Unfortunately I had already reset the counter to zero by editing the
registry so not sure if manually compacting has done the trick. Resetting
the counter manually did work.

The next time I compact, I will use the File|Folder|Compact all folders|
procedure and report back at that time. I usually manually compact every 3
or 4 days.

BTW there is no longer an option to disable background compacting in
Maintenance.

Larry

"PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote in message
...
Larry, please let us know (by replying to this thread) if compacting all OE
folders manually and frequently does not address this behavior. Thanks.

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 [removed in WinXP 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 cancel Automatic Compacting, should it occur, and
do not attempt to close OE via Task Manager or shutdown your machine if
Automatic Compacting is taking place.

- Disable email scanning by your anti-virus application. It can cause
corruption (i.e., loss of messages), it provides no additional protection,
and even Symantec says it's not necessary:

QP
Disabling Email Scanning does not leave you unprotected against viruses that
are distributed as email attachments. Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect scans
incoming files as they are saved to your hard drive, including email and
email attachments. Email Scanning is just another layer on top of this. To
make sure that Auto-Protect is providing the maximum protection, keep
Auto-Protect enabled and run LiveUpdate regularly to ensure that you have
the most recent virus definitions.
/QP
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...02111812533106
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
DTS-L http://dts-l.net/


Larry wrote:
Thanks Bruce, I look forward to the patch.

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
Congrats. You are customer #1 on this issue! If you noticed, it never
completes.

Compacting hangs on Folders.dbx after installing SP3 for XP:

Until a patch is made available, compact your folders manually. The
counter
will be reset to zero, and a manual compact won't hang.

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.

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Since I installed SP-3, OE is continually asking to compress folders,
several times a day in fact. Even though I do compress them, when asked,
it
prompts me within a couple of hours to do it again.

Anyone else getting this?

How do I stop it from happening?

Larry