Outlook2000 SLOW to open

[Brad]

We're running MSO2000 w/updates on WinXP sp2 w/a Pent4 3.0ghz 1gig memory HP
workstation and when trying to open Outlook, recently it takes a very long
time for outlook to open. We've run spyware/virus scans, updated WinXP/MSO
and can't seem to find what's slowing it down. I did notice today that when
I opened Outlook my PF usage (task mgr./performance tab) went from 272mb to
2.17gb. What would cause Outlook to use so much memory? I'm (my Pc) using
MSO2000 on Win2k w/o any problems. Are there any issues with MSO2000 and
WinXP sp2?

 

[Pat Willener]

You forgot to mention your account type. I found that Outlook can take
a long time to open when on an Exchange Server with a bad connection (my
Exchange Server is located at the other side of the planet). The same
thing will happen if the Exchange Server is slow or overloaded.

However, what you write about OL using that much memory is not normal.
How much memory does task manager show for the OL process? Can you give
us more details about your OL setup?

 

[Brad]

Pat,
I'm not sure about the server, we're using AT&T Business Internet Mail we
log onto they're web site to retrieve the mail. We don't have an Exchange
server ourselves. For the process I'll check it out (it's not my machine)
but it didn't seem high. Now for the stupid question what do you want to
know about the OL setup? She's mainly using it for email, contact list for
email and calendar for appointments. What originally got this started was
her machine was running extremely slow besides OL opening extremely slow. I
noticed when her machine was slow it was utilizing a large amount of memory
but the process list didn't seem to show or coincide with the memory usage.
When I checked her machine (at lunch time) the only thing running was
ZoneAlarm & Winsonar using 272mb of memory when I started OL it jumped
immediately to 1.13gb while it was trying to open then when it did open
(window finally came up) it was at 2.14gb. So that's where I'm blaming OL.
I'll get the actually OL process and get back with you.
Thanks Brad

 

[Brad]

Pat,
For the amount of memory task manager shows veries, on startup it jumps
around between 17000k and 27000k, once it is fully open it settled at 16372k
then once she checked her emails it dropped down to 7160k. She only had 5-6
emails she had to deal with no long list of spam or anything. I did notice
that the 16372k figure was when it was retrieving the emails also, so it
didn't take a huge leap doing that.
Again, while OL was opening the performance tab memory was at 1.72gb and
after fully open it stays at 2.14gb slowing every thing down. Puzzled!
Thanks Brad

 

[Pat Willener]

Brad,

Could it be that some add-on takes that much memory and slows down
Outlook? Try to start OL in safe mode (with the /safe program switch)
and see if it behaves the same.

My question regarding OL setup was mainly the account type; you wrote
that you don't use Exchange Server, so I assume POP3/SMTP. Can you check
the mail servers' response time by issuing PING against it/them?

General slowness of a Windows system can have many reasons: too low
memory, too small page file, high disk usage, file fragmentation, etc.

P@

 

[Brad]

Pat,
We tried a couple of things. We tested it both with WinXP in safe mode and
std. mode. Running OL /safe does make a world of difference. Instead of
running at 2.1gb it only runs at about 7-10mb (increase) 54meg in WinXP safe
mode and 234 meg in WinXP std. mode. WinXP /safe it acted the same, it ran
with alot of memory usage in OL std. mode. WinXP in safe mode didn't seem to
affect it at all.
Where can I look for the issues or what could be causing this issue? We went
into "tools" and found the "add-in manager" and turned the two items off and
it didn't have any affect on the way it ran. We found "SAV***" Symantec AV
and a "net folders"(?).
Your other comments about other things slowing us down:
It's a P4 3.0GHz with 1Gig of memory, 160gb HDD with 138gb free disc space,
the page file was set at 1536 min - 3072 max and I changed it to system
adjustable. Doesn't seem to have helped. Oh, yes it's setup for POP3/SMTP. I
tried to ping the servers and can't get a response.
Brad