Outlook starting unexpectedly

  • Thread starter Thread starter TW
  • Start date Start date
T

TW

If I look at the "Processes" tab of "Windows Task
Manager" I always see the process "Outlook.exe" even if I
have not actually run Outlook.

Why is this?

Thanks!
 
Yes, there's a PDA being involved, but it seems to happen
even when it's turned off and not in it's craddle.
Thisis not actually my computer, but a lawyer friend
(hate to admit that!) that's running some sort of Outlook
replacement software (apparently very popular with
lawyers); the company that sells that package swears up
and down their package would not make Outlook load for
any reason. This was my suspicion from the beginning.

Thanks!

TW
 
TW said:
If I look at the "Processes" tab of "Windows Task
Manager" I always see the process "Outlook.exe" even if I
have not actually run Outlook.

Why is this?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Has Outlook been ran before (despite your lawyer friend using some other
e-mail client)? If so, it may not have shutdown completely and instead
hung so it stays in memory. Outlook.exe and Winword.exe occasionally
will hang on exit and you have to kill them in Task Manager. Add-ins
(Tools -> Options -> Other -> Advanced) can also perform duties on
shutdown that will cause Outlook to take a long time to unload, and if
those plug-ins crash or hang then so does Outlook.

While your friend uses some other e-mail client, which application pops
up when he/she clicks on a mailto: link? You can test this just by
creating a shortcut to "mailto:" on the Windows desktop and then
double-clicking it (actually handy to start writing an e-mail without
having to wait for the Outlook GUI to load).

In the Internet Options applet in Control Panel under the Programs tab,
which e-mail client is listed as the default program for e-mail?

Has your friend ran an anti-virus scan of all files on all drives
(including networked or mapped drives if they are not checked
separately) with a recently updated copy of the anti-virus program?
Could be he has worms that are trying to send outbound e-mails using his
system.

Has your friend used msconfig.exe (System Configuration) to disable all
startup programs to ensure that something on startup isn't loading
Outlook? You don't mention your friend's version of Windows.
msconfig.exe is missing on Windows 2000 but is available on the other
versions. You can download a Windows XP copy of msconfig (do a Google
search) or you can use Mike Lin's Startup applet (which is free and
without worries of piracy issues although Microsoft isn't going to
bother about this borrowing of a utility versus stealing their operating
system).

Of course, if you really want help with whatever e-mail client your
lawyer friend is actually using, you'll have to identify it so other
users of that same software can help you ... er ... your friend.
 
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