File Menu Options

[lazlo]

What exactly does 'Compact Database' do?  I have a group on PG Offline with about 40,000 messages.  Does the Compact option make the group easier to handle for the PG program?  I have noticed that receiving a block of 100 messages after reaching about 30,000 messages greatly slows down the receive speed where the message numbers flash by in the bottom pane. Would Compact help that? I was worried that Compact might delete messages, but after I chose the Compact option there was no choice offered to ABORT the process, just a warning that said the process could take up to 20 minutes.  Does Compact work on one selected group or does it affect every group in the database automatically?

What is the proper purpose for 'Open Database' and 'New Database'.  I haven't needed to use those options yet.

BTW, what is the name of the font in the preview pane?

Sorry if some of my questions sound overly simple,
Lazlo

[Wilson Logan]

Hi Lazlo,

New database lets you make a new database to put your groups in. Lets say you have a lot of groups that you refresh often & others which you refresh occasionally. You could put one set of groups in one database & the others in a second database. Open database is used to swap between your databases.

The Compact option is used to reclaim space used during searches & deletes. When you search or delete, temporary tables are created & these use up space till you do a Compact operation. It does not affect speed unless your database is very nearly full (2GB).

Cheers,

Wilson.