Outlook Express

[Guest]

Recently, I get a message every time I open Outlook Express (6.0). "To free
up disk space, Outlook Express can compact messages....." I regularly clear
out all sent and received email and have lots of free disk space. Why am I
getting this message, and how do I eliminate it?

 

[mikey]

you eliminate it by allowing OE to compact the data base.
when it starts, LEAVE THE COMPUTER ALONE till it finishes.

there are blank spots left in the data base when you delete items, the way to recover the lost spaces is to compact.

be advised if your data base is LARGE you may have problems.

inbox and other standard folders should not contain LOADS of saved mail.

you can create user folders and save mail there.





(e-mail address removed)



Recently, I get a message every time I open Outlook Express (6.0). "To free
up disk space, Outlook Express can compact messages....." I regularly clear
out all sent and received email and have lots of free disk space. Why am I
getting this message, and how do I eliminate it?

 

[PA Bear]

If you don't compact all OE folders on a regular basis, you have much less
disk space than you think you do, and you risk corrupting your message store
(e.g., losing some/all messages).

See
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx

General OE Caveats:

- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

- Disable Background Compacting [not available in SP2] and frequently
perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

- WinXP SP2 only: Do not shut down your machine while Windows is
automatically compacting your message store.

- Your anti-virus application's email scanning feature can also cause such
corruption. Disable it. It provides no additional protection.
--
OE-specific newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)