See replies to your earlier posts (which may not be available via Google
Groups due to the problems they've encountered in the past few days).

The answer is No.

Assuming your machine is fully patched, compact all OE folders manually &
frequently and you'll never encounter Automatic Compacting.

See http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?p=135065#135065; also see the Notes
section of the following KB article for an explanation of sorts:

All e-mail items may be missing when you start Outlook Express 6 Service
Pack 1
[NB: Despite what the KB article might imply, you do NOT need to install
KB918766!]
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918069

General OE Caveats:

- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

- Disable Background Compacting [not available in SP2] and frequently
perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

- WinXP SP2 only: Do not shut down your machine while Windows is
automatically compacting your message store.

- Your anti-virus application's email scanning feature can also cause such
corruption. Disable it. It provides no additional protection.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)
AumHa VSOP & Admin; DTS-L.org

brucegooglegroups wrote:
Is there any way to turn off compacting? I have Windows XP home, OE6
xp_sp2. It seems like there is no option to turn it off.

Or should I just allow the compact process and not interrupt it or
use OE during the compacting process in order not to lose files?
Thanks.
Bruce