Strange message from Outlook Express

For the past two days, every time I logon to Windows, I get the following message box: 📎outlook_compact.jpg I understand what this message is telling me, but I don't understand why. I don't use Outlook Express, and it's not installed on my system. It doesn't show either in the start menu or in Add/Remove programs. I also don't see anything unusual in startup, so I'm not sure how this is getting launched. When the message is on the screen, it shows as Outlook Express in the task list, but I haven't been able to find a way to identify the executable. Any idea where this is coming from, and what to do about it? Thanks!

Hello Ganelon. Please read this article to know Outlook Express displays the prompt and what you can do to resolve it.

Hope that helps.

– Mohit

Thanks, Mohit. I saw that article earlier today. Unfortunately, it doesn't explain why this would be happening when I haven't installed Outlook Express. Anyone else have thoughts on this? Thanks, Ganelon

Hi Ganelon, I did not think the article advised would suit your problem. Odd to have that notification when you have no OE on your system. Please go to your C:/Drive > Program Files and see if there is a folder there "OE"? If there is open it and post back what you see. If there is and it is empty, delete the folder. Did you have your computer from new, or is it second hand so maybe the earlier owner had OE? Best regards,

Hi, tallin –

Yes, there is an OE folder in Program files:

Directory of C:\Program Files\Outlook Express

07/03/2008 08:54 AM

.
07/03/2008 08:54 AM ..
04/13/2008 07:12 PM 1,314,816 msoe.dll
08/04/2004 07:00 AM 133 msoe.txt
04/13/2008 11:23 AM 2,479,616 msoeres.dll
04/13/2008 07:12 PM 104,448 oeimport.dll
04/13/2008 07:12 PM 60,416 oemig50.exe
04/13/2008 07:12 PM 35,328 oemiglib.dll
04/13/2008 07:12 PM 73,216 setup50.exe
04/13/2008 07:12 PM 46,080 wab.exe
04/13/2008 07:12 PM 32,768 wabfind.dll
04/13/2008 07:12 PM 85,504 wabimp.dll
04/13/2008 07:12 PM 30,208 wabmig.exe
11 File(s) 4,262,533 bytes

I bought the computer new, and in July I formatted the hard drive and reinstalled Windows to fix a nagging problem. Based on the creation dates of various system folders, including this one, I believe I started the install on the night of 7/2 and finished on the morning of 7/3. I assume that this OE folder came with Windows, but I have never run the setup program.

The next time I see the message, I'll check the process list and see if any of these files show up. Can you think of any reason not to try the registry mod that was recommended in that about.com article?

Thanks,
Ganelon

Yes, you are correct, OE came with Windows.

• Start
• Control Panel
• Add and Remove
• Add and Remove Windows Component on the left
• Scroll to find Outlook Express
• Disable it (take the tick out of the box)
• Exit out > reboot and see what happens

Please post back with the results after rebooting.

Can you think of any reason not to try the registry mod that was recommended in that about.com article?

Yes many, please do the above first.

Best regards,

I found it in Windows Components, and it was already unchecked. But … the last time I got that message, I decided to click OK rather than Cancel. OE did its thing, took less than a second, and now it seems to be happy. The message has gone away, at least for a while. Anything else you think I should do?

You make me laugh, you seem to be itching to do something drastic.

Did you reboot and all was clear? Is that what you are telling me?

From now on, "If it ain't broke don't be fixing it"

Whatever you do, don't go within a foot of the registry.

Happy Christmas to you and your family.

All the best,

Hello Ganelon. I don't understand what you mean when you say you don't have Outlook Express installed? Outlook Express is an integral part of Windows XP and cannot be removed through Add / Remove Programs list. The Add / Remove Programs feature simply removes the association of Outlook Express as your default email client but does not remove the files, folders or registry keys associated with it. To remove Outlook Express completely is an advanced procedure, involving registry editing, and is strongly discouraged. So, even if you wish, you cannot remove Outlook Express from Windows.

And as the registry fix is not an appealing option either, the simplest solution will be to let Outlook Express compact the messages. If you or someone else, don't use Outlook Express, then letting it compact the messages wouldn't do any harm or loss, I imagine. But as Tallin says, don't do anything desperate.

Hope that helps.

– Mohit

tallin –

When I clicked "OK" to the message, OE said "Compacting". It only took about a second, and I have no idea what it was compacting, because I've never created any mailboxes. But it did whatever it thought it needed to do, and the message has gone away for now. I won't be surprised if it comes back some day.

I'm still curious as to why this all showed up out of the blue, but I'm not going to worry about it.

Thanks for the assistance, and Merry Christmas/Happy New Year to you and yours!

Mohit –

What I meant was that Outlook Express is disabled in Add/Remove programs. It has never been used on this system. I have not run the Outlook Express setup program, which initializes it for use, creates mailboxes, etc. So I was puzzled as to why Outlook Express would be asking to compact messages, because there aren't any Outlook Express messages on this system.

I had no desire to physically remove Outlook Express from my computer. I simply wanted to understand what was happening and why.

As I mentioned in the previous post, when I clicked "OK" in response to the message (as opposed to "Cancel"), Outlook Express compacted something. I have no idea what it compacted, but I'm no longer seeing the message, and I'm not going to worry about it.

Thanks again for your assistance.

tallin –

When I clicked "OK" to the message, OE said "Compacting". It only took about a second, and I have no idea what it was compacting, because I've never created any mailboxes. But it did whatever it thought it needed to do, and the message has gone away for now. I won't be surprised if it comes back some day.

I'm still curious as to why this all showed up out of the blue, but I'm not going to worry about it.

Thanks for the assistance, and Merry Christmas/Happy New Year to you and yours!

Hi Ganelon,

You are a worrier arn't you? Even if as you say OE was never used, it works that way, would be compacting not a lot, nothing to worry about really. Who knows why it turned up in the first instance, but if all is well now, I wouldn't worry about it to be frank. If it does appear again, just click Yes and it will go away again.

Best regards, to you, and don't hesitate to post back if you need more help with any other problem. We are here to assist you in every way.
_________
Mohit

Please do not confuse Ganelon continuing to post 'mostly' the same information that has already been posted to assist as it only confuses the OP….

Mohit wrote:But as Tallin says, don't do anything desperate.

Please don't misquote me either, I would never advise or use "desperate" in my posts. We volunteers need to be vigilant not to confuse members who post in for our assistance.

Please don't misquote me either, I would never advise or use "desperate" in my posts. We volunteers need to be vigilant not to confuse members who post in for our assistance.

Sorry for my bad English Tallin, as I couldn't explain myself well. I meant that Ganelon should just ignore the problem and live with it rather than modify the registry or take any other drastic measure to solve the "issue". You said "If it ain't broke don't be fixing it.". I was not quoting you when I said "desperate" but merely reflecting a meaning of those words. My apologies for the confusion.

– Mohit

Are there any follow-ups to this issue? I have been an IT Pro for some 15+ years and have never seen OE give a message to compact a database when the program is disabled. But now, all of a sudden I have several users experiencing this issue, including myself. OE has never been activated or configured, it was removed from the installed windows components and I have deleted the folder from the Program Files folder, however I receive the OE Compact error message. Why and can I get rid of it?

Outlook Express is set to prompt you to compact files every 100 usages of Outlook Express.

The following requires a change to your machine's Registry.
Always make a fresh backup of Registry, or export the item you will be changing or use ERUNT -before- making any changes to your Registry

There is a registry fix to stop Outlook Express from prompting you to compact files.

HKEY_Current_User/Identities/(long identity number such as c320940D-6840-xxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxx)/software/Microsoft/Outlook Express/5.0/Compact Check Count

Change the Dword value to decimal 0

Outlook Express will no longer prompt you to compact files.

Best Regards