Hi Guys,
I've just tried to open my Outlook programme tonight to check emails and it simply won't open. The Vista doughnut just goes round. I've gone to Task Manager and shut it down, then tried again and it will allow me to open it in safe mode.
What on earth's going on??????
It worked last night, then left daughter playing on sims….. it just seems to be glitchy after she's played. Not sure if there's a connection or i'm just biased!

Any ideas as to how to get it to start in normal mode??
cheers
Q

can't be much help i'm afraid, apart from outlook's for work. home mail should be yahoo, hotmail or gmail, as they all come with built in, up to the minute AV, and you can check 'em from anywhere.
sorry to be a smartar5e.
🙂

Options-add in manager and disable them all. enable them one at a time until you find your culprit. Simples. Chances are you don't need them anyways. I quite often just remove them from clients machines and let them start again.

DeVs: thanks for your reply.
Am now at work, so will have to check it all out tonight.
Was thinking about it as driving in, i wonder if she simply didn't shut down my profile/outlook properly to start playing in her profile.
I now discover Daughter no.2 started it up earlier last night and ignored the black screen telling her i had a problem, and so compounded it! grrrr.
Anyway….. will take a look again tonight.

So…. 'task Manager' > disable all > enable one at a time……

then what? try opening Outlook after each enabling?
and if I find 'the culprit' stopping outlook opening, what do I do then?

sorry to be a numpty, but have never had to do this before!
cheers
Q

Trouble is there are usuually so many processes running in task manager. Have you actually shut the machine down competely rather than just hibernating it? If not do it and you may find you are fine

if it only opens in safe mode, try running detect and repair, and then close it down properly (ie wait for outlook.exe to disappear from your task list) Then re open it.

Sorry NO! – Move away from the task manager! Open outlook in safe mode. Go to options and add in manager. You might have to search for it in google to find the exact location as it varies between versions. It's in the trust centre in 2007 Outlook. Disable them all. Close outlook. Go watch telly for 5 mins of so. pen outlook in normal mode and re enable add ins until you find one that breaks it. Repeat the process to remove naughty add in. Hope it works for you.

Devs: ahhh… thanks for explicit instructions. ok will try tonight.

Cap'n : yes I normally shut it down totally. Tried that! It's my old mate's no1 rule. If in doubt turn it off!!!!

ok…. will get home and roll up sleeves………
cheers all
Q

DeVs: I've got into the add in manager, but when i click on an addin it tells me it can only bechanged by an administrator…..but i am!!!!
any thoughts?

EDIT: Got there! am now in as Administrator and have disabled addins. Am shutting down and re-starting and seeing what happens
cheers
Q

Try running scanpst.exe (Microsoft Outlook file repair program)on the outlook .pst file. If there are problems with the file this might fix them for you.

You might need to search for the location of both scanpst.exe and the .pst file on your pc.

tyke: ok….I'll try with DeVs addin first.
might get back on exactly what to do….I'm not an under-the-bonnet sort of bloke!
cheers
Q

Well….
Got into Outlook as an Administrator, unchecked all the addins got out and closed down the computer. A few mins later fired it up….still same problem, wouldn't open unless stopping it in Task Manager and trying again, which then allows me to start it in safe mode.
Have just tried to open Outlook in another user profile – same problem, so I'm not sure if it is anything to do with my outlook in my profile, sounds like it's something to do with 'outlook' on the computer.
Having dug around on the MS website whilst at work, there seems to be a variety of possibilites but no proper help.
I'll see if i can find scanpst.exe somewhere on this thing…..
cheers
Q

Control panel add remove progs and do a repair on office. Still no worky?

Next one is risky then so you might not want to do it and will need your office install disks handy just in case
regedit-hklm-software-microsoft-office (whichever version you have 2003 is 11 iIRC) and delete the outlook key. Do the same in HKCU. Next time you start you'll probably have to re-insert all your settings so take a note of the servers user names and passwords etc. It may ask for the install disk too.

DeVs: If I clikc on Office 2007, i get 'uninstall' or 'change' but not repair….. ?
I'm so tired can hardly seen the screen, been digging around since 4.30pm and still got nowhere!. Am packing it in til tomorrow…..
before i use the famous " Hammer and Scream " technique!!!!!!!
thanks for all your attempts, much appreciated
cheers
Q

Change and then repair! I have actually taken more than one box out into the garden and given it the good news with a sledge hammer. It's very therapeutic.

DeVs: it's a quick login from work, but i had to say…..
thanks for your last comment, I now have a huge smile on my face and thoughts involving hammers, gardens and boxes!!!!!!!!
lol!!!!
many thanks mate.
will get in tonight and try change > repair.
cheers
Q

Hmmmm…. Am rapidly running out of options.
1. Went into Outlook as administrator and turned off the addins which apparently cause the Error message
“ Outlook failed to start correctly last time, Starting Outlook in Safe Mode will help you correct or isolate the problem in order to successfully start the programme”
Turned off addins, turned off pc and started. Nothing.

2. From the tool Bar in Outlook ran Office Diagnostics. All ok.

3. Went into System Restore and took it back to mnday before it all happened….. still can’t open Outlook.
4. Went From the programme install/uninstall went Programme > Change > repair on Office and repaired successfully.
Still no good.

I feel like I’m heading for uninstalling Office and re-installing.
I can back up the user profiles, but how do I keep the emails? Or will they go????
That’ll be a right pain……..
Any other thoughts before it comes to that?
cheers
a very p*ssed off
Q

a couple of thoughts

it might be a permissions or uac issue, if you disabled uac after you installed office, and updated stuff things may go wrong

try an office service pack, fingers crossed and hope that shit works…

your emails are likly saved in a personel folder .pst file, back this file up

right click on your email folder and search around to find the path to it

An uninstall – reinstall shouldn't delete your pst files but back em up just in case. Did you try the registry trick?

DeVs: I presume I go 'start' > Search > .pst to find my pst files?
I didn't try the registry trick because I'm really unsure about that and didn't want to really mess it all up. All the other stuff I've managed to do with a degree of confidence….. all be it nervously!
I feel I'm ok uninstalling and re-installing, after backing up everything. Just need to double check where the pst files are!

dobo: I'm up to date with all that service pack stuff.
So … after reading your post again, windows explorer > personal > and dig around?

thanks to all for keeping me going here…… feel a bit out on a limb else!
Will start backing up when i get home and try and uninstall/re-install over weekend.
cheers
Q

Update: Have just dug around Microsoft and printed off a 'how to use Inbox repair tool' doc and 'where does outlook store things' doc. Both look quite detailed and idiot proof. This last feature will be tested when i try them tonight!
Now….*must* get on with some real work!
cheers
Q

sigh……
Did the Inbox repair with scanpst.exe, to be honest the instructions were totally idiotproof! No Joy.
Did repair on windows
no joy
looks like an uninstall and reinstall of office…………
@rse.
Q

DeVs: Not sure if you're still listening, or have got bored ( I certainly have…..)
The uninstall of Office was a nightmare. The automatic 'uninstall' prog. didn't work, so tried using MS's instructions and got into the bowels of it all…. I hope I got it all out/did it properly.
Did a disc cleanup then defrag. and reinstalled Office. Still same problem!!!!!!!
Also noticed sometimes things sent to Recycling Bin simply won't shut down, so have to do it via Task Manager and I get " Windows Explorere not responding " so have that empty gut feeling that I've cocked up somewhere and might have corrupted Vista.
sigh….. computers *really* stress me out. Have no idea what to do now.
It is useable, but have to start Outlook via Task manager and opening in Safe mode!!!
b*gger.
Q

Sounds like you may have borked Vista or something else has done it for you. What AV are you running? Might be worth downloading superantispyware and malwarebytes antimalware and giving them a run. Remove anything they find. You could be looking at a repair install of Vista though or deleting all office files and registry entries before doing a re-install. Not really the preserve of someone who gets stressed out by computers. If you've got factory restore disks or partition (it'll tell you about it at start up) then it could be worth doing that. Make sure you back everything up 1st though using the easy transfer.

Hi DeVs, sorry about the delay in replying – it's been an 'interesting' time and I haven't been able to get into a proper Outlook and see your reply.

Well….. I have done all of the above. Then noticed that my CPU rev counter on the tool side bar was constantly working at around 25% when I think it only ticked over before.
On tuesday I dug around and happened to click on something that told me what was running. It said searchindexer.exe was running at….25%!!!
Did lots of searching and a lot of forum threads appeared, cos i had no idea what it was/did etc ..
I also ran System File Checker to check the system, that came bacl all ok.

This link below describes my problem exactly, and i did as instructed and had exactly the same outcome as the other person.

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistaperformance/thread/c0376598-8e49-4d31-afe4-8a70d296bc27

Sufficient to say…. have left it uninstalled, all seems to be working but i have no idea why this process suddenly 'changed' and started to mess things up.

thanks for the continued interest, much appreciated!
have a good weekend on the bike
Q