It just began happening and I’m not sure why.  The program opens and then hangs for almost a minute before I can access anything.  Any idea why?  I don’t have it connected to an exchange server or anything like that.  Just regular ol’ POP mail. 

I do have a Bluetooth dongle though.  Could that be a problem?

Which version of Outlook are you using? On my system, Outlook 2003 loads up in around 5-6 seconds. If I close it and open it up subsequent times, it loads in 2-3 seconds. Do you have any Outlook plug-ins loading?

You may want to check your Task Manager before you start loading Outlook. There may be some other process slowing down your system.

I load up 1 pop account and 2 imap accounts and it’s pretty snappy so it definitely shouldn’t take that long to open a single pop account.

And no, I don’t think the Bluetooth dongle has anything to do with it.

I’m using Outlook XP.  It USED to startup immediately, just like yours.

What should I be checking for in Task Manager?  Now that I think about it, MSN Messenger hangs on startup too.  It’s getting pretty annoying.

If you’ve recently deleted a lot of mail, you might want to compact your PST files .

[quote author=“Buckerine”]I’m using Outlook XP.  It USED to startup immediately, just like yours.

What should I be checking for in Task Manager?  Now that I think about it, MSN Messenger hangs on startup too.  It’s getting pretty annoying.

Is your MSN Messenger tied to your Outlook?

Do you have anti-virus software installed?

How big is your PST file?

My PST file’s 43.1 MB, but that can’t be it because it’s been around that big for years now. 

I do not have anti-virus software installed. 

How would I know if MSN messenger is tied to Outlook?  THAT actually might be the problem, because MSN messenger always hangs too.

Go to Tools -> Options -> Other

Uncheck the following:

HAHAHA.  It worked!!  Amazing.

This has been the biggest pain in the ass.  Thanks, gr00vy…what a lifesaver.

Groovyone,
to disable messenger in outlook 2003, do you uncheck the ‘enable persons name smart tag’? does that do the same thing?

[quote author=“Buckerine”]

I do not have anti-virus software installed. 
.

Oh my.. and why not dear ?

I do not have anti-virus software installed.

Gosh i hadn’t spotted that. Are you now infected with mydoom?

hmmm .... my outlook file is about 142MB

is that good or bad???

Mrs Gadget: no you don’t have to uncheck that.

Sony Vaio: Your PST size is fine. Mine is only around 120MB right now as I archive my older items every 6 to 8 months. I have friends who have 500-800MB PST which is a little excessive. Outlook still works fine but it does take a little longer to load up.

Mrs Gadget: no you don’t have to uncheck that.

I did though and i don’t seem to haver the msg icon appear in my task bar anymore?
Is there another way that you can turn off messenger in outlook 2003?

Ah…sorry for that Mrs. Gadget….I didn’t realize you were using Outlook 2003. For whatever reason, MS changed the name of messenger option. So, you did the correct thing.

For people with Outlook 2002 the option is what was seen above.