I suggest AVG Free:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5
or:
http://www.grisoft.com/doc/40/lng/ww

When prompted, choose Custom Installation and *uncheck* e-mail scanning when
you see the option.

Norton, and McAfee, products are not Outlook Express friendly, and I don't
know of any OE-MVP that would recommend using them.

**************************

I wanted you to uncheck the check for messages box to be sure none could be
coming in while you were compacting. Also, click on Outlook Express at the
top of the folder tree so no folders are open.

Some other ideas:

Do you have any exotic third party programs for OE like a e-mail
notification program? Anything like that can cause this problem with the
Folder File not compacting.

If not, go to Start | Run and type in:

msconfig

Go to the Startup Tab and uncheck everything. Restart the computer and go
directly into OE and try to compact now.

If it still won't compact, close OE and open the message store and delete
Folders.dbx. Reboot, open OE and now try.

Note that after you delete Folders.dbx, subfolders in the folder tree will
be out in the open and will need to be dragged back to where they were.

--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"jrsyangl" wrote in message
news:LW2zh.157$ov2.127@trndny06...
First of all, unchecking Check for messages... does not make a difference:
I still get the message that the Folders folder is being used. As far as
Trend Micro and Norton go, I have had no problem with them until now (if
indeed it is a problem with either of them), but I would be interested in
what alternatives you suggest, and also if you have any other ideas about
how to get the Folders folder compacted.

Lou

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
I don't know if it is the cause of your current issue, but no spam program
works well with OE and Trend Micro is one of the worst. Likewise with
Norton. No one here would consider using anything made by Norton or
McAfee, and regardless of what you use, always turn off e-mail scanning.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"jrsyangl" wrote in message
news:252zh.5$8b1.2@trndny03...
Yes, it is very strange. I can not send mail out and the News Server
does not update, but somehow mail does slip in. I use Trend
Micro-Antispam and Norton email virus scanning, but turning them off
does not seem to make a difference. I will try your suggestion, but I
wonder if that will help to get the Folders folder compacted.

Lou

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
I don't see how that is possible, but go to Tools | Options | General
and uncheck: Check for messages every xx minutes and then try to
compact.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"jrsyangl" wrote in message
news:xE1zh.651$7s2.410@trndny07...
I am trying to Compact All Folders, and so I set FileWork Offline as
recommended. But I still get mail and, during compaction, get a message
that the Folders folder is being used. The Icon in the lower right says
"Working Offline" How come? I'm using OE6, XP SP2. Any suggestions
would be appreciated.