# I want Outlook Express to stop nagging me.



## stef (Sep 14, 2002)

Outlook Express (Windows XP). Each time i log off, a popup, well, pops up! reminding me I can reduce bulk in my inbox by allowing it to go in and root around to condense the contents. i just want it to go away and leave me alone. if i want any deleting done, i'll do it.

But I can't figure out where the pop up is coming from.
Anyone have a clue and how it can be disposed of permanently?
Stef


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## MeanDean (Apr 16, 2002)

I dunno the answer - other than I switched to the web-based gmail a good while back - and use Mozilla Thunderbird instead of Outlook Express where client-side email apps are needed.


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## OntarioMan (Feb 11, 2007)

Read the link below - it will answer your questions.

http://email.about.com/od/outlookexpresstroubles/qt/et_compact_oe.htm

I've run Outlook Express for years - and I usually just let it compact the mail system when it asks - I don't ever recall it actually deleting messages and assumed it was just a maintenance task - I've never paid all that much attention to it.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

You DO Want this happen, You absolutely WANT it to delete and compress what it says it wants to do~! That is a Very Good Feature of OE
This is the stuff you have ALREADY deleted, it is JUST deleting That and compressing the space~!
no you go right ahead and do what the dialog box says.
This DOES NOT affect in ANYWAY what you have in your in box to read nor does it delete anything in your saved box.
This is a VERY GOOD thing to do and Outlook express is just clearing away the stuff you deleted awhile ago and did not want.
Once you DO this that dialog goes away till the next time.
You will not lose anything that is in your mail now.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Stef said:


> i just want it to go away and leave me alone. if i want any deleting done, i'll do it.


Actually, when you delete your email (delete, then delete from the Deleted Items folder) you aren't really deleting your email, it's still there. This is an ongoing fraud being perpetrated by Microsoft. I don't know who it's for or what it's for, but there's no question that they're doing it. They even admit it.

I don't know of a way to view or retrieve deleted email, but for them to build this into Outlook Express you can be sure that Microsoft has a method.

When you compact your email folders one of the things it does is to remove your invisible deleted email. For your own security, I suggest that you compact on a regular basis.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Yes I agree Nevada, I do it when that dialog pops up and I Finally got a friend of mine to do it when too, as they did not want to, but it IS a good feature of OE.


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## LesleyS (Jan 2, 2008)

I don't think it wants to delete anything, just compact it for memory, kinda like a defrag, which is a good idea now and then.


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## Stann (Jan 2, 2005)

I don't use Outlook Express, but I glanced at it and it appears to have an option to "kludge" the disable compress capability. You may wish to reduce the compress action to a less frequent interval? The about.com article mentioned above says that OE auto-compresses every 100 closings (ie. exits) of Outlook. This may be a hard coded figure; I don't know.

Anyway with Outlook Express, take a look at:
Pull down menu Tools -> Options -> click the Maintenance tab -> under "Cleaning up messages..."
"Compact messages when there is XX percent wasted space", change it to a very high number. (I set it to 100, which seems to mean to never compact. But, I don't know if it will listen and obey. Y may want to set it to a lower number than that, as another option)

Good luck!!!


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

LesleyS said:


> I don't think it wants to delete anything, just compact it for memory, kinda like a defrag, which is a good idea now and then.


Intrestingly, while I was Googling for a reference for you I came across a utility that retrieves deleted messages. It's commercial software (not free) but it does have a free trial.

******
_How to recover deleted messages in Outlook Express?

If you deleted some important messages or empty your deleted mail folder, please don't worry until you compact your mail folders or put new messages to the mail folders. Outlook Express does not immediately delete deleted messages from its mail folder. It keeps them for a while, depending on mail file size, number of new messages and folder compacting. Usually when Outlook Express compacts a folder, it deletes deleted messages entirely._
http://www.accuratesolution.net/solutions/recover-deleted-messages-outlook-express.htm
******

I guess a guy could download the software and keep it on CD in the event that a coworker accidently deleted a critical email message. In the event of an email emergency the software could then be installed in the coworker's machine to save the day. The same CD could be used on any number of coworkers computers.


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## Guest (Jan 12, 2008)

Stef said:


> Outlook Express (Windows XP). Each time i log off, a popup, well, pops up! reminding me I can reduce bulk in my inbox by allowing it to go in and root around to condense the contents. i just want it to go away and leave me alone. if i want any deleting done, i'll do it.
> 
> But I can't figure out where the pop up is coming from.
> Anyone have a clue and how it can be disposed of permanently?
> Stef


 When my OE asks to do that I say yes, and it has never deleted a message.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Stef said:


> Anyone have a clue and how it can be disposed of permanently?


The short answer is no, it can't be turned off.

It's set to trigger ever 100th time you open & close Outlook Express because *.dbx files need to be compressed periodically. If the *.dbx files aren't maintained they become cluttered and prone to corruption.

One serious pitfall to compressing folders is users getting impatient because it takes so long, so users sometimes force a shutdown of the process or the system. You MUST NOT interrupt the compression process! To do so will almost certainly result in corrupting the database. If the *.dbx file becomes corrupt you will never see your saved messages again. Just be patient until the compression process finishes.

About the deleted messages still being there, that's the way *.dbx files work. Like most database programs, Outlook Express does not actually remove an item from a *.dbx file when you delete a message. Instead it merely tags the item for removal at a later time, during the next folder compaction. Until then, the deleted message is still there and occupying disk space. It doesn't HAVE TO work that way, but that's the way Microsoft set it up so we're pretty much stuck with it.

You can bet that when the police or FBI have an expert inspect a suspect's computer that viewing the "deleted" email messages is one of the things he'll do. Most Outlook Express users believe that if they delete a file from a folder and then delete it from the Deleted Items folder that it's gone. Users have every reason to believe that, since the Outlook Express documentation says that's what happens. However, that email is still there to be viewed by ANYONE with the right utility to look at it.

If you don't like that idea you can always compact the folders at will anytime you like:

1) On the File menu, click Work Offline so that no new messages will be arriving. 
2) In the Folder list, click on Outlook Express so that no e-mail or news folder is open. 
3) Close the Folder list by clicking the X in the upper right-hand corner of the list panel. Alternatively you can click Layout on the View menu, and then clear the checkbox for "Folder List". 
4) On the File menu, point to Folder, and then click Compact All Folders. Do not use your computer until the process is complete, which might take several minutes.

Unfortunately doing the above does not reset the internal counter to zero, so OE will still compact after the 100th closing.


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## stef (Sep 14, 2002)

Thanks all.
Nevada...
The prompt is showing nearly each time I use OE.
I have thousands of emails in my inbox, sent items, individual folders, etc.
Is it telling me I have too many?
You say it comes on about every 100 times. I just got this computer for Christmas. Never saw this message until after my files were transferred to this new pc.
Stef


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Stef said:


> Thanks all.
> Nevada...
> The prompt is showing nearly each time I use OE.
> I have thousands of emails in my inbox, sent items, individual folders, etc.
> ...


This is a new feature from XP SP2 forward. It used to happen in the background but they had problems with that.

The number of messages shouldn't cause this problem, but the larger your database becomes the greater the chance of it becoming corrupt. Of course, having folders that large will likely take a while to compress (maybe 10-15 minutes).

If you say "yes" to compress the folders and allow it to compress, you shouldn't see the message again for 100 uses.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

This has nothing to do with what you have in messages, this finishes the deleting process and compresses the rest. You will not loose any E Mails that you have saved or is in your in box.
Once you do this then it won't show again for some time.


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