This problem is caused by a "protective" protocol that I do not support or
recommend, that is, loading down the registry by adding a slew of sites to
IE's Restricted Sites zone - sometimes tens of thousands of URLs. Products
that "protect" you by loading down the registry in such a way include Spybot,
IE-Spyad and Spyware Blaster.
IE7 has made changes to the way that the rendering engine interacts with the
Restricted Sites zone - the end result is that if you are using Outlook (not
2007), have IE7 installed and use HTML as your email format, then when you
type an email the IE rendering engine will check the registry for entries in
IE's Restricted Sites zone **every time you type a character***.
FIXES:
Remove all of those entries in the Restricted Sites Zone - a quick way to do
this is to reset Internet Explorer's settings (Tools, Internet Options,
Advanced tab)
Stop using HTML (switch to Rich Text instead)
Use Word as Outlook's email editor.
***DO NOT*** to set Outlook to run in the Internet Zone.
SOAPBOX:
I am reading commentaries in which some complainants demand that Microsoft
"fix" IE7 so that they can continue to use the Restricted Sites zone as a
"Protection", ignoring the fact that using a protection that depends on
adding URLs to IE's Restricted Sites zone is doomed to eventual failure in
the same way as adding spam senders to a blocked sender list is doomed to
failure.
It is true that in Windows Server 2003 and in Windows XP the Registry Size
Limit (RSL) functionality was removed for the most part, meaning that there
are no longer any limits on the total amount of space that may be consumed by
registry data in paged pool memory and disk space, but this does not mean we
should bog the registry down with ever increasing data like Restricted Zone
URL entries (Note: On Windows Server 2003, there is a limitation for the
system hive of 12 MB when we use the /3GB switch).
There is no practical limit to the number of URLs that the bad guys can
create to spread their wares and we simply cannot continue to add URL after
URL after URL to IE's Restricted Sites zone as a way to fight back. If
Microsoft decides to change the behaviour behind the slowdown affecting
Outlook, then they should do so for reasons other than people wanting to bog
down their systems with tens of thousands of Restricted Zone registry entries
- it will be better for us to move away from a "protective" protocol that is
doomed to eventual failure.
I can understand the thinking behind using the Restricted Sites zone - it
means you can view the sites with minimal risk, whereas using a HOSTS file
completely blocks access to sites, but I recommend that iIf you really want
to avoid advertisements and spyware domains, use Mike Burgess's HOSTS file,
available here:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
--
Sandi
Microsoft MVP since 1999
http://www.ie-vista.com
Blog:
http://www.msmvps.com/spywaresucks
Internet Explorer Community
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/community/default.mspx