So we RECENTLY reformatted our computer, and we've had problems with OE ever since.

My computer keeps getting this pop-up from Outlook Express. It says "To free up disk space, Outlook Express can compact MESSAGES. This may take up to a few minutes."

Problem is....there's nothing in Outlooks Express. There's no accounts there, nothing. My mom is the only one who uses this program, and she hasn't used it since the computer was reformatted.

The pop-up keeps popping up. If you ignore it, it goes away after a few seconds, then comes back less than a minute later, and it just keeps doing that. If you click Okay or Cancel, it goes away for maybe 10 minutes, then starts coming back again.

No matter what I do, this thing keeps coming back. I'm not even using OE. It's not open, nothing.

Help?Have you tried manually compacting the OE database from the File menu?

I don't use OE (I use Thunderbird) but, I believe that OE has a control for how OFTEN (or when) OE will compact.

As a FINAL resort, you can remove OE from with the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel. Start>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs> select "Add/Remove Windows Components" on the left>scroll to OE>deselect and FOLLOW the prompts. You said that your mother uses OE so be aware that this can be undone by following the same procedure but putting a checkmark in the OE box. Be sure to re-boot between uninstalling and re-installing.

Best of luck and please let us know how you make out.

EDIT: You can also leave OE uninstalled and get Thunderbird for your mother: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/Have you allowed OE to go through the compacting procedure without interruption? It should not be interrupted once it's started.

What version of Windows and OE are you using?

Might be worth going through the remove and add procedure described by drmsucks to see whether merely doing that stops this annoyance.

Do you have firewall and virus protection on this computer?