OK. Do this first, and restart your machine. See if the compact prompt does
not show up. If that is good, we'll see about getting the lost messages
back.

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 get it the habit of compacting before the 100th closing, (i.e. once a
week, or so), you will never see the prompt again.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"lindagig" wrote in message
...
hi thanks for the question. i went from SP2 to SP3. i am continuing to
get
the compact prompt after it compacted and lost my inbox.

i'm pretty sure the compact process stopped and didn't stall ... but i'm
not
100% positive about that.

thanks for your help

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

Did you have SP2 prior to SP3, or did you go from SP1 to SP3? The compact
prompt is not new to SP3.

Do you continuously get the compact prompt even after you have compacted?
You may have two different problems.

Did the compact process stall on Folders.dbx, or did it continue to the
end?

There are a few things to do. Please answer all of the above questions
first, and I'll get you going in the right direction.

I'll be here for 3 hours more tonight at least.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"lindagig" wrote in message
...
last week i downloaded the service pack 3 update for windows.
immediately
after downloading this, i got a message from outlook express that it
was
necessary to compact my files. i allowed this to happen and lost all
of
my
inbox.

now, when i boot up my computer and also when i open or shut down
outlook
express, i get the message to compact the messages.

microsoft support wants me to pay for technical support on this and i
can't
understand WHY since it was their download which caused this problem.
anyone
else having the same problem and know a fix?

also: how do i get my inbox back? it is still resident on yahoo.