[Avalanche]

When I run outlook I usually just load it up, check my email and if there is none to be had, I promptly shut it down. Up until yesterday this hasn't been a problem, but last night I had reason to CTRL-SHIFT-ESC to bring up the Task Manager and I found that I had like 9 OUTLOOK.EXE's running each taking 8.9Mb to run.

I've heard that Outlook might leave itself resident in memory after it was shut down, but I've never experienced it doing it before. Is this a bug? Or is there a way to configure Outlook so it doesn't do this? It's very annoying, cause if I truly want to quit the program I have to first exit it, then go into the task manager and end the process for it.

Like I said it's never done this to me before, just started yesterday, and no software or hardware changes have been made that might have caused any troubles.

I searched back quite a ways in the forums to see if there was a solution, cause I seem to remember another member bringing this one up, but I can't seem to find it with search, so please forgive me if this has already been addressed by one of the many learned and talented members on these forums.

Thanks for any help anybody might have.

[pbuckne]

Are you running NT or 2k?
Is Outlook running under applications or processes?
How long has your machine been up without a boot? (You might try an uptime on your box)

The reason I ask is that under NT, having processes hang was a lot more common than under 2k.

Outlook will remain running in the background under normal conditions unless you choose file, log off and exit, or something like that. Then it shuts down completely. If the different Outlook sessions were running under processes, I would say that they were hung processes, and you might be running out of resources, so a reboot would be in order. If they were running under applications, I would wonder about the program...

Hope my rambling helps.

[Avalanche]

I'm running win2k, and the "running outlooks" are in the Processes column, you are right about them being hung processes, but I can't seem to fix the issue.

It also appears that Outlook now is just plain not working. I should have recieved an email that said I recieved a reply to my post but I didn't, even though it said it successfully logged onto my mail server and found no mail.

Maybe all I need is a reinstall of outlook?

Since my post I've rebooted several times, my machine is a home computer and I shut it down over night and reboot in the mornings.

Running out of resources isn't the issue either, I have 512Mb of ram, and under the Performace Tab, it says I have only ~113,000Kb used. The processes will hang right from the beginning of a reboot.

This is very confusing.

Update:
I just removed and reinstalled Outlook, and while it now is recieving mail again, it still hangs it's process. Currently I have 6 OULOOK.EXE's running each taking up between 7000Kb and 9500Kb of ram. What an annoyance!

[Avalanche]

So a bit more information I just discovered

The process only hangs if I send and recieve mail, wheter I click the send and recieve button or just let Outlook check on its own.

If I shut the program down before it has a chance to do the send and recieve cycle, OUTLOOK.EXE won't hang.

I checked the MS web site and the closest thing I could find on the issue was Knowledge Base Article Q196366 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q196366

And this doesn't apply to my situation at all.

[pbuckne]

Try exiting and logging off of Outlook, after it sends and receives. It might not hang at that point, since it officially shuts down. Now while this isn't a fix, it might narrow the culprit down. Is it Outlook 97, 2k, XP or one of the Outlook Express variants? Also, are you Service Pack 2? I don't remember seeing it mentioned, but I could have missed it...

[Avalanche]

I'm not sure what you mean by logging off of Outlook.

Yes, I exit the program, and the window disappears, but when I CTRL-SHIFT-ESC to bring up the task manager, OUTLOOK.EXE is still running.

I am running Outlook 2000 (my topic title said this) SR1, under Win2kPro SP2.

This is a real confussion to me. Apparently even MS hasn't heard of this problem.

[pbuckne]

Most of us use the X to eXit out of programs... Outlook will by default remain running after you close out, since you can have any number of emails open that you might be working on, and it has a function where you can send a new mail message from the Office Toolbar (trust me, its there). Since it stays open, it is possible that one or more of those functions hang out there.

In short, go up to FILE, then down to EXIT and LOG OFF in Outlook when you are closing the program. This will completely close all of Outlook, and might take clear out any processes that are hanging up.

[Avalanche]

Thanks for the suggestion.

I tried it and it doesn't appear that's the problem. I was sure hoping it would be something easy like that.

Plus when I use the File menu, I don't see Exit and Log Off, all I see is Exit, I find nowhere that it says Log Off.

[pbuckne]

Hmm. Should be the bottom option. I will check my version of Outlook 2k at work tomorrow and see what I have, then we can compare. I still think we are on the right track. Interesting nonetheless...

[Avalanche]

Yeah, I think it may have something to do with the recent update to McAfee, the problem started right after I installed the latest program update. So I disabled the "HAWK" com add-in.

OUTLOOK.EXE still hangs but that doesn't mean HAWK isn't the culprit, or another McAfee thing. I know I haven't had the best of luck with Network Associates software, so I certainly wouldn't doubt it.

[pbuckne]

Hmm. I have version 9.0.0.3821 Corporate or Workgroup. What are you running? Are you using Microsoft Exchange for email? Also, I know my 2k hides options I haven't used unless I click the double down arrow, are you seeing the whole menu? Sorry about asking, but its the easy ones that trip us up...

[pbuckne]

Hmm. I have version 9.0.0.3821 Corporate or Workgroup. What are you running? Are you using Microsoft Exchange for email? Also, I know my 2k hides options I haven't used unless I click the double down arrow, are you seeing the whole menu? Sorry about asking, but its the easy ones that trip us up...

[pbuckne]

Its frustrating when you hit the back button, and then resubmit the key. I guess I could claim my browser stutters...

[Avalanche]

Yeah, I'm sure I'm seeing the whole menu, I clicked the down arrow, the only thing at the bottom of the File menu is Exit.

According to About from the Help menu I'm running Microsoft®Outlook® 2000 Version 9.0.0.2711

I'm pretty certain that I don't have a Log Off feature is because I've got Outlook set up for "Internet Only" mail retreval, rather than setting it up as part of a work group. It's on my home system after all.

I guess that's it.

[yakkob]

Exit and LogOff is only featured in the outlook 97's I seem to recall.

Avalance, the bug you are experiencing has been talked about on these forums b4 here .

There aint much you can do about it

[Avalanche]

Hey thanks man, for the input.

I did a search through the forums before posting, I must have just missed that one, sorry for the double post then.

Anyhow, that's what I figured was the final solution.

Any ideas why this suddenly started happening out of the blue? It's strange for software to suddenly act up in this way.

[yakkob]

Quote:

[B]I did a search through the forums before posting, I must have just missed that one, sorry for the double post then

No worries. I just recalled replying to it b4 that's all.

As for it happening out of the blue? I don't know

Hopefully, someone will come up with a solution one day

[pbuckne]

Funny that it would only seem to be found under 97, since it is on my 2k, but we could have upgraded editions, not for sure.

[hands0n]

Try PSKILL.EXE (part of PSTools) which will allow you to create a desktop Icon to kill off the OUTLOOK.EXE process. It works on XP/W2K/NT at least.....