Troubleshoot Microsoft
Outlook Problems
Get the fixes for simple Outlook problems.
By Chris Pirillo
Video Highlight
Troubleshoot Outlook problems
Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager that comes
with Microsoft Office and Pocket PC. As a big brother to Outlook
Express, it offers you a calendar, a task list, a journal, an
address book, and an email manager. I've been using it for a few
years now, but even I run into problems that I can't fix.
Last weekend I was having several problems with the program. I
blamed the latest round of Internet Explorer and Office patches,
inadvertently starting a hoax. I was wrong. Today I'm admitting
my mistake and telling you how to resolve your Outlook issues
with a couple of free utilities from Microsoft.
Is Outlook eating system resources?
I first noticed Outlook eating up my system resources when my
calendar popped up a reminder for an impending appointment. Normally
I hit Snooze without thinking. However, my Task Manager was open
and I noticed that 100 percent resources had snapped back down
to zero. And there it stayed. When I closed the nag, outlook.exe
surged to 100 percent CPU usage again. I closed the program and
reopened it, waiting for another reminder to rear its head. This
time there was no spike up front.
I believe that the shark is tied closely to the calendar. When
it flares up, I simply create a new appointment, close it, and
all is well. Did you hear that? It was me, breathing a sigh of
relief.
The hoax
Unfortunately, here's where I started the hoax. I speculated
that the problem was being caused by a hacked DLL. It's not and
I'm working with Microsoft and Woody from Woody's Office Watch
on a fix.
Keep clicking to get to the Outlook fixes from today's "Call
for Help."
Chris Pirillo first documented his Outlook problems in his "Windows
Daily" newsletter from Lockergnome.
Compact and Fix Outlook's Information Files
Compact your files
All of the information in Outlook is stored in a .pst file. I
find that it's useful to compact this file to save space and speed
up Outlook. Here's how:
Right-click the Outlook Today icon and choose Properties.
Click the Advanced button on the General tab.
Click Compact Now to reduce the size of the files in your Personal
Folder.
Fix Outlook's information file
If you're having crashes or other weird behavior, Scanpst.exe
can help you fix the bugs. This is an inbox repair tool utility
that comes with Windows 95, Windows 98, and Office 2000.
Find Scanpst.exe.
Click Start, Find (or Search), and select Files and Folders.
Browse your C: drive for the file named Scanpst.exe.
Launch Scanpst.exe and browse your hard drive for the Outlook
.pst file. Here's where it was located on our machine:
C:\WINDOWS\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\outlook.pst
Make sure you're logged out of all your email programs and click
Start to run the utility.
Here are some other command-line
switches for saving Outlook.
Eliminate Outlook AutoComplete Problems
Remove corrupted names from the nickname list
Another bugaboo I can't seem to fix is a ghost entry in my Outlook
contacts. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but it's attached
to my name. I email "Chris Pirillo" because I have several
accounts for different reasons. When I click on the green-dashed
and underlined entry in a recipient field, this is what Outlook
tells me:
"The name or distribution list has been deleted and is no
longer a valid address book entry."
When I look to remove this dude from my address book, he's not
there! Where's he coming from? How can I get rid of him?
If the AutoComplete function is giving you similar fits, try this
fix from Microsoft. It'll remove all the nickname entries. Thanks
to David Breedlove, a Lockergnome fan, for sending me the link.
This is what he wrote:
"Outlook keeps a nickname list that is used by the automatic
name checking feature. The nickname list is automatically generated
as you use Outlook. If the nickname list is corrupted, Outlook
may not be able to identify recipients, or may send the message
to the wrong person."
Sure enough, it works! I started with a clean slate and deleted
the *.nick file in my home directory. OK, that was easy.
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