I spoke to Javad Alessandro who was very helpful, however, I have the free version so was advised to come here.
When BitDefender Free is installed, even with file or folder exclusions applied, I am unable to compact and repair an Access database.
As soon as I uninstall, I can.
I reinstalled for Javad and the issue returned. I then removed it again, I can compact again.
So the issue is definitely rooted in BitDefender. Is there anything I can do to have it installed and be able to Compact and Repair?