Outlook running slow

[Guest]

My Outlook is running slow - sometimes it freezes altogether. Could this be
because I have too much in my filing folders? I have archived a lot - but
presumably this doesnt reduce the amount of processing needed...
No problems with other Office products, using latest XP updates etc, fast
machine. Moving to IMAP has slowed down scanning messages - is that the only
factor?

 

[Brian Tillman]

My Outlook is running slow - sometimes it freezes altogether. Could
this be because I have too much in my filing folders?

How large is your PST?

I have archived
a lot - but presumably this doesnt reduce the amount of processing
needed...

In general, it helps.

No problems with other Office products, using latest XP updates etc,
fast machine. Moving to IMAP has slowed down scanning messages - is
that the only factor?

It may be *a* factor. In general, the scanning of incoming or outgoing
messages should be avoided. You can also disable IM integration (depending
on your Outlook version, which you don't clearly state - does the "XP" refer
to Office XP or Windows XP?) at the bottom of Tools>Options>Other.

 

[Guest]

Brian
thanks for the response
Looking via Search, there seem to be 2 files -
one under: Local settings\Application data\Microsoft\Outlook with only 48KB
and a second one under: Local settings\Application
data\Microsoft\Outlook\Microsoft\Outlook with 1,158,809 KB

Similarly, I seem to have 2 archive files - the first with 484,585 KB, the
second with
1,132,528 KB in it.

Any idea what is going on?

I have diabled IM - dont understand what it does but lets see if it speeds
things up.

PeterD

 

[richmich]

Check the size of the outcmd.dat file. Each time a user reported that
Outlook was slow, this file was big. It should only be a few K large.
If it is large, just delete it and Outlook will recreate it. It is in
the Outlook folder.

 

[Guest]

its only 3KB - so thats not the problem - thanks anyway

 

[Brian Tillman]

Looking via Search, there seem to be 2 files -
one under: Local settings\Application data\Microsoft\Outlook with
only 48KB and a second one under: Local settings\Application
data\Microsoft\Outlook\Microsoft\Outlook with 1,158,809 KB

This seems strange. There should not be any folders underneath the first
....\Microsoft\Outlook folder. What version of Outlook are you using? If
Outlook 2002 or 2003, click File>Data File Management and look at the
path(s) for all the PSTs you see there. Do those paths match the paths to
the PSTs you found in search?

Similarly, I seem to have 2 archive files - the first with 484,585
KB, the second with
1,132,528 KB in it.

While neither of the larger PSTs you list are at the maximum size allowed
for PSTs, with Outlook 2002 I've seen some performance degradation when the
PST size exceeds about 1.25 Gb. Your large PSTs are slightly over 1 GB. If
either is active, I'd start a new one and redistribute the data to reduce
their size.