Outlook freeze

D

Dennis

I have been using Outlook 2000 since 2001 with no trouble
until yesterday. When I click on the icon the main screen
comes up, my pointer rotates, like the program is
starting, for about 30 seconds, then it shuts itself down
and goes back to my desktop. I am using XP home edition
on a Pentium 4 system. As far as i know i haven't picked
up any virus's, according to Norton antivirus and I have
added no new programs recently. Does anyone have any
ideas that I can use to repair this? Any help would be
greatly appreciated.
 
P

Patrick Reed [MVP - Outlook]

Have you been keeping up with service packs and patches from Officeupdate
(www.microsoft.com/office)?

If you select Start | Run
Enter outlook.exe /Safe (note the space between "exe" and "/Safe")
Select OK
Does Outlook open?
 
P

Patrick Reed [MVP - Outlook]

I'd like to think so.

Close Outlook and search for a file named outcmd.dat. If you right click
your Start button in Windows and select Explore, it should be in your
profile's \Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook folder. Rename that file and
start up Outlook normally... any luck?
 
P

Patrick Reed [MVP - Outlook]

OK. There are other things that are disabled when starting in safe mode.

Start back up with the /Safe switch and select Tools | Options | Other |
Advanced | Add-In Manager. Uncheck all installed add-ins and then restart
Outlook normally. Any difference now?
 
P

Patrick Reed [MVP - Outlook]

OK - let's try this.

Close Outlook
Select Start | Run
Enter outlook.exe /CleanViews (note space between ".exe" and
"/CleanViews)
Select OK

Any different?


If you create a new profile, does it work?
 
P

Patrick Reed [MVP - Outlook]

Hmmm. How about this...

Close Outlook
Select Start | Run
Enter outlook.exe /NoPreview
(note space between ".exe" and "/NoPreview")
Select OK

Besides add-ins, the preview pane, and toolbar customixzations, I can't
think of much else that's disabled by starting Outlook in Safe mode. How
about MS Word? Do you have that set as your e-mail editor?

You can try running SCANPST.EXE against your PST file.

If you create a new, blank PST file and set that as your delivery location,
is it any different?
 
P

Patrick Reed [MVP - Outlook]

Sorry about that.

The option for Word as the e-mail editor is in Tools | Options | Mail
Format.

SCANPST.EXE can usually be found in C:\Program Files\ - just run a FInd
FIles or Folders from there. Double click the SCANPST.EXE file. It's a
fairly simple program. You just Browse to your PST file(s) and start a scan
on them.

In Outlook, if you show the folder list (View | Folder List), and right
click | select Properties on the top-level folder in the list, you can see
where the file resides.
 
B

Brian Tillman

How do I create a blank PST file and have it set as my delivery
location?
Click to expand...

To create a new PST, click File>New>Personal Folders File, browse to a
likely folders, give the PST the name you want, click OK. To set it as the
default delivery location, click Tools>Services>Delivery and choose the new
PST. Were I doing this, I'd stop and restart Outlook at this point.
 
B

Brian Tillman

In my version (Outlook 2000), I don't have a Services>Delivery
option.
Click to expand...

You must be running Outlook in Internet Mode Only, then. IMO doesn't use
profiles. You have a couple of options. One is to wait for a response from
someone else who is more familiar with OL 2000 IMO ;-) and the other is to
switch to Corporate/Workgroup mode (Tools>Options>Mail Setup). If you don't
use IMAP to access your mail server, you don't lose any functionality and
you'll gain profiles.
 
R

Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]

Internet Mail Only mode:
- File menu > Open > Personal Folders file > migrate to the new PST file
location to open it
- Right-click on the root of the new set of folders in the folder pane (View
Folder List)
Click to expand...
- Choose Properties
- Check the "Deliver POP mail" box
- Quit & restart Outlook
- Now you can Close the PST file that you were previously using (R-click on
that pst folder while in Folder View and select "Close <foldername>
Folders"). If you have any information in your former PST that you'd like to
transfer to your new default PST, you can drag and drop from one to the
other before you close the old one.
 
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