Vista - Cannot get Outlook 2007 to open

We have had Vista on our computers for over a year and this week on both my husband's laptop and my desktop we began having problems opening up Outlook 2007.

Basically what happens is when we open Outlook (whether through a shortcut or through the Start-up menu) it starts to open and just hangs up. The little circle will just spin for hours.

So how we're temporarily getting around it is we go to task manager, close outlook and then try again to reopen it. It then allows us to open in Safe Mode. This is not a long term solution however.

Also, we are having difficulty with searching in windows file explorer. It just hangs up and won't allow us to search.

I have tried doing the SCANPST twice now and it does show that there are errors. But when I try to "repair" it just hangs up and the little circle spins forever.

Looks like this is a problem others have had as well.
Any advice?

Hello marknanne,
Are you using other MS Office progs.as well? If so - do the other applications open normally?
What's changed since the last time you were able to open Outlook?
Have you tried running MS Office Diagnostics? [Outlook, Help.]

Thanks for your response, JMH.

Thanks for your response, JMH. To answer your questions:

1. Are you using other MS Office progs.as well? If so - do the other applications open normally?


Yes, we are using other MS Office programs and they are opening just fine.

The only other problems we are having are:
- ‘Searching’ and creating new folders with windows file explorer
- itunes won’t open
- Norton Antivirus Scan and Avira AntiVirus Guard freeze up when scanning
- When trying to do a system restore it opens to a blank white screen and the blue circle just spins and spins

2. What's changed since the last time you were able to open Outlook?

Here’s what has changed since the last time Outlook worked properly:
- We took both computers to new location for one week and then brought them back and plugged them both in.
- Our Avira AntiVirus Guard detected the following on both computers: tr/spy.288488
o I quarantined it and My husband deleted it.


3. Have you tried running MS Office Diagnostics? [Outlook, Help.]

- No we have not but we will try doing it right now.


Thanks for any assistance you can give us.
We sure appreciate your time,
Mark and Anne

Hello again,
It's not a good idea to have two anti virus progs downloaded & running on your system at the same time. It causes all sorts of issues.
I presume Norton came preinstalled on your system.If this is the one you wish to remove go to control panel - programs, uninstall a program -[Uninstall Norton.] Reboot.
Then run the Norton uninstall tool below. Reboot again.
Download and run the Norton Removal Tool

So we finally figured out something that seemed to work – we opened up in safe mode and then did a system restore. Everything that we were struggling with started working normally again. Yay! But only for about 4-5 days and then it all started again.

(Thankfully, while things were working we were able to uninstall Norton, do a disk clean-up and a defrag.)

I have had to do a Safe Mode System Restore back to 7/4/09 twice now and am running okay at this moment except it’s been freezing up and I have to use the button to power it down.

My husband has done one Safe Mode System Restore and needs to do it again but now it says there are NO System Restore points – which is a problem.

I don’t know if it’s a virus or just a Vista thing or what because it’s also happening on our third computer in our kids room. We’ve run a full virus scan through Avira and it doesn’t come up with anything.

Does anyone have any recommendations on what to try?

~Anne

As your multitude of problems are not just confined to MS Office / Outlook2007, I would suggest you start another / new thread, under the appropriate heading.
It would appear that running the 2 anti virus progs together has created mayhem.
[I presume you have all the latest updates on your computers, ie Windows, security etc.]
Good luck.

I have the EXACT same problem! I have an HP Laptop running Vista Home Premium 64 bit .Outlook 2007 opens and works fine for a 1/2 hr and then it seems to freeze up on the send receive mode, so the hourglass is showing. When this happens, the Task Manager will not come up. I even created a shortcut for it. The only way to release is to just POWER OFF and POWER BACK ON, which is how I have been spending my last 2 weeks, which as we know is not good for the computer. I also was out of town on my friends WIFI when I woke up one morning to my computer screen being black and frozen. After having to reboot about 6 times I noticed it had updated with Vista SP2, which I have set to update at 3am. That is when my problems began. In the year I have had my computer, it has never frozen up and Outlook 2007 has always worked properly. There was also an Office sp2 update. I am home now and am VERY FRUSTRATED. arrrrrrggggggggg !! I uninstalled Vista SP2 thinking that was the problem, but apparantly not, since its still hanging up. I was trying to uninstall the office sp2 but the uninstall won't appear for that..Hummm?? At this point, I don't know what to do, other than to reinstall Outlook...but I would much rather figure out what the problem is and why ALL OF A SUDDEN this is happening? I have not installed any new programs. Should I use a restore point and go back to before all this started happening? I wonder why this happend a few weeks ago to others besides myself?? Was it something in the Office sp2 do you think? or in the Vista Sp2 update? Or someother update from Windows? Please help!!! Thanks a lot! SallyMarie

Hello SallyMarie
I doubt if your problem is SP2 related.
Yes a system restore is a possibility - to a date prior to your current problems.

Is your Outlook program full updated?

If you have a virus scanner that integrates with Outlook disable this
integration.

Some links for you to peruse -
Note that the first link is for Outlook freezes.[ as well as other problems.]
Microsoft Outlook 2007 Running Slow ? Fix the Problem Now - Digital Inspiration

Vista - Outlook 2007 Freezes

Yes, it is fully updated. Like I said...I have never had any problems what so ever and 2 weeks ago, it started. so, since there have been about 10 updates for Windows and Office...security, junk email filters, Defender...etc, one would think one of these updates had something to do with it....ya think??? I mean why now??? What has changed...only new updates. So, since so many other people All Of A Sudden are having this problem, there must be something causing this? Also, why won't the Task Manager open when this happens, so I could at least just close Outlook, instead of having to reboot the bad way?
Thanks again