Deleteing old Outlook Express E-Mail Messages from Harddrive

ranger72 · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 300 Location: Gulf of Maine

Hello folks,

I have done a google search and done several searches in the forum here and I can't seem to find anything relative.

Is there a method by which I can permanently delete old Outlook Express E-Mail messages from my harddrive?

As I understand it, old e-mail messages are never really deleted from our harddrives and I would like to do this so as to free up space on my disk and it may have the second benefit of leaning up my machine.

thank you,

ranger72 Smile

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2636

I don't use OE but this is what i found when searching.

Quote:

Compacting of folders is necessary or they will become corrupted or else so large that they can no longer be used. Deleting a message does not reclaim the space. The message is marked as deleted but is still there until the folder is compacted.

Have you compacted the folders? Apparently it asks if you won't to compact a folder after every 100 times OE is opened.
Here's MS's how-tos on OE http://support.microsoft.com/ph/2578/en-us/?aid=1&GSA_AC_More1

falliston

Mostly just emptying the Deleted Items folder should do the trick. I know folks say everything is kept in supersecret files on the harddrive, but I really don't think so.

Delete everything in your Sent Items folder too. These folders can get huge, and OE (and especially Outlook) can have severe problems if too much gets stored without your knowledge.

Open Explorer (My Computer or My Documents will do) and click Tools-folder Options. Choose the View tab and put a button in Show Hidden Files and Folders. Now, click search and put .tmp in the criteria. Delete everything you fine. Do the same for .temp.

Go to Langa.com and search the archives for clean.bat. You'ld be amazed at what you can find to delete.

User: inactive Posts:

You can delete the eMails, clean out the Deleted Items folder and then:

in Outlook Express:
go to....Tools/Options/Maintenance/Cleanup/Compact

Click "Compact" and that will perform the Compact function and reduce your eMail folder to its minimum size. That should do it!

Cheers!
Shadow

But, that is so minor compared to all the other junk that Windows keeps stored on your HD. If you really want to save HD space, you need to look further.

ranger72 · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 300 Location: Gulf of Maine

Hi zlim,

Thank you for your response. I manage the maintenance in OE on a daily basis so I never have a build-up of old messages hanging around.

Thanks for the link already been there/done that! Smile

I appreciate your effort,

thanks again,

ranger72 Smile

ranger72 · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 300 Location: Gulf of Maine

Hi There falliston,

Thanks for the tip at Langa.com. I'll give it a try.

ranger72 Smile

ranger72 · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 300 Location: Gulf of Maine

ranger72 · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 300 Location: Gulf of Maine

mommabear · Joined: Feb 20, 2003 Posts: 6319

I've read the replies and if I'm understanding what people have said, just "deleting the emails" or "cleaning out the folders" while in OE.... what's inside the OE folders... does not physically free up the space. And believe me they can add up to many megabytes after awhile. Maybe not as much as some other unnecessary files, but still they can grow substantially if you send and receive a lot of emails. They just appear to be gone, but they're not and the folders retain their large size.

Find your IE Identity using Windows Explorer. You'll have to un-hide the hidden files and folders to do that.

The path should be something like this:
C:\Documents and Settings\whatever the name is\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{0A65B7D8-8779-444E-859E-B15E8EE1E091}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

Right click the properties of a couple of them...the Inbox, Sent Box, etc and look at the size of them.

Now here's how to really delete everything.

First, go back to OE and make sure any emails you want to save are moved to a temporary folder.

Highlight the Inbox, Outbox, Sent, Drafts, and Deleted .dbx files and delete them. They will be re-created the next time you open OE again. DO NOT DELETE the Folders.dbx file!!!

After they are re-created, go back in explorer and look at the size of the new folders. They are nice and tiny again.

I used to manually clean my OE like this back when compacting would often corrupt OE and we had the option to disable compacting. I still will do this from time to time even though that glitch seems to be fixed now.

User: inactive Posts:

You'll notice that I said NOTHING about the PageFile.

That was on purpose.....just leave it ALONE!

Windows will handle that just fine, thank you. Wink

Did you take a good look at my "XPCleanup.bat" file?

You can use that AS-IS, or edit it to meet your own needs and desires.
Just open it up in Wordpad and REM out any line you don't want, or add new lines using existing lines as examples and add in your own path and folders to eliminate your own junk. Save the edited file and you're good to go, getting rid of junk.

I put a shortcut to my own version of that file, in my Startup folder for a quickie clean up every time I reboot. I call that "My FREE Maid Service". Wink

It's currently being used by hundreds of users in many countries worldwide.
And, those are just the ones I've personally sent it to. I've no idea how many have downloaded it from my personal web page.

If you found XPCleanup in my "Care Package" on my download site, it has an install batch file that will install it for you, along with Deltree.exe, which it requires. (Curse MS for leaving that very powerful command out of XP)

Later,
Shadow

User: inactive Posts:

ranger72 · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 300 Location: Gulf of Maine

Hi There, mommabear!

First, my apologies to both you and Shadow for the delayed response;Iv'e been away for a couple of days and just now was checking in on my thread Smile

Shadow's help and tips and the info on the webpage continues to be of great value but I believe you have hit the old nail right on the head with your post. Very Happy

This answers precisely my first question in this thread so I have some errands to do and then later I will sit down and follow your instructions and see if I can get rid of a lot old crap specifically hidden away and left over from OE. Very Happy

I will let you know what the results are.

Thank you very much! Smile

Hope the "ole" Birkenstocks are treating you well; Nice and comfy are they? Razz

God Bless You,

Your Old Pal,

ranger72 Smile

ranger72 · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 300 Location: Gulf of Maine

Shadow,

Ten Dash Four on leaving my paging files alone! Wilco!

I have downloaded the Deltree.exe file to my desktop but I have not yet made the changes. I have, however, done all the other tweaks/adjustments/changes you suggested and found my confuser to be noticeably leaner and faster Smile

Its really great stuff! Very Happy

XPCleanup.bat file will require a little more reading and studying on my part before I start to fiddle with that.I will attack that challenge after eliminating all the OE garbage courtesy of mommabear's terrific addition to our thread here.

I will definately post the results or ask more questions regarding that stuff as soon as I get it done. Smile

Thank you very much,

once again,

ranger72 Very Happy

User: inactive Posts:

Once Deltree.exe is in the \system32\ folder,
the program will run whenever and wherever called.

The batch file ain't nutting special....just a list of plain old
DOS commands that delete junk.
If you want to keep Cookies, for instance, in wordpad, just put REM and a space at the beginning of the line that deletes the cookies.
You can also use a double colon ( :: ) to do the same thing.
When DOS sees the double colon, it will just skip that line.

Use the format to add a line to delete something not already in the file.

Here's my added line to delete the old message files saved by my Call-Wave program.
deltree /y "C:\Program Files\CallWave\Calls\*.*"

And, this line dumps anything in my AVG virus vault:
deltree /y "C:\$VAULT$.AVG\*.*"

Then this line dumps the restore files created by MS's "Reg Clean"
deltree /y "C:\RegClean\*.reg"

Then, this line dumps my "Prefetch" folder. Just more junk, really.
deltree /y "C:\windows\prefetch\*.*"

See, you can just add whatever you want to, for a much cleaner and more efficient PC.

Go for it!!!!

Shadow Cool

ranger72 · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 300 Location: Gulf of Maine

mommabear,

I followed your instructions and to my amazement when I got to the end of the path and found the Inbox,Outbox,Sent,Drafts, and Deleted .dbx files they were all tiny to begin with Confused

I couldn't for the life of me understand why and the only thing I can come up with is that I run an App. called CrapCleaner which gets rid of a lot of the stuff that bogs windows down. I probably run this once a week.So I'm thinking maybe that's why I don't have very many old OE files hanging around.

Beyond that, I can't think of any other proggy i run that would clear those files and I know for sure that I never before have gone into the system manually the way you suggested to delete files. Confused

Its a stumper!

I went back to home page for CrapCleaner's website and read every thing I could find about what the App. cleans but OE files were never specifically mentioned.

And to compound matters I can't seem to get back into those files using the "explorer search tool"

Hope I didn't Barf something up while I was fooling around in there; but my OE is working just fine...

Iv'e been using FireFox as my Browser for a couple years now perhaps its time to change my e-mail client to Thunderbird!

Any Ideas?

Thanks again,

ranger72

User: inactive Posts:

Ranger,
Firefox 2 (Beta) is out now. Give that a try.
Forget thunderbird. Outlook Express is simple, easy and safe. Stick with it.

As for Crap Cleaner......dump it.
As a professional, I of course tried it. Didn't like it at all and deleted it.
And that's my advise to you too.

Use my XPCleanup.bat program or develop your own cleanup regimen.
If you need help, PM me and I'll be glad to assist you.

Cheers,
Shadow

ranger72 · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 300 Location: Gulf of Maine

Shadow,

Think I will try FF 2 Beta...I only use 2 extensions so that shouldn't be a big deal..

I Agree; OE is easy and simple to use.

What don't you like about CrapCleaner? I have found it to be convenient and safe. I have been using it for some time now and have worked through 3 version upgrades. It gets rid of a lot of stuff that Winders leaves behind Very Happy

and I can'think of any instances where after using it my confuser developed issues that caused problems.

I will definately try your XPCleanup.bat but a few "for instances" would be welcome regarding CrapCleaner. Smile

As always,

Thank you kindly,

ranger72

mommabear · Joined: Feb 20, 2003 Posts: 6319

seaeagle

Here's a bit of info about compacting messages in Outlook Express:

All You Ever Wanted to Know About Compacting Folders & Messages in...tlook E

Inside Outlook Express - Files and Setttings - Maintenance Part I

Compacting messages in Outlook Express.

seaeagle

By the way, for those who use Thunderbird, you also need to compact your folders if you want to reduce used disk space. This can be done via the File menu, or you can download this extension: compactfolder 0.0.6, which adds a toolbar button to make it easier.

You can also set compacting to be done automatically via Edit - Preferences - Advanced - Offline & Disk Space.