Bruce Hagen wrote:
You didn't /always/ know when OE was compacting in the background.
IIRC,
it
would do it after a period of being idle. You could have had OE
minimized
when compacting started and have a message arrive during that same time
and
"poof". Lost messages. IMHO, what we have now is not perfect, (hence
dropping OE mainly due to the fragile dbx file structure), but safer
than
before.
My experience was that after opening OE each (and every) time, about
15 -
20 seconds later, I'd hear OE run its background compaction (from the
disk
activity), and then it stopped and got quiet. So, I pretty much knew
when it ran.
Also, (and now I'm not so sure), I had thought that prior to this SP2
version I *was* able to reduce the deleted box folder size by simply
running compact the way I mentioned., But again, this is BEFORE the
SP2
addition, when they added that Recycle Bin backup thing, and also
removed
the autocompaction option.
When I had XP/SP1, the way it worked is the same as now. I can't swear,
but
I believe it was the same in my 98SE with OE5, or 5.5. (long tome ago).
Well, I must be misremembering something then. I seem to recall
deleting
some mail folder items, and then later after opening OE (and after it
ran
its autocompaction), the Deleted folder got compacted and reduced in
filesize, too. Ditto on the Inbox (i.e., after I deleted something
from
the Inbox, its size would be larger until the autocompaction ran and
compacted it, and reduced its size).
If I could reset that OE compaction registry counter to "0" each time,
instead of "100", maybe that would accomplish the same goal (of each
time
I open OE, it would automatically run autocompaction for me).
Correction: would need to be set to 99, as I noted in my other post. But
yeah, even then, I'd still have to give it the OK at the prompt after
closing OE.
If you mean compacting in the background, no. You would have to go back
prior to an SP2 version. Remember: Support for XP/SP2 will cease in
2010.
Support for XP/SP3 will not expire until 2014. You might want to think
of
upgrading.
Ummm. Nope, don't want to "upgrade" (for reasons beyond the scope
here).
For me, I don't want SP3 and I don't really care about the MS support
dates. (And I managed fine in Win98SE without all the "updates" (as in:
thanks, but no thanks; was burned there a few times before and did NOT
appreciate some features being removed, in the interest of "security").
For me, I just compact once or twice a week manually and never see the
popup. I use CCleaner to empty the Recycle Bin, clear TIFs, etc., but
I
only run it manually and if I have compacted, I don't run it until I
check
some OE folders.
It's just a nuisance that I didn't have to put up with before.
But then again, I was VERY careful when using OE, esp. when it ran its
autocompaction (which I knew when it was happening, per above). Most
people wouldn't be, so I can see why they removed it.
Bill in Co
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA
Yeah, I saw your reply Bruce. I know the reason they removed it,
but
for me, I appreciated having it done automatically, and was always
VERY
careful to NOT be doing anything else after opening OE each time and
waiting a minute or two, before running any other programs.
Also, (and now I'm not so sure), I had thought that prior to this SP2
version I *was* able to reduce the deleted box folder size by simply
running compact the way I mentioned., But again, this is BEFORE the
SP2
addition, when they added that Recycle Bin backup thing, and also
removed
the autocompaction option.
If I could reset that OE compaction registry counter to "0" each time,
instead of "100", maybe that would accomplish the same goal (of each
time
I open OE, it would automatically run autocompaction for me).
Or if not "0" for the counter, maybe something MUCH lower, like 5 for
the
counter. "100" (decimal) is WAY too excessive. But I think I read
somewhere that that counter was hard coded into OE, so, I guess I
can't?
Hmmm. I suppose I could always try reinstalling an older version of
OE6
(that didn't have that blasted SP2 update on it). That probably
would
cause some other problems, though.
It's just that having to do this manually AND empty the Recycle Bin
each
night or two is a drag (when it doesn't have to be). (I use OE a
lot).
Bill
Bruce Hagen wrote:
You'll se a reply from me time stamped before this one, so now it is
moot.
Do you really want background compacting back? The #1 cause of losing
messages.
Why does OE insist on compacting folders when I close it?:
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/why.htm#compact
About File Corruption:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx
Compacting your folders periodically is a must to keep OE functioning
well
and at some point, you may lose all your saved messages if you don't.
When
you delete, or move messages, the space they had used remains until
you
compact.
***Never touch anything until the compacting is finished.***
See:
www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#2
With SP2, automatic background compacting was removed due to problems
it
caused. Now you will get a prompt to compact after 100 OE closings,
which
you should do, and don't touch anything until it has finished. If you
compact manually, at your convenience, this will also set the counter
back
to zero. See this for more information:
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm#compact
If you are fully patched, you will also now see a copy of your dbx
files
being copied to the Recycle Bin as BAK files. Should something go
awry
when
compacting, the messages can easily be restored from this backup. A
manual
compact will also reset the counter in the registry back to zero now.
For more info, see the information outlined in red here:
www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#2
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA
Ooops. My bad. I just did the test and you're right, Bruce, so my
apologies.
I wonder if this is something new since SP2? I don't remember
seeing
this behavior before, when I was using OE6 (before going to XP,
SP2),
when
they removed that Autocompaction thing that I want back!!!
Bill in Co. wrote:
I DID test it (but evidently not very recently!!). Corrected.
<snip my bad>
Bruce Hagen wrote:
Bill. No it will not. Test it.
Make a note of the dbx file size of Deleted Items. Then empty
Deleted
Items.
The size is the same, correct? Now compact the way you suggest and
check
the
size. Still the same, no? Compact manually as I suggested and the
empty
Deleted Items.dbx file should now be 187KB. (An empty Deleted
Items.dbx
file
size).
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA
You can do the same thing the way I said, Bruce. "Tools,
Options,
Clean
Up Now, Compact", and it compacts ALL folders (Mail and News).
Bruce Hagen wrote:
FYI. Clean Up Now /only/ compacts news folders, not OE local
folders.
To compact /all/ folders:
Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no
folders
are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online
in
the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch
anything
until
the compacting is completed.
Compact Your OE Folders:
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm#compact
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA
If you close OE again, and then reopen OE again, does it still
take
a
long
time (I mean with the newly created folders.dbx file?) If
so,
you
may
need to run compaction on the mail folders in OE (Maintenance,
Clean
Up
Now, Compact), unless there is something wrong with that too.
Sirius wrote:
Well, I did not delete it but moved it to another folder just
in
case.
It
took a very long time for OE to open.
Then I see all the subfolders out of the inbox, so I guess
they are not subfolders any more, but local folders?
OK. I don't want you to lose anything, so make sure you have
all
your
folders backed up. If the Inbox is in one identity and the
rest
in
another
identity, that's good. If you need to create another ID to do
this,
fine.
Now, delete Folders.dbx in the old identity with OE *closed*.
Open
OE
and
see what you've got now.
There are some drawbacks to deleting Folders.dbx. None
life-threatening,
but read this so you are not surprised.
Consequences of deleting Folders.dbx:
http://www.insideoe.com/files/store.htm#deldbx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA
I can not import from the old identity because of the same
problem, the old inbox and subfolders don't show up in the
"import from" browse box.
I also did this with the main identity.
I renamed L:\Email L:\Emailold. Opened OE,it recreated the
L:\Email folder, I had an inbox with no messages.
I took inbox.dbx from Emailold and now I have messages in
the
Inbox.
I
can not get past this point, and I guess the identity does
not
really
matter.
Do not import Folders.dbx. Just the folders you need. Your
new
identity
has its own Folders.dbx file.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA
Other moved inbox folders did not show up.
As soon I moved folders.dbx, the inbox disappears..
So I guess folders.dbx is corrupted.
How can I fix that? Thank you.
This is an oddity. In the old identity, is there an
Inbox.dbx
file
in
the message store? If there is, drag it to the Desktop.
Open the new OE identity and then close OE. (You must do
this).
Go
to
Windows Explorer and locate the Message Store folder for
your
new
OE
identity, but don't open it. Click on the Desktop and
drag
the
file
from the Desktop in the right hand pane to the OE store
folder
in
the
left pane. Prompt - "Do you want to overwrite......."?
Click
Yes.
*Note* If you have moved the Outlook Express store folder
from
it's
default location on drive C to another drive, drag the
dbx
file
to
a
location on that drive and not the Desktop.
If that is successful, import the rest of the files to
the
new
identity.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA
The new identity, called test, has an inbox.
Trying to import from the email folder, the inbox is not
listed
again, just the others. What does that mean.
Create a new identity. Does that have an Inbox? If it
does,
see
if
it will "find" the messages in the old Inbox via
importing.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA
Same thing, we have outbox, sent items, deleted items,
but
no
inbox.
message
With OE closed.
Start, Run, msimn
What do you get?
--
Ronald Sommer
Hello,
I got the computer today.
The inbox is missing. However, when try to create
one,
it tells me folder already exists.
Thank you.
message
[X-Posted to OE General]
IOW, complete folders are missing? L:\Email is not
the
normal
location of the message store. Was it moved at one
time?
First, make sure the folders are not in Deleted
Items.
If
not,
see if the dbx files for the folders still exist in
the
message
store and manually restore it as follows.
Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder will
reveal
the
location of your Outlook Express files. Write the
location
down
and navigate to it in Windows Explorer or, copy and
paste
it
into Start | Run.
In WinXP, Win2K & Win2K3, the OE user files (DBX
and
WAB)
are
by
default marked as hidden. To view these files in
Explorer,
you
must enable Show Hidden Files and Folders under
Start
Control
Panel | Folder Options | View.
In the message store in Windows Explorer, click on
the
dbx
file
for the missing folder and drag it to the Desktop
at
the
top
of
the folder tree. Open OE and create a folder with
the
*exact*
same name as the one on your Desktop. Open the new
folder
and
then close OE. (You must do this). Go back to
Windows
Explorer
and Click Desktop and drag the file from the
Desktop
to
the
OE
store folder that you clicked on to reveal the .dbx
files.
Prompt - "Do you want to overwrite......."? Click
Yes.
*Note* If you have moved the Outlook Express store
folder
from
it's default location on drive C to another drive,
drag
the
dbx
file to a location on that drive and not the
Desktop.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA
message
Hello,
On a friend's computer, after a virus scan with
AVG,
and removing viruses, the Inbox created subfolders
got lost even though the settings point to the
right
location,
L:\Email. Would this be a registry problem?
Is it possible to uninstall/reinstall OE? Would it
even
help?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Sirius
