Issue with OUTLOOK.EXE and WMDC?

[Carnilio]

It seems sometimes (but not always) when i connect my Windows Mobile
Smartphone/PDA to my computer, even just for charging, it somehow makes
"focus" shift for a second, every 3 seconds.

(Example: I will open Word to write a document, but every 3 seconds focus
will shift from Word (the "Word window" will turn grey, as if in the
background) and if i keep typing, nothing will be typed in word, but I still
can't see any window taking the focus either. Usually after no more than a
second focus return to Word and I can then keep typing. But writing a
sentence like "Good morning. How are you?" could end up like "Good ming hre
y?" Luckily I do not often use word, but it is still an annoyance if I am
using any IM program. As I would have to constantly look at the screen and
type or retype, and wait for the shifting focus just to write one sentence?)

Since there was no window that took the focus, I expect this had to be a
process that were missbehaving. And since it starts when I connect mt WM
device, I suspected WMDC, but killing that process made no difference to the
problem. Though as I went through other processes that started up as my
Smartphone were connected, I saw OUTLOOK.EXE too were among them, and killing
this process solved the shifting focus.

But I do not want to have to keep killing outlook every time I connect my
smartphone. So what can I do to fix this? and is this a problem with Outlook,
with WMDC, or Vista itself?

(Note: I am running Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit, and Outlook 2007, latest
version of WMDC, on a home-built computer)

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Works as a charm here but then again; I have Outlook running before I
connect my phone.

If you have WMDC configured to sync your phone with Outlook, then
outlook.exe will always be started to sync the mobile device if Outlook
isn't running yet.

AFAIK; WMDC doesn't have a "battery charging only" mode other than not to
configure it to sync with Outlook.

It could be that you have additional addins installed for Outlook which do
not play well when the main Outlook window isn't running (or do not play
well at all). Disable your addins and see if it still happens.
See http://www.msoutlook.info/question/88

 

[Carnilio]

Thank you for the reply.

I tried disabeling some addons but no success yet. Though it also give me a
message some of the addons cannot be changed as they are located in a
registry key Outlook apparently do not have access to.

On the not of synchronisation, it makes sense, but is i do not kill the
OUTLOOK.EXE process it keeps on for hours, so if it is a synchronization I
would give a guess that it try to synch, but fail and then retry, and fail,
and the process continue like that?

Any ideas how I should proceed? do I better get into regedit? or would there
be firewall/other connection issues?

again, thanks a lot!

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Read the "Note" section of the article I gave you as well? There it links to
a guide which deals with such errors.

The sync of WMDC is a direct sync; it keeps Outlook open for as long as the
mobile device is connected.
Virus scanners are a know cause of focus issues. I'd start with disabling
that type of integration with Outlook as it has no use anyway.
See http://www.msoutlook.info/question/20

 

[Carnilio]

Thank you.

I saw that only a moment after writing my reply here. My bad.
However I disabled all plugins not made by Microsoft (and any plugin made by
them that I can be sure I would not need) though the problem persists.

So I expect it could be antivirus/firewall that cause this. Maybe there is
another port that needs to be opened for the synchronisation to work right or
so?

 

[Roady [MVP]]

No ports need to be opened as you do not use the Internet ;-)
Reinstalling WMDC might work or recreating your sync setup.

 

[Carnilio]

Actually, I have heard (Or understood) that though my phone is connected by
USB, it still use the TCP/IP protocols to connect and communicate with my
phone, and hence fall under the limits of my firewall? And atleast I have had
several issues with synchronizing before, until I opened ports on mt firewall
for WMDC.

On the other hand, after several weeks of exams (finals), i have had the
time to test this, but disabling the firewall completely did not fix the
problem with OUTLOOK.EXE, and the "focus shifts"

And I still can't say I ma the wiser after this either, as for what is
actually the problem? So any other ideas are very welcome!