Preparing Outlook for first use after SP2 update

[Tatsujin]

I've just updated my Vista PC with a variety of updates including the newest
SP2 update for Office/Outlook.

Having restarted the PC and opened Outlook, I'm now seeing that Outlook is
"Counting Folders" and "Preparing Outlook for first use".

I've read through numerous forums/posts/articles on this subject and I
gather this is a 'normal' requirement for this new update, however, it's been
running now for 3 hours and it still is not actually showing me that it's
doing anything other than counting folders.

Any ideas how long this should take (I read that it should be between 30
minutes and 2 hours but that it would show the 'progress')?

Has it crashed or got stuck?

Anyone else had this problem?

Help! I need to access my email!

Tats

 

[Tatsujin]

Mailboxes are rather large, yes . . . 3GB+ . . . it hasn't even got to the
part of doing anything yet I think, still counting folders.

Wish Microsoft had given a warning about this BEFORE installing . . . I'd
have not installed this at this point otherwise!

Will try restarting PC and see what happens . . .

Tats

 

[Tatsujin]

OK . . . rebooted PC and on opening Outlook, it told me that the Avast add-in
was causing a problem . . . disabled this and the 'update' of the .pst files
went through really quickly (less that 5 minutes) . . . re-enabled Avast and
opened Outlook again, and all seems fine now . . . fingers crossed!

Tats

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Do yourself a favor and disable Avast again - it is unnecessary, redundant,
and causes all kinds of problems, as do all integrated AV scanners in
Outlook.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
ALWAYS post your Outlook version.
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375


After furious head scratching, Tatsujin asked:

| OK . . . rebooted PC and on opening Outlook, it told me that the
| Avast add-in was causing a problem . . . disabled this and the
| 'update' of the .pst files went through really quickly (less that 5
| minutes) . . . re-enabled Avast and opened Outlook again, and all
| seems fine now . . . fingers crossed!
|
| Tats

 

[Tatsujin]

And if I disable Avast, what then scans my incoming/outgoing email for any
viruses etc BEFORE it gets placed on my PC?

Tats

 

[Gordon]

And if I disable Avast, what then scans my incoming/outgoing email for any
viruses etc BEFORE it gets placed on my PC?

Nothing. You do NOT get viruses or anything else bad just by downloading
emails. That happens when you OPEN them, which is when your AV will kick
in..

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Uninstall the email scanning part. If it runs on "autoprotect" it will pick
up any bugs when you attempt to open them, (which you won't because you are
smart enough to know what is likely a virus and what is a legit attachment.
)

Outlook saves all attachments to the securetemp folder before opening - AV
will pick it up at that time. Scripts and other non-attachments are
disabled in Outlook.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



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[Mark]

I have just updated both my wife's and my XP systems with the SP2 update.
When she opened her outlook the "preparing for first use.." message appeared.
Once it was completed it had deleted many of her folders and E-mails. Now
my outlook wants to do the same thing. How do I either undo the update or
stop it from deleting the files?

 

[Peter Foldes]

Your Outlook pst files should not be touched. If you want to play it safe then back
up your pst files before proceeding with Update

 

[John Meloche]

Hi Tatsujin,

Since I didn't get help here for the issue., I figured I would share my
result.

Once you update there is a start up delay - the first time you start Outlook
after applying the patch you can be up for a long wait. Part of the fixes is
to rebuild your Outlook .PST data file. For many people that file can be
several gigabytes and, according to Microsoft, can take an hour or more to
rearrange.

I had 2.8gig pst and and on my Quad core processor it took about 30 minutes.

Just be patient.