Outlook frequently stops responding

My Outlook hangs very frequently , when I try to switch between the e-mail in-box and ( for example) the calendar function. Or when I try to close - I get the not responding situation. If I bring up Task manager, I find that CPU usage is up to 100%.
Everything else that I am doing at present works OK , suggesting a problem in this program. I have re-installed from the disk (Office 2000), and searched for needful downloads and installed etc. but to no avail.
It seems to have got very much worse since I changed broadband supplier, and one suggestion from a MS knowledge base suggested some incompatibility involving TCP etc - which is way beyond my understanding or knowledge of how to do anything about it.
Running RegAid brings about a great improvement - although does not cure : the problem, and after I have shut down and then rebooted it is much worse again - running REG-AId again immediately produces a long list ( 40 or so) things needing fixing, many of them with Outlook in the file path, even though I did as much yesterday.
Any ideas ?

 

I split your post into a thread of it's own. Always better to do that since things can get confusing sometimes with multiple issues in the same thread.

What OS version are you running (including service packs, if any)?

 

I am using XP (Home) and have installed the latest Service Pack just released.

 

No way I can see to pin down the exact source of the problem right this moment but with some digging around and some tweaking, I think we can get things working for you. It sounds more like an OS issue of some sort than purely an application problem. I'm not familiar with the specific registry cleaner/fixer you are using and while it may be fine, some of them cause problems while fixing others.

Lets start with some basic (and harmless) things that may well help or may even cure the problem. Do the following:
- download the free RegScrubXP and for now, use it rather than th eone you have been using. This one is not as complete as some but it is safe and I've never heard of it causing problems.
- click on start => run then key in cmd and click OK. When the command window launches, run the following command and answer all the questions to allow it to run at next boot.

Code:

chkdsk c: /r

Exit the cmd window and boot. The check disk will run while the PC is restarting. It may take a while to compete.
- click on start => run, key in

Code:

sfc /scannow

and click OK. You will probably be asked for your XP CD. Otherwise this command doesn't tell you much about what it did but the SFC (system file check) will replace any missing or damaged system files.
- from your browser, empty the temporary internet files.
- from windows explorer, empty all the temp folders so
.. c:\temp (if you have one)
.. c:\windows\temp
.. c:\documents and settings\username\local settings\temp and do this for each username. You will need set windows explorer to show hidden files & folders to be able to see the folder.
- run RegScrubXP and let it fix all the problems it finds.

 

Thanks Newt ; I followed that through as far as " insert XP CD ", and then I got a message telling me that the version on my computer is newer than that on the CD , and if I proceeded I would lose the newer version . And that threw me, and I I ducked out.
What should I do now ? Run it again but say yes, go ahead ?
I have by the way already run the downloaded program , which foiund a lot of errotrs, and fixed all but one ; and I did try again to see if iut had solved the problems ; but in Outlook I mistakenly clicked on the "go to Inbox" icon when I already was in Inbox, and had the familar hang, so clearly I have not got there yet !.

 

If you run the *repair* of WinXP (with your disk, which is probably SP1 or SP1a) you will need to reinstall SP2 (plus any additional updates). That is what that message is telling you. Not a major problem... just extra work for the user. The way around this would be to create a *slipstreamed* disk of WinXP and SP2. Arie wrote a very comprehensive article on how to accomplish this. You can find the article HERE . HTH

B

 

Have you tried Detect and Repair(Help) in Outlook? You will need the Office CD. also you can compact the folders first. Right click outlook today go to advanced and compact. OK out of there. Empty the deleted bin first.

 

Thank you both - Mr.B and Masggie . I will have a session later on tonight and report how I get on ; at the moment I seem to be getting hangs everywhere - not just in outlook. I could not even shut down last night, kept getting not respondingmessages - and when I was about to pull the plug out my wife appeared and asked if I was ever going to bed ... so I just left it . It
takes ages to do the simplest thing, and sometimes never does it. But I'll see how I get on....

 

Maggie - I did as you suggested, but no improvement.
BTW I do get very slow action in a number of places, and often the system hangs even on shut-down , but it all seems much worse in Outlook , but maybe thats because it is almost the only program I am using at the moment - for my diary , e-mails etc.I have just been running mem-test, in case the RAM was faulty, but no problems there.
I have also tried re-installing Outlook and doing all the updates, but exactly the same.

 

Mr B - I have done all this - and again no improvement.
I am beginning to think I shall to have re-install XP - but that is rather drastic and time-consuming by the time I have re-installed added software, and upgraded everything, apart from making back-ups.

 

Geoff,
Before you go down the restore route. What about doing a repair as maggie suggested, but use the add/remove features option to uninstall Outlook. Reboot the PC and check it's gone and you can use the rest of office. Then repeat the procedure, but this time add Outlook to install.

You will need to backup your Outlook folders. I'm not sure of the Outlook 2000 procedure. But the quick and dirty option is to select and drag all the email you want to keep to another folder and then drag (copy) them back after.

 

Many thanks for all suggestions. I have now solved 90%* or more of the problem when it occurred to me to wonder if the "new security features" in SP2 might be causing some conflict with the Norton Security I run - and after a bit of experimentation I have found that runni8ng Windows Firewall, but uninstalling Norton has been the answer.
I knew that there could be conflict - in fact had that problem earlier when I first put the Norton Firewall on to the ( then) new XP system , but someone somewhere told me how to configure to avoid the difficulties ; whatever it was, it does not work with SP2 installed.

*Maybe I have cured 100% - I just don't want to be too confident until all has been well for some time...

 

I was working on a lady's computer (Running WinXP Home SP1) whose husband had bought and installed a Norton internet security suite. He was complaining about how slow the computer was and about frequent crashes. When the internet security part of the suite was started at bootup it caused all programs loaded afterwards during boot to use up to 5 times as much RAM as normal. The solution was to disable the internet security at bootup and start it up manually after everything had loaded. The norton anti-virus could startup at boot time without a problem. Looking at the task manager performance tab their computer at one time was using over 600MB right after a clean boot. I first thought it was a corrupt pagefile so I turned off virtual memory and deleted the pagefile. I do NOT recommend anybody to turn off virutal memory for any reason. The computer would hardly boot after that (which windows warns about), but I manged to get it to boot long enough to turn virtual memory back on. In the end it was Norton's fault.