Comments on: Outlook Express Message Store

By: cesaredh

cesaredh — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 10:42:40 +0000

You can check Microsoft’s site for details on the security issues. I have a friend who teaches computer science at one of the colleges here in OKC and he teaches Microsoft Office applications, including Outlook. He also agrees with me about Outlook’s invasiveness and like me, refuses to even install it on his personal machines.
I used it for 2 years and it had a lot of features, but it’s way too complicated for the average everyday user.
Outlook Express will do most of the things anybody could want in an email client, and some things it’ll do better than Outlook.
’nuff said.

By: geistman

geistman — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 12:40:29 +0000

Outlook does not REQUIRE an Exchange Server; you can tell it to use POP3 and IMAP accounts. Also, the 2GB size restriction was only true for Outlook 2002 and earlier versions; Outlook 2003 no longer has that limit.

By: itbird

itbird — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 03:45:00 +0000

Thanks for all the suggestions. Compacting seems to be the only thing that helps. I don’t use Outlook because we don’t have Exchange server and Outlook Express is nice and simple. I just wish it didn’t have this problem!

By: senthilnathan

senthilnathan — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 15:01:17 +0000

This happens because of one reason when u delete messages from outlook express
1.They dont actually get deleted even from the deleted items
2.If u move mails to another directory, say u move some 100 mails from the inbox to another folder even then the inbox size does not change this is because the *.dbx has this property

3. To clear the wasted space allocated to the deleted messags you should go to Outlook express > file> Folder>compact all Folders. this will reduce the waste space on the database.

4. In outlook express 6 this function is automated by something called autocompacting. This function happens every 100 times you open/close outlook express6

5. But be carefull while handling very large store files. The system goes very slow and the cpu usage goes to 100% and the process is slow. If you exit with out completing this operation by endtask then u fall into the pit mostly the dbx fails to open the next time. So stay careful.

By: cesaredh

cesaredh — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 09:23:13 +0000

Stay away from Outlook for a number of reasons. It’s a great program with tons of features, but it is extremely invasive, prone to security issues and takes about 2 years of training to learn how to operate fully.
OE is fun to operate, easy to use and has none of the security issues that Outlook has. Just delete the DBX file and that should fix your peoblem.

By: drillo

drillo — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 13:49:00 +0000

I find myself wondering why you are using Outlook Express. Outlook 2003 is a much more robust and full featured product.

Just a question and suggetion.
Paul

By: whammy

whammy — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 12:59:57 +0000

I concur with the sugestion given on deleting the .dbx file. SHould solve your problem.

By: cesaredh

cesaredh — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 09:54:27 +0000

Delete “deletedItems.dbx” from your machine. OE re-generates this file.

By: sheldonrw

sheldonrw — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 12:36:55 +0000

You could try deleting the mailbox itself. “deleted Items .dbx It will automatically regenerate a new one. Just search for *.dbx or go to from windows explorer. Documents and Settings/username?/Local Settings/Application Data/Identities/Microsoft/Outlook Express.

** Make sure that Outlook Express is closed before you do this..

By: itbird

itbird — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 11:39:36 +0000

thanks for the suggestions but I have tried all these and it still leaves deleted items in the deleted folder. It’s not just that folder either, there are other ones that are showing high KB content although they have actually been emptied!