The Out of memory issue will be resolved by compacting. I suggest you create
more folders and move messages to them in order to keep the folders smaller
in size. Try compacting again and if still no joy, compact the folders
individually.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything until
the compacting is completed.

If you compact more often, it should be a breeze. I compact about twice a
week and it takes less than 10 seconds.

Since you are using XP/SP2, you should also download this patch. It will be
a part of a cumulative update at some time, but I would get it now.

Patch KB918766:
http://tinyurl.com/mx3r2

This patch addresses some of the issues that were caused by KB911567.

Address Book problems.
Unsent templates appearing as sent.
Manually compacting will now reset the registry counter to Zero in WinXP/SP2
and also sends a copy of your dbx files to the recycle bin as a temporary
backup.

To complete the fix for .eml templates, a registry change is needed. See:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918766

Tom Koch also has this information at his site, along with a downloadable
Zip file to do the registry change for you. See:
http://www.insideoe.com/#kb918651

General precautions for Outlook Express:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupt. 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.

After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually while
working *offline* and do it often.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything until
the compacting is completed.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant layer
of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems such as
time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program will
continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in background and
leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}.

And backup often.

Backup & Resto
http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/backup/
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

" d d" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Admittedly I have about 50,000 emails stored in
about 6 folders so a Compact is definitely needed,
but it takes so long and basically nukes the machine
while it's taking place I'm pushing back on wanting
to do that right now....

My problem, I search for some emails in these folders
and will get a list of results of emails that match the
search criteria. If I try and open one of the emails from
the (finished) search results list, it will display:

"Message could not be displayed Outlook Express
encountered an unexpected problem while displaying
this message. Check your computer for low memory
or low disk space and try again."

I've got tons of memory and diskspace so I don't
believe that's the real reason for the message. If I go
to the appropriate folder and find one of the emails
that is in the results list and open it from the folder,
it opens just fine. ALSO, if I want a minute or so,
it can be opened from the search results list too.

I've seen a few sites that offer various solutions, some
that involve re-installing OE, or creating a new profile
and other things that sound like they're only needed
for a corrupted installation or corrupted DBX files.

These emails aren't corrupted, I can open them if I
either (a) wait a minute, (b) look them up in the folder
instead of trying to open from the search results page.

~dd