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

Anonymous
2010-01-04T16:48:32+00:00

Every few minutes the message :

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

This is irrelevant for two reasons :

(1) I do not use Outlook Express, and therefore have no messages to compact.

(2) I do not need to free up disk space as I am currently using only five per cent of a very large disk.

Could someone please tell me how I get rid off this very irritating message.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2012-06-10T21:36:30+00:00

Here are the things I did that resolved the issue for me:

I reset Compact Check Count to 0, and I uninstalled Windows Search 4.0. 

As for Outlook Express: I don't use it.

Thank you for the reply...and thanks for the advice & info.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-performance/outlook-express-can-compact-messages-how-do-i-turn/b7e41d7f-d0db-4930-9c64-19e3c7b7d5cf?tm=1339359499078&page=1#_self

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Anonymous
2010-01-17T22:00:57+00:00

Try resetting the compact count in the registry:

  1. Start the registry editor.
  2. Open this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities{identity}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0

where identity is a string of letters, numbers, and dashes. 3. Set the value of Compact Check Count to 0. 4. Close the registry editor.

For more information, see Why You Should Let Outlook Express Compact Messages When It Asks You .

Warning: Incorrectly editing the registry might damage your system and prevent Windows from starting. Before doing it, back up your important data, make a restore point, and make sure you know how to repair a damaged system.


Boulder Computer Maven

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-11-15T16:47:04+00:00

    Outlookexpress is set as a default in my "newsgroup" with no option to change this.

    I use Outlook 2007 not outlookexpress as my email, which this is set correct.

    I would not want to ever open it and give it a chance to get my email and I believe that has happened anyway. 

    I went to add and remove programs... it is not here to be removed.

    I have also searhed my computer completely for outlookexpress and it can not find it.

    Everytime I turn my computer on this pops up.  How would I make it go away and why did it appear?

    Could facebook have caused this?

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-11-09T16:05:09+00:00

    Thank you Steve. I officially Nominate you as my 'EASY' Button.

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-10-07T20:30:24+00:00

    Hoosier21's solution worked for me. It looks like it started when a colleague logged on to my computer with his Active Directory account. He must have had OE set as the default mailer, because OE for his name had been added to indexing and checked. By the way, you can get to indexing directly. You don't have to watch for the magnifying glass. Open Control Panel and look for Indexing.

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