Outlook 2007 configuring at every startup

[jb5qld]

I've been running Vista and Office 2007 for 2 years with no issues, then
suddenly a month or so ago, whenever I open Outlook it brings up the message
"please wait while Microsoft prepares the necessary files" followed by
"configuring microsoft outlook 2007". It will then take anywhere from 30
seconds to several minutes before the program finally opens. If I try to
cancel, it freezes and I have to Ctrl-Alt-Del to shut it down.
I've tried the obvious, uninstalling & reinstalling but nothing changed.
None of the fixes I've found so far appears to relate to Vista and Office
2007.
I have all the updates & patches installed .. I actually wonder whether the
issue didn't start after an update was installed.
Would anybody be able to suggest a solution?
thx in advance

 

[neo]

Does the issue happen under a new Vista userid? If it doesn't, then
whatever is funky is with the registry section of the User and not the
machine.

 

[Scott Z]

I started having the same problem about a month ago as well. My problem
coincides with upgrading my Office 2007 installation with SP2. I've read
suggestions on other forums to delete all Outlook shortcuts and create a new
shortcut. I also saw a suggestion or two about just using the original
shortcuts that were created by the Outlook installation process. None of that
helps.

If there's a chance that un-installing/re-installing isn't going to help
either (which I'm considering doing next), it might not even be worth
bothering to try that option if it didn't work for jb5qld.

Any other ideas?