Outlook 2007 Very Slow

[Ashpoint]

My client has a 6 week old XP Pro computer with Office 2007 collecting POP3
mail via Outlook 2007 SP1.

Just this week he has complained about very slow Outlook actions. Up till
then, the Outlook performance was good. Now for example, to change focus
from one email to another and see the Reading Pane populated can take 16 - 20
seconds.

His Outlook was populated by importing the PST file off his old Win98
(Outlook 2000) system when he first received the new PC.

He has a PST just over 1gb

Today, I disabled all add-ins (except Windows Search)
Deleted the current profile and created a new one (importing from the last
PST)
Verified his AV was uptodate
Ran MalwareBytes to find no reported malware

Each step above did not result in any improvement in Outlook performance.

Please offer some technical suggestions.

 

[DL]

Niether importing or exporting is the reccommended way to connect old data
start outlook using the safe switch, see how it then performs

 

[Ashpoint]

Thanks for your note:

Safe mode Outlook was just as bad.

If neither importing or exporting is the recommended way - what is?

 

[DL]

By opening a data file, located on the HD, within Outlook

 

[Ashpoint]

Thanks for those comments...

Has anyone any suggestion how to speed up the Outlook given that this is a
recent phenomenon that (I don't believe) was not caused by the way the data
was exported from Win98 and Imported into Outlook 2007. Initial usage of
Outlook was excellent and only this last week did it slow considerably.

 

[David Webb]

Did this slowdown in Outlook happen to occur after the system was updated to IE7
or IE8? If so, uninstall the update and check Outlook's performance. If cured, I
recommend that you take steps to block its reinstallation by Windows/Microsoft
Update.

I personally had similar issues with Outlook when the browser was updated to
either IE7 or IE8. I returned my system to IE6 and then installed Firefox 3 and
set it as my default.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ashpoint]

Thank you David...

Yes, IE8 was installed prior to delivery of the computer to the client so I
don't think it is the issue. I will however uninstall IE8 and see how that
goes. I'll also install Firefox as a test.

It's weekend here at the moment so I'll attend to this next week and respond
to you then.

 

[DL]

I have both IE8 & FF (default), niether have caused any Outlook performance
issues.
Have you checked winupdate history to see if any recent drivers have been
installed from winupdate?
Vid & chipset specifically

 

[Ashpoint]

No, I have not checked the winupdate history, but I have added that to the
list of things to check when I go to the cient site during their working week.

Thank you for your continued interest and comments.

 

[David Webb]

Just to save you some time, in the case where you find IE7 or IE8 to be the
problem, here are the MS links for info about and for downloading of the blocker
kits:

For IE7 blocker kit:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...F7-5D44-482B-9DBD-869B4A90159C&displaylang=en

For IE8 blocker kit:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...28-5806-4ba6-9e4e-8e224ec6dd8c&displaylang=en

Good luck!

 

[Ashpoint]

Thank you David - that's a VERY usefuly suggestion and toolkit to file away.

Michael

 

[Ashpoint]

The problem is fixed.

The Office 2007 was preinstalled on this HP PC by Hewlett Packard. All I
did upon delivery was to insert the license key from the OEM Medialess
License that I also sold the client.

To fix the issue, I downloaded the Office Professional media kit of a
Microsoft site and did a REPAIR of the Office installation. Now Outlook 2007
is VERY fast. Opening emails is almost instantaneous.

I'm sorry that I can't identify exactly what was broken (since that might
assist others) but the Office repair was the remedy.

Thanks to all who offered their assistance. I now have a happy client.

 

[David Webb]

Glad to hear that you got it sorted out...and thanks for the feedback!