Resolved [Outlook Express keeps prompting to compact]

A while back I had this problem with OE wanting to compact itself, when I do NOT use OE at all. I followed one of the suggestions about allowing it to compact, which it did and it stayed silent for a while.

Now, for no reason, every time I boot-up it wants to compact, but if I say yes, it hangs the system. The dialog comes up very early in the IPL sequence, but I can't find the call for it with Process Explorer.

I went into OE Tools and deleted all (but 1) associated files, and set defaults to weeks and months instead of minutes, but this morning the cat came back and hung if I clicked "compact ". I can "cancel" with no problem.

I want OE GONE, not simply silenced. I tried add/remove Windows components, but it craps out looking for some .DLL file.

So please tell me which file(s) I need to manually kill in which directory.

Same for Windows Messenger and Indexing too, please.

 

Have you deleted all e-mails from OE and also removed all accounts. I used OE on every version of Windows except Win 7 and never had this problem. Something is wrong if it pops up as often as you say it does. I am wondering if you are clean of Viruses and Malware?

 

I deleted everything including the Outlook.pst file.
I tried to delete the files in the Outlook Express Program files subdir, but it keeps replacing them seconds after I delete them.
Virus scan is clean.

 

Try this. Go to Control Panel, Add or Remove programs on the left side and then when that other window opens up, that the check out of OE and then apply if it is there then OK out of it and reboot the PC.

Should of added what Miz said as this doesn't really remove it from your PC, it just hides it and can be put back in use anytime at a later date if you want it.

 

As you may know, the Add/Remove Components utility you've tried won't actually remove OE. It just make it unavailable so that it can be reinstalled (more like reactivated) later if you change your mind.

If you want to pursue getting Add/Remove to work on OE, one method requires you know the name of the dll and, more importantly, where the uninstall is looking for it.

If you know both of those, you can probably find a copy of that dll somewhere on the harddrive (in the I386 folder if it's present) and put a copy of it where OE is looking for it so the uninstall will finish.

Another option is to follow the instructions on this page to uninstall Outlook Express manually.

 

I'll see what happens tomorrow morning.
If the cat come back I'll try Miz's suggestions.

Thanks all....

 

It came up again, but today I have no time to play with it. Thurs or Fri is more likely.

Arie, I found that file in an Outlook Express dir (in the app.data set) with other OE data files. At first it would not delete, but did the next day (yesterday).

 

i tried to reply to your post yesterday but apparently i somehow posted in the wrong thread. here is a link to a support faq about oe compacting. it has a reg edit to stop oe from asking to compact:

http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/why.htm#compact

"In the most current version, OE compacts all folders automatically after you open and close the program 100 times. "

but i think i have read somewhere that since oe is part of windows, even if you don't use oe, it asks to compact after 100 startups/reboots of windows.

 

Eisneum; Thanks for that. I did the Regedit your link suggested and we will see and report back tomorrow.

 

YES YES YES !!!!!!!

No OE Compact this morning. Thanks again Eisneum.

 

Still no OE compact today on IPL.

Resolved and thanks again.