is different in
WinMail and it is not going to generate any major issues. Just let it
finish. If there are issues, you can use my Windows Mail Utility to compact
and repair the database outside of WinMail.

steve