Cannot empty "deleted items" folder

[Dan]

Hi All-
My wife's machine is locking up when Outlook opens. I'm
guessing that the deleted items folder is way too big
(almost 8000 messages).

Problem is, when I go to empty it (or do anything else),
the maching hangs for a very long time and gives me the
following error:

1. unable to load personal free/busy data.
2. the file ...Outlook.pst could not be accessed.

System:
Dell Laptop, Celeron Processor
Windows 2000
Outlook 2000

Thanks in advance.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Can you open the deleted items folder and select a few messages at a time,
then hit delete?

How big is the PST file?

 

[Dan]

-----Original Message-----
Can you open the deleted items folder and select a few messages at a time,
then hit delete?

How big is the PST file?



.

No-it just hangs there.

the file's about 1.8G

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Try finding scanpst.exe against the file until it comes up clean. Back up
your PST file first.

That's a very large file....Note that the official size limit is 2GB - if
you still have problems, you may need to take a look at the PST crop
utility - make a backup of your PST file first.