Outlook Express can compact messages. How do I turn this error off ???

I don't use OE so I should really stay out of this, but I have this in my notes that may get you started and then other folks can help out too:


I would advise first understanding what is happening and then decide the best way to handle it for your environment:

If you are talking about a message that says:

To free up disk space, Outlook Express can compact messages. This may take up to a few minutes.

Automatic compacting of Outlook Express files was introduced in Service Pack 2.

If you using Windows XP, there is a registry value called:

Compact Check Count

It is located in the Registry in a key resembling this:

HKCU\Identities\{51909A0B-63EE-4EB3-A9A2-7CFA23C1ADCF}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0

Every time you exit OE (not when you open it), the value of the counter increases by one increment (increment is not a verb so you can't increment something and a counter cannot be incremented).  When the value of the counter gets to 101, the next time you close OE you will be prompted to compress the messages.

There are two things that will increase the value of the counter.

Exiting Outlook Express will increase the value of the counter.

If you have Windows Desktop Search installed, it will increase the counter every time it runs which is usually at least on every reboot.

If you are using both Outlook Express and Windows Desktop Search, the counter will get increased more frequently - every time you close Outlook Express and every time Windows Desktop Search launches when you reboot.

So if you have Desktop Search installed that will increase the counter by one increment every time you boot and if you open and close OE ten times a day, your counter will be at eleven after just one day.  Repeat that for 9 days and you are going to see that message.

Even if you are not using Outlook Express and only using Windows Desktop Search, that will still increase the counter, so when the counter gets to 100, Windows Desktop Search will prompt you to compress the messages on the next reboot even if you are not using OE.

This is because Windows Desktop Search is set up by default to search the Outlook Express database whether your are using OE or not.

No matter how the counter is increased, if you are using at least one of those two, you will end up seeing this message sooner or later.  But you can stop it when you understand it.

Did you know that "increment" is not a verb?  So you can't "increment" (or decrement) a counter.  You can increase or decrease it by one increment though.

You can compress the database when prompted (which will reset the counter to 0).

You can edit the registry and reset the counter by hand to buy some time until you see the message again.

If you not using Outlook Express and only using Windows Desktop Search you can tell Windows Desktop Search to never look at the Outlook Express database (or uninstall the Windows Desktop Search if you are not using it).

To remove the Windows Desktop Search Indexing Option for the Outlook Express database do this:

Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Indexing Options, Modify, clear the Outlook Express box, OK, OK, to save your settings and restart the system so the changes will be in effect.

Following the Outlook Express best practices for use (which would include regular database maintenance) will prevent you from ever seeing the message in the first place.  If you see the message you might want to reconsider how you are using Outlook Express and the risks of data store corruption from casual or improper use (risky behavior).

Most folks using Outlook Express and/or Windows Desktop Search are satisfied with just removing the Indexing Option in Windows Desktop Search and keeping the counter that is built in to Outlook Express so they will be reminded to compact their database once in a while.  If you were to somehow choose to never maintain your Outlook Express files, that would be risky for your messages.

Windows Desktop Search is a memory and CPU hog anyway, so you will have better system performance if you just uninstall it.

Here is an article with some other information:

http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#2