Outlook Express 5.5 and 6 place a zero byte file in TIF for every message that you read. These files are only visible from Start | Find | Files of Folders, not from Windows Explorer. I had been letting them accumulate to see if they will affect OE's performance. Finally, at something over 27,000 files it did. The gray flicker upon opening a message changed from a fraction of a second to over a second.
Of course, I then cleared them and OE was cured.
However, I did it by using deltree from DOS to empty TIF and forgot to run smartdrv first. It took more that two hours. I don't think I'll let them accumulate like that again.
The easy way to get rid of them if you use OE 5.5 or 6 is to open Internet Explorer and go to Tools | Internet Options. In the Temporary Internet Files Section choose "Delete files". In the next dialogue check the box for "Delete all offline content" and click "OK". See here for clearing Temporary Internet Files.
visitors to this page since 6 OCT 00
Copyright 2000, 2001 Frank Saunders