When you delete messages the space isn't necessarily freed up. By compacting
the store occasionally, every 100 shutdowns by default, it keeps the store
smaller than it otherwise would be. This is a good thing BTW.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!



"Carol in GA" <CarolinGA@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:42087CFE-CBA9-4715-9C3C-94F8E469BA00@microsoft.com...
> I've had Vista installed for almost a month now and this evening I keep
> getting a message when I close Windows Mail that says:
>
> "Windows Mail can compact the message store. This can take a few
> minutes."
> and asks "OK or Cancel"
>
> What is this?