woderick
If you are familiar using the windows registry do the following if not PM me and I will give you more detailed information.
If you are familiar navigate to the following branch:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{GUID for Identity}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0
Now look in the right hand pane and find an entry called Compact Check Count double click it and set the figure beneath Value data to 0 (I am guessing it is 100 or more as OE is set to compact every 100 exits but sometimes gets stuck)
Good luck any problems leave me a message in here.
FSD