How to get Desktop Search to Stop Incrementing OE Compact Check Co

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave Jenkins
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Dave Jenkins

First of all, if I'm in the wrong forum for this - please let me know and
I'll move on over.

I have had a problem that's deviled many other folks, and like them I've
spent days trying to dope it out: I'm getting a popup driven by a OE registry
value ("Compact Check Count") that whines about it being time to compact OE
messages. I'm not using OE at all - use Outlook 2007 on XP SP3. The Compact
Check Count counter gets incremented to a critical value, and then the popup
is generated.

So why is that counter being manipulated on my system? I've seen many posts
listing possible causes, and so I downloaded Procmon and quickly saw that it
is Windows Desktop Search that's incrementing the counter.

I found that the Control Panel Indexing Options included 2 Outlook Express
locations - problem solved! Well, not quite: I've unchecked those locations
(it's not clear to me how to remove those locations entirely from the
eligible list, but they're unchecked) and what's now left checked there is MS
OneNote, MS Outlook and Documents and Settings, all for my userid (nobody
else uses this PC).

So: How can I keep this counter from being manipulated by Windows Desktop
Search?

(As a last-gasp measure, I'm rebuiding the index -- I'll post later if that
made any difference.)

Thanks for your help.
 
Dave Jenkins said:
First of all, if I'm in the wrong forum for this - please let me know and
I'll move on over.

I have had a problem that's deviled many other folks, and like them I've
spent days trying to dope it out: I'm getting a popup driven by a OE
registry
value ("Compact Check Count") that whines about it being time to compact
OE
messages. I'm not using OE at all - use Outlook 2007 on XP SP3. The
Compact
Check Count counter gets incremented to a critical value, and then the
popup
is generated.

So why is that counter being manipulated on my system? I've seen many
posts
listing possible causes, and so I downloaded Procmon and quickly saw that
it
is Windows Desktop Search that's incrementing the counter.

I found that the Control Panel Indexing Options included 2 Outlook Express
locations - problem solved! Well, not quite: I've unchecked those
locations
(it's not clear to me how to remove those locations entirely from the
eligible list, but they're unchecked) and what's now left checked there is
MS
OneNote, MS Outlook and Documents and Settings, all for my userid (nobody
else uses this PC).

So: How can I keep this counter from being manipulated by Windows Desktop
Search?

(As a last-gasp measure, I'm rebuiding the index -- I'll post later if
that
made any difference.)

Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...


See the WDS link below.

The problem is with the registry counter that gives you the prompt after 100
closings of OE. It is being increased quicker than it should be and even if
you are not using OE.

There is a growing number of programs and actions that may be causing this
after installing SP3. Do you have any of the following?

IBM Rapid Access keyboard (driver) RAKDLL.DLL
Windows Desktop Search
Window Live Mail (even if it was removed)
Mailwasher
Nero plug-in(s)

Opening EML files while OE is closed will also contribute to the registry
count.

Various anti-virus, anti-spyware and third party firewalls, especially if
they were running when you installed SP3.

Recent archived thread discussing this issue:
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...ss.general/browse_frm/thread/fcd35fbfa457fd6f

In the case of Windows Desktop Search, (the #1 offender), you have to tell
it to stop indexing OE.

Windows Desktop Search. Set Desktop Search Options:
http://www.microsoft.com/australia/windows/desktopsearch/search/options.mspx

In the case of Nero Scout, see Item 2.3 on page 8 here.
ftp://ftp6.nero.com/user_guides/nero8/scout/NeroScout_Enu.pdf

In the option to exclude selected file types from indexing, be sure to add
these file types:

..eml, .dbx & .nws
 
Thanks, Bruce - I've seen your answer many times before, and it's helped me
find the real culprit in my particular situation: Windows Desktop Search (see
below).

I have visited the site you cite in reference to WDS, and I must say, I find
it less than immensly useful. The instructions don't seem to fit what I see
on my screen (Example: What's the "Deskbar Search box?" If i click in the
taskbar search box, nothing happens. Also, the Windows Desktop Search
Options dialog doen't have any panes, or least any way I can see to get 'em.
also, when I type into the taskbar desktop search box, I do not get immediate
results, nor do I see any option that allows me to select that mode of
searching.)

Having discovered that WDS is incrementing the counter (at least once at
every boot) how can I convince it not to? Ultimately it will get to 100
again, and I'll be faced once more with a series of naggging popups that
don't bear any realtionship to the way my PC is configured or used.
 
Control Panel | INDEXING OPTIONS. Click: MODIFY and clear the check box
for Outlook Express.
 
Bruce Hagen said:
Control Panel | INDEXING OPTIONS. Click: MODIFY and clear the check box
for Outlook Express.
Click to expand...

Did that, Bruce - that's why I've written this post! Indixing Options no
longer include any OE references (See quote below from original post)

Any other suggestions?
 
Dave Jenkins said:
Did that, Bruce - that's why I've written this post! Indixing Options no
longer include any OE references (See quote below from original post)


Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...


One person also not using Outlook Express reported that the issue was fixed
by deleting all the dbx files in the message store. Note that should you
open OE, the files will be recreated.

Open OE to find the message store location and then close it. Do not open
after this.

Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder will reveal the location of
your Outlook Express files. Write the location down and navigate to it in
Windows Explorer or, copy and paste it into Start | Run.

In WinXP, Win2K & Win2K3, the OE user files (DBX and WAB) are by default
marked as hidden. To view these files in Windows Explorer, you must enable
Show Hidden Files and Folders under Start | Control Panel | Folder Options
Icon | View, or in Windows Explorer | Tools | Folder Options | View.
 
I'll give that a try, Bruce - thanks.

I saw someplace else where it said to remove .dbx files from the WDS list of
file types to be indexed, and that particular extension wasn't in there at
all. So I'm guessing that (in a rational world) WDS wouldn't even be looking
for any .dbx files. But I'll try anyway.
 
Just as amatter of interst, I see a bunch of those .dbx files that are dated
TODAY! What's up with that? Also, I see that other past users of this PC
also have .dbx files set up, but I can guarantee you that they never
(purposefully) used OE - my 5-year old grandson just wouldn't know how to.
 
The dbx files shouldn't be dated today unless you created a new identity
that was never used before. Any instance of OE will have some dbx files by
default whether or not it was used before.
 
Dave Jenkins said:
Did that, Bruce - that's why I've written this post! Indixing Options
no
longer include any OE references (See quote below from original post)


Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...


Yes.

Do you really need the new style search facility? If not, go to Control
Panel and click on Add or Remove Programs.

Scroll down and remove Windows Live Search.

Your version of Win XP will revert to the old style search function -
which has always worked well.
 
I apparently have two "identities" on this machine. I don't know what those
are - are they roles? At any rate, they don't appear to be in a one-to-one
correspondence to users, since I have 5 users configured.

Anyway, I had three different *users* who had .dbx files. The files showed
(in Windows Explorer) for one of those users (me) dates of today, and some
were quite large. I deleted all of the .dbx files for all the users.

I restarted the system and following the boot, the Compact Count Check was
incremented for one of the identities. I alsonow have 2 sets of three .dbx
files (Folders," "Inbox," and "Offline"):

1. User 1 (me) with an identity (I guess, since it's included in the path
name for .dbx file) that's NOT the one that gets the incremented Compact
Check Count incremented

2. User 2 with an identity shown in the path name for the .dbx files that
*IS* the identity for which the Compact Count Check is being incremented.

I did all that without using OE itself - I used Windows Explorer to locate
and delete the files.

So I guess I'm back to this: WDS has been configured NOT to index OE for
any user, and I see (though a Procmon trace) that it increments the Compact
Check Count registry entry after the system boots.

Has a mind of its own, does it not?

What next?

Oh, BTW: How can I tell what version of WDS I'm running? Control Panel
says that I have V 3.01, but that I haven't used it for almost 2 years.
Either CP is lying about the WDS usage, or I have another version that
doesn't show in CP.
 
Delete all the Identities folders you see in the path to the message store.
Reboot and open OE. Check the path to this new, and only, instance of OE and
close it. There should only be one identity in Windows Explorer now. The
message store should have only a few dbx files in it. Delete these dbx
files.

I can't tell you how to find the version of WDS you have. I never used it.
 
Crossposted to OE General. Please see the original post in XP
Help_And_Support to see what has been done so far. Posts were snipped so I
can't forward them all.
 
So, just kind of recapping here:

We're at a dead end? We know who the culprit is (Windows Desktop Search)
and we know that it's not being explicitly told to index OE files. We know
that the only .dbx files remaining are skeleton ones, but we don't know why
they got created? And we know that I don't have Nero Scout, MailWashing,
RAKDLL.DLL, etc. installed.

I'm going to try renaming the registry entry as has been reported elsewhere,
but I believe that I may have tried it before and it got recreated, though.

In the meantime, I've gone to Windows Search, but after the install reboot,
the count was incremented yet once again.

--
Dave Jenkins
K5KX


Bruce Hagen said:
Crossposted to OE General. Please see the original post in XP
Help_And_Support to see what has been done so far. Posts were snipped so I
can't forward them all.
Click to expand...
 
I apologise for the typographical error.

I should have suggested uninstalling Windows Search. It is no longer on
my machine - but from memory, I believe "Add or Remove Programs" listed
it was Windows Search, version 4.0.


NB: Windows (Desktop) Search and Windows Live Search are NOT the same
thing!
 
A last note to a depressing day:

I removed the Compact Check Count registry entries and renamed msoe.dll.

After a reboot I found that the registry enries had been recreated (and
incremented to 1) and that a new, fresh copy of msoe.dll had been placed in
the \Program Files\Outlook Express directory. Turns out that there's 4-5
virgin copies of msoe.dll on the hd, in various places, and some program was
smart enough to go find one and copy it in. I'm guessing that that program
would be Windows Search? Certainly Windows Search is the culprit as far as
incrementing the counter goes (at least in my case).

I guess, at the end of the day, I have a better idea for what's going on,
but I don't understand why this shoould be happening just now - (unless
there's been an update to the contrary) nothing much has happened Windows
Search-wise, that I know of. So why did this start now?

And what's the next step?

--
Dave Jenkins
K5KX


Bruce Hagen said:
TY. I was searching: (e-mail address removed).(spam-ugh
Click to expand...
 
In the meantime, I've gone to Windows Search, but after the [initial?]
reboot,
the count was incremented yet once again.
Click to expand...

One or more options/settings in an ever-growing number of third-party
applications may be disallowing the change(s) from "sticking". These include
but are not limited to Ad-aware Pro Ad-Watch, Spybot Tea Timer,
SpywareBlaster, SpySweeper, Spyware Doctor, CounterSpy, AVG Anti-Spyware,
Norton AntiVirus, McAfee VirusScan and/or Antispyware, NOD32, and Zone Alarm
(Free, Pro, & Security Suite).

And if any of the real-time protections above were running in the background
when you installed WinXP SP3, you've probably got worse problems.
 
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