Outlook 2007 very slow, looking for new tips

[ajkessel]

I have a clean machine -- no spyware, viruses, malware, etc. Checked
with SpyBot S&D, AdAware, Counterspy Agent, up-to-date McAfee, etc..
Not running any unusual software. Recently upgrade to Outlook 2007 and
it is very painful to use. It sometimes takes four or five seconds to
file an email. It also sometimes takes a few seconds to advance to the
next email. This is all without any other applications open.

I've tried all the standard tips out there. They may have improved
things slightly, but it is still nearly unusable:

- Gotten all service packs and patches, including the April 2007
Outlook fix that was supposed to resolve some speed issues.
windowsupdate shows no updates to be installed.
- OST file is not so large -- less than 1GB
- Compacted OST file
- Defragmented OST file
- Disabled all RSS features
- Disabled all plugins/add-ins
- Created new profile from scratch
- Created new OST from scratch
- Disabled on-access checking from virus scanner
- Disabled all Windows Desk Search/indexing features (disabled both
"indexing service" and "windows search service" in services.msc)

I have a relatively fast machine: dual core 1.8 GHz CPU, 2GB RAM
(mostly available), plenty of disk space. Outlook does not seem CPU or
RAM bound. Even in offline mode, it is quite slow. I am running cached
exchange mode and don't really have the option of turning that off.

The only thing that seems to make Outlook 2007 usable is to run in
Safe Mode. So what is the difference between Outlook 2007 in safe mode
versus Outlook 2007 in regular mode with all plugins/add-ins disabled?
Why is the former much faster than the latter?

Any tips? I would rather not switch back to Outlook 2003 but I'm
wondering if I have any choice.

 

[Brandon]

It seems like you've been pretty thorough. I guess if all looks good on the
client machine, I would start investigating the Exchange server or network
connection for problems.

 

[ajkessel]

Also slow in offline mode, however.

It seems like you've been pretty thorough.  I guess if all looks good onthe
client machine, I would start investigating the Exchange server or network
connection for problems.

 

[Brandon]

I guess I would try to delete the Exchange account (from Outlook, not from
the server). Then, I would try to create a simple POP3 account in Outlook
for testing purposes. If it's still slow, then you have a problem with
Outlook or your machine. If it speeds up, I would tend to think there is a
problem with the OST file. From there, I'm not sure the next best step to
take, but it would be good to know for sure.

--
Brandon
http://www.PresentationsDirect.com


Also slow in offline mode, however.

 

[Pete]

I too had the same problems with the same level of investigation. I ended up
rebulding my my machine scratch as I was unable to find or be advised of a
fix.

It's at least somewhat conforting to know I'm not alone but heck I fear I'll
have to resort to doing the same thing again in the future.

For me this experience has left a bad taste, similar to my experiences with
Vista. I was once a rabid MS fan. For the first time since DOS I'm now
starting to reassess my position.

In a possible way to alleviate any potential future problems and to speed a
rebuild time, I'm running up a Virtual PC instance(s) to do my my more
complex tasks, i.e software dev with Visual Studio, SQL Server etc as I do
not wish to "pollute" my day to day tasking machine.

Pity!