did I screw my Outlook program up permanently?

[Jeff]

Yesterday I went to close my Outlook window and it seemed
to be frozen open. I opened task manager and it was not
listed as a running program. I opened the processes tab
and saw several Outlook.exe processes running. I was
warned of possible instability and loss of of data but I
ended those processes anyway. I think I may have really
screwed something up because now whenever I run Outlook
it runs very slow and slows down all other programs as
well. Task manager shows CPU at 100 percent usage and xx
is always in the 80's-90's. I also have McAfee Security
Suite installed on my system but I usually shut down all
features other than virus-scan because it makes
everything run so slow. I was fiddling around with the
settings yesterday and don't recall changing anything but
I noticed that even though the spamkiller program
is "disabled" it appears to be running when I open
Outlook because a little "checking for spam" window pops
up briefly as it starts up. Is there a way to save all
of my Outlook data and uninstall/reinstall the program?
I have a lot of contacts and email saved that I don't
want to lose. Thanks

 

[Brian Tillman]

Is there a way to save all
of my Outlook data and uninstall/reinstall the program?
I have a lot of contacts and email saved that I don't
want to lose.

All your Outlook data is stored in your PST file, the default location of
which is %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Applcation Data\Microsoft\Outlook,
which is a hidden folder. Save the PST and you'll be able to uninstall and
reinstall and then reuse that PST.

Alternatively, run a Detect and Repair (Help>Detect and Repair). It might
fix the problem.