“To free up disk space, Outlook Express can compact messages. This may take up to a few minutes”. And even after compacting, you may receive this message every few minutes.
This message may be irrelevant, if you do not use Outlook Express, and therefore have no messages to compact. and if you do not need to free up disk space as you may be using only few % of your disk space. If this is the case, what is the way to get rid off this very irritating message.
The problem is, Microsoft removed background compaction from Outlook Express in Windows XP Service Pack 2. It caused too many problems. But, background compaction is a different issue than the one we're discussing here, which is "To free up disk space, Outlook Express can compact messages."
To turn that message off through Outlook Express Settings,
- You will have to open Outlook Express,
- Click on Tools, Options
- Then on the Maintenance tab at the top.
- Look for the “Compact messages in the background” checkbox in the “Cleaning Up Messages” section and remove the checkmark.
If you cant succeed in the above method, try Try resetting the compact count in the registry:
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. Before making any changes to the orginal default settings, it is advices to create a System Restore settings. Follow this link for details on Using Windows System Restore.
- Start the registry editor.
- Open this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{identity}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0
where identity is a string of letters, numbers, and dashes. - Set the value of Compact Check Count to 0.
- Close the registry editor.
This error may occur as Outlook Express is indexed by Windows Search even when Outlook Express is not in use on Windows XP. If that is the case, one of our friend have already discussed this in his blog, Just follow the link for a fix.
For more information, see Why You Should Let Outlook Express Compact Messages When It Asks You .