After reading your reply, I decided to close and re-open OE and look at the
registry keys again to see if I could spot anything that changed. Ironically,
I GOT THE COMPACTION MESSAGE!!! I responded CANCEL to it (don't compact) and
DID NOT check the "Dont show me this again" box.

Then I looked at the registry key
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{GUID}\Software\Micr osoft\OutlookExpress\5.0\Don't
Show Dialogs". Again, I did not see anything that looked like it had anything
to do with the prompting message and nothing else had changed from before I
closed OE. However, I went up one level to the 5.0 folder and found two very
interesting entries: Background Compaction with a value of 00000001(1), and
Compact Check Count with a value of 00000065(101).

I continued to open and close OE and inspect the Registry Entries and saw
the counter increase and eventually, when I clicked the "Dont Show me this
again" box, saw the entry that you referred to previously. It's called Don't
Show Compaction Message or something like that in the Registry. I deleted
it, so I should see the compaction message if the counter ever reaches 100
again (it's now sitting at 1 after the compaction). I think I'll set it 100
to make sure the message will actually still display, then I can set it back
to 0.

As for the Background Compaction entry, I imagine it is an artifact of
pre-sp2 OE and has no impact in the current OE environment.

Thanks for your patience and for helping me understand this. I will
definitely start using OEtool for compacting. Regularly.

Phil

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

> <Reply Inline>
>
> "pwrichcreek" <pwrichcreek@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:05445F35-28A2-40B6-8E3D-E2D4B3D3CDD0@microsoft.com...
> > Sorry, I was (and am) apparently totally confused about the current
> > implementation.
> >
> > I'm still confused about what happens after the 100th time OE closes. The
> > insideoe article you point me to says in part "OE now waits until you open
> > and close the program 100 times. After that 100th time OE begins to
> > compact..." This sounds to me as if it's going to compact whether I think
> > it's a good time to do that or not. Your message says "...Now you will get
> > a
> > prompt to compact after 100 OE closings, which you should do." Which is
> > it?
> > Do I get the opportunity to say "NO, I don;t want to compact at this
> > time",
> > or does OE go ahead and do it without giving me an option to say NO? I'm
> > not
> > trying to split hairs, but I think this is the crux of the issue for me.
> > On
> > the one hand, I can't control whether compaction happens at more-or-less
> > random times (the 100th open/close); on the other hand, I can just say NO
> > whenever asked, if it's not a good time to compact. I do not recall ever
> > being prompted to go/nogo compaction and that's why it seems plausible to
> > me
> > that it's going to go ahead and compact the 100th time, whether I want it
> > to
> > or not, without my ever realizing it.
>
>
> The article is a bit confusing. Unless you have made a change, with XP/SP2,
> after 100 closings you will be prompted to compact. You can say no, but you
> will keep seeing that prompt every time you close OE until you do compact.
> It will not compact without you knowing unless you chose to not show the
> prompt again.
>
>
> >
> > If I can expect that OE will be compacting at some time, without my
> > realizing it, then I would like to be able to run something more-or-less
> > automatically to keep that from happening, hence my question about a
> > program
> > for resetting the counter to zero at OE startup.
>
>
> You can reset the counter to zero whenever you want, via the Register. But
> failure to compact periodically will result in a slowdown of OE and a good
> chance of loseing messages forever.
>
>
> >
> > I'm also not totally secure in what is being said about the need for
> > compaction. Seems there are two schools of thought: 1) you need to compact
> > often because it improves performance and conserves disk space; 2) you
> > need
> > to compact often because OE has certain limitations which will cause
> > messages, even entire folders, to be lost if you don't compact often
> > enough.
> > I now have a feeling that both are true, but I had been working under the
> > impression that the only real downside to not compacting was #1
> > (performance
> > and disk space). Taking a performance and disk space hit to avoid losing
> > messages after an automatic compaction had been terminated before
> > completion
> > seemed like a no-brainer.
>
>
> In addition to my last above remark, when you delete messages, and empty the
> Deleted Items folder, the dbx file size does not decrease until you compact.
> The dbx files have size limitations which is why compaction is necessary.
>
>
> >
> > Regarding "Replace the Compact Prompt:" -- I don't see anything in my
> > Registry that sounds like it has anything to do with the Compact Prompt
> > for
> > any of the three userids that I have defined. I see "HTML Plain warning,
> > Send
> > Mail Warning, Saved in Saved Items". So I guess I'll see the prompt after
> > the
> > next 100th open/close of OE.
>
>
> This is how you can reset the counter to zero, (0). But if you change the
> number to 100, you will see the compact prompt after opening and closing OE,
> (unless you did choose Do Not Show Me This Again). Whatever you do, Once
> compacting has started, Do Not touch anything until it has finished.
>
> I still believe that OETool (Freeware) is the best thing you can do, because
> you compact when you want, and it is the only program that will reset the
> counter to zero when you're done.
>
> Feel free to post back if you need more clarification.
> --
> Bruce Hagen
> MS MVP - Outlook Express
> ~IB-CA~
>
>
> >
> > Thank you very much for your help. I apologize for being so dense.
> >
> > Phil
> >
> >
> > "Bruce Hagen" wrote:
> >
> >> Compacting your folders periodically is a must to keep OE
> >> functioning well and at some point, you may lose all your saved messages
> >> if
> >> you don't.
> >>
> >> With SP2, automatic background compacting was removed due to
> >> problems it caused. Now you will get a prompt to compact after 100
> >> OE closings, which you should do. See this for more information:
> >> http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm#compact
> >>
> >> To keep things running smooth, and for faster compacting:
> >>
> >> Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually
> >> become corrupt and you may lose mail. Create your own user
> >> defined folders for storing mail and move your mail to them.
> >> Empty Deleted Items folder regularly. Keep user created folders
> >> under 100MB, and Default folders as empty as is feasible.
> >>
> >> And this is a very good option:
> >>
> >> Steve Cochran has added a button in his new version of OE Tool
> >> that will not only Compact All Folders, but at the same time,
> >> resets the "Compact Check Count" to zero whenever you compact
> >> manually. You will see the prompt again if you do not compact
> >> before 100 closings.
> >>
> >> http://www.oehelp.com/OETool/
> >>
> >> It is still advised to check Work Offline before you compact.
> >>
> >> If the folders are being compacted automatically, you must have checked
> >> Do
> >> not show me this again for the prompt to compact after 100 closings of
> >> OE.
> >> The first thing you have to do is put the prompt back, because removing
> >> it
> >> doesn't stop compacting, you just don't know it is happening now and if
> >> you
> >> do something such as turning off the computer while compacting is in
> >> progress, you will wipe out messages.
> >>
> >> Replace the Compact Prompt:
> >>
> >> Go to: Start>Run>Regedit>Enter and follow this path:
> >>
> >> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{GUID}\Software\Micro soft\Outlook
> >> Express\5.0\Don't Show Dialogs.
> >>
> >> In the right pane right click on the appropriate entry and choose Delete.
> >>
> >> Compacting your folders periodically is a must to keep OE
> >> functioning well and at some point, you may lose all your saved messages
> >> if
> >> you don't.
> >>
> >> With SP2, automatic background compacting was removed due to
> >> problems it caused. Now you will get a prompt to compact after 100
> >> OE closings, which you should do. See this for more information:
> >> http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm#compact
> >>
> >> To keep things running smooth, and for faster compacting:
> >>
> >> Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually
> >> become corrupt and you may lose mail. Create your own user
> >> defined folders for storing mail and move your mail to them.
> >> Empty Deleted Items folder regularly. Keep user created folders
> >> under 100MB, and Default folders as empty as is feasible.
> >>
> >> And this is a very good option:
> >>
> >> Steve Cochran has added a button in his new version of OE Tool
> >> that will not only Compact All Folders, but at the same time,
> >> resets the "Compact Check Count" to zero whenever you compact
> >> manually. You will see the prompt again if you do not compact
> >> before 100 closings.
> >>
> >> http://www.oehelp.com/OETool/
> >>
> >> It is still advised to check Work Offline before you compact.
> >>
> >> Please read:
> >>
> >> Why Mail Disappears:
> >> http://www.insideoe.com/problems/bugs.htm#mailgone
> >>
> >> About File Corruption:
> >> http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...orruption.mspx
> >> --
> >> Bruce Hagen
> >> MS MVP - Outlook Express
> >> ~IB-CA~
> >>
> >> "pwrichcreek" <pwrichcreek@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:80F94A1E-210E-4B6F-94BC-E995DAF0A339@microsoft.com...
> >> > I've read quite a few of the threads that discuss compaction and it
> >> > seems
> >> > to
> >> > me the bottom line is that compaction can be hazardous to the health
> >> > of
> >> > your
> >> > OE folders. Suppose that you had complete control over compacting; what
> >> > is
> >> > the worst that could happen if you almost NEVER compacted?
> >> >
> >> > It seems to me that if you could reset the howManyTimesHasOEBeenClosed
> >> > counter to zero, each time you started OE, automatic compaction would
> >> > never
> >> > occur. Then, when you observed whatever bad thing(s) starts to creep in
> >> > due
> >> > to not compacting, you could manually compact in a controlled
> >> > environment,
> >> > such as a modified SAFE mode.
> >> >
> >> > Is the howManyTimesHasOEBeenClosed counter kept in the Registry? Would
> >> > it
> >> > be
> >> > difficult to write a program that could be run each time Windows starts
> >> > that
> >> > would simply reset the count to 0, or even better when OE starts up. I
> >> > believe I read that OEtool resets the counter, but only after doing a
> >> > manual
> >> > compaction. What I'm suggesting is something that: does the reset
> >> > without
> >> > any
> >> > manual intervention, that is, could be run at Windows (or OE) startup;
> >> > and,
> >> > does not require compacting. An alternative might be a program that
> >> > simply
> >> > displays the value of the counter that could run each time you start
> >> > Windows
> >> > (or OE). This would give you the opportunity to run a manual compaction
> >> > when
> >> > the counter started to approach the automatic trigger value (100?).
> >> >
> >> > TIA for your comments,
> >> >
> >> > Phil
> >>
> >>
>
>