Outlook 2003/2007, XP, & IE7 users please read

Tipstaff · May 11, 2007, 02:57 AM

Here's the deal: All day... no.. scratch that.. for the last 18 hours straight I've been fielding calls from clients (and I'm sure I'll be doing this for the rest of the week) that are having issues with either Outlook 2003 or 2007, where for some unknown reason both were running really, really slow, and in all cases these clients were running XP (Home/Pro, doesn't matter), and had IE7. Any new email they created, opened, forwarded, or what not would be slow to open, and any text they typed was slow to appear. It took me a couple hours to figure this cap out, but lo and behold, Microsoft was to blame... again:

Outlook 2003 and 2007 both use IE's Internet Zones as part of it's security, and both scan any email you get, or any email you type up for Internet links within IEs Trusted/Restricted Sites list. Also, both use HTML for creating and displaying those email by default. Now, normally this process is really fast, however if you use a program, such as Spybot Search & Destroy, or SpywareBlaster to add restricted sites to that list Outlook can take much longer to compare links, because now the list will have gone from a couple hundred to a dozen thousand sites for it to check, however, it should be only a pause of a few seconds initially. Or rather it was until Microsoft pooched things.

May 8th saw the release of the "Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP (KB931768)" to fix a number of issues (of which you can read by following the link HERE). Suffice it to say this.. um.. "fix", for some stupid reason, has Outlook checking the restricted/trusted list for every single letter you type up. It now it will take 10 seconds to open or create an email initially, and 3-10 seconds for any letters you type to show up. Fast typist? Sorry.. but your screwed. Go get something to eat, cuz you will be waiting a while for your words to catch up.

The fixes for the fix? There are 3 simple ways to fix this: 1) switch to creating email, and receiving email in rich text only, 2) remove all restricted/trusted listings in your Internet Security section of IE7 (yeah, like that's going to happen), or 3) go to Add/Remove Programs, check the box that says "Show Updates", scroll down to the listing that says "Windows Internet Explorer 7 - Software Updates", remove the bastich that says "KB931768", and reboot. Then.. don't f'ing download it again (or f'ing call me about it!).. <Ahem> Sorry about that.. just a little.. testy.

Anyways, I still have some testing to do as I don't know if this issue shows up if you use IE6, or previous versions of Outlook, so I'll let you guys know when I know, you know?

And sorry for length of this post, but.. um.. it made for a better story this way.

Dyre Straits · May 11, 2007, 03:47 AM

Just for the record, I'm using IE7 and Outlook EXPRESS for my email and I haven't had any glitches with it yet.

I quit using Outlook 'proper' sometime ago.

Although, I still do have Office 2000 installed with all of its updates.

Tipstaff · May 11, 2007, 04:28 AM

Your system is fully updated, right? And are you using something like SpywareBlaster, Spyware Guard, or Spybot S&Ds immunization aspect? If so, that's good news for a good porition of my clients... at least the ones that use Outlook Express. A large part of my customer base are corpororte users, and they use either Outlook (2000-2003 with a few 2007), or Lotus Notes.

Oo.. something I just realized. Almost all the cases I dealt with today, the clients didn't have Windows Defender installed on their machine.

BTW, just to let people know that the majority of AV software my clients have installed are Symantecs Corporate Anti-Virus (along with BlackICE), BitDefender 8 Free (dumbass client won't spend a penny to protect their asse(ss)ts... cheap bastards), or AVG Free (ok.. these guys.. they can't afford anything.. so.. I won't blast them for going cheap). There's still PC-Cillin, McAfee, and Panda in there too, but I haven't dealt with those guys yet. So, I still have to test out a dozen or so AV software to be sure none of their anti-spyware aspects are going to interfere with Outlook if people have IE7 and that patch installed.

GutterPunk · May 11, 2007, 06:41 AM

Hey tipstaff...

So yeah we have seen that a lot here. Also wait for those people w/ spyware blaster to start complaining they can't watch videos at foxnews or other sites... Spyware blaster adds a couple thousand entries in the hosts list. Denying access to certain advertisement servers. Since adverts cant play before a clip, then the actual clip won't play. Just as a heads up.

My 2 cents... For AV. If you have a savvy person, someone who would enjoy monitoring their network. Trend pc-cillan is awesome. It will say when anyone even logs onto the router etc. The interface is EASY PEASY. I dislike the panda interface, I think the AV itself is crud. mcAfee can burn in hell (sits like norton) although they have a nifty auto fix technician that will resolve most errors. I have found a lot of users liking Avast over AVG. Nod32 + comodo is a medium end price free firewall but they will have one of the least resource using avs out. I home some of this will help get you started evaluating.

***temeteus82*** · May 11, 2007, 07:57 AM

one of the reasons why I use FF and TB...

cozumel · May 11, 2007, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by temeteus82

one of the reasons why I use FF and TB...

touche

GutterPunk · May 11, 2007, 09:15 AM

Well we can't make money if everything works! So keep it up M$

Judas · May 11, 2007, 10:59 AM

I've actually been recommended most of the people to use a web based email system enless they abaslutely need outlook express/outlook. 90% of people don't, they'll never use the features of outlook, and they will only use the very basics of outlook express (from what i've seen), and in the case of a disaster, hardrive crash, or using dialup, they get really upset when they lose thier emails or have to wait 9 hours for an email to get finished downloading.

PangingJr · May 11, 2007, 03:49 PM

besides the Windows's and Microsoft Office's hotfixes that are publicly available at its website or by getting them from the updates services, there are also many supported hotfixes are available from Microsoft's which can be used to successfully solve some specific problem, however, you need to contact Microsoft customer support services to see if there is such a hotfix available to solve the specific problem and to obtain the hotfix.

Dyre Straits · May 12, 2007, 03:09 AM

Judas mentioned my own personal preference re: email: I really, really prefer to use online email whether it's Hotmail, Yahoo, or Gmail. In fact, I'm using them ALL for various and asundry reasons. LOL!

My own ISP is Comcast and I hardly ever check the email there. I think the last time I checked it, I had 2 - 3 emails waiting for me. So, I just really don't use my own ISP's email much at all.

I'm using OE for other reasons. BUT, again, like Judas said, if my hard drive crashes, or, if I do a Windows installation without backing up my emails, it's gone. So, backing up or transfering emails to more permanent storage is a must.

The main reason I quit using Outlook 2000 itself is due to it generating an error each time I would exit it. Microsoft's KB says it's a problem that can't be fixed and that I need to upgrade to 2003 or better. I'm not interested in going that route as I really don't need any of the newer features of the newer suites....at least not yet. I'll likely wait to do any upgrading of Office until I finally migrate to VISTA....which could be a while.

And, although many people disparage McAfee, I've used it for years and it comes with Comcast for free. I'm used to it and don't seem to have any serious issues related to it. I MUCH prefer it to anything with "Norton" in the name.

But, Tipstaff, see if your clients can get by with OE instead of Outlook. Might be the remedy they're looking for.

Good luck!

Tipstaff · May 12, 2007, 03:25 AM

So far the only things I've been able to recommend to my clients is to either uninstall IE7, and go back to IE6, uninstall that update, and don't install it. I also can't figure out which of the 11 fixes in that update are the cause of the issue.

Oh well. There is a positive side to this: money. I may not make money on every single call, but since I have a service contract with a number of these clients, or the companies some of these clients work for, one single phone call makes me money. And onsite support? Lot'sa money money money.

Edit: As for Outlook Express or online email, most of my clients are corporate (and most use some sort of Exchange Server), and they depend on Outlook for their calendars/scheduling, and sharing of contacts (using programs such as WorkgroupShare), and so fourth, so they sorta need to keep using it. I wish they didn't sometimes.