# Outlook freezes with Attachments



## cchirs (Jul 26, 2003)

Someone please help!

I have MS Outlook 2002 install with Windows XP Pro - SP1. Every time I view or right click on an email that has an attachment, Outlook freezes and it has to be closed. Is there something I'm over looking? I don't think reinstalling will help - I just did a format recently and had the problem before AND after the format. So is NOT an intermitent problem - and I'm not sure what else to do. I tried updating the Office service packs but I couldn't update. So then someone told me to try using an Administrative Install Point in order to update - did that and updated to service pack 2. Immedialy after I installed Office SP2, I could view attachments and everything worked fine - one restart later, same old problem - please advise... I really need help! Thanks!

-C. Christopher Flynn, A+, Net+


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## Del (Aug 31, 2001)

Does this sound right, or does it really die??
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;300904


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## cchirs (Jul 26, 2003)

Yes it DOES sound right - the computer dosn't TOTALLY lock up, Outlook hangs, I can close and minimize it but that's all.

So I applied this patch, and I got the same thing: it works, but not one restart later.

Any other suggestions?


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## Del (Aug 31, 2001)

And it works fine, except when attachments are involved?
Can you send and receive attachments ok if you don't try to open them?


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## cchirs (Jul 26, 2003)

ALL other features of Outlook (that I'm aware of) work fine all the time. I can receive the attachments, they DO make it to my inbox, but I can't do anything with the message.

AND... no I cannot send attachments, when I choose the file to add to the email and hit okay Outlook hangs in the same manner as it does when I try to open or manipulate an email in my Inbox (or in my Deleted items folder for that matter) that has an attachment.


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## cchirs (Jul 26, 2003)

I THINK ITS FIXED - I'll keep ya posted

That MSKB article you reffered me to talked about the alternative user input functions - well even though that patch didn't do a thing I started hunting down other things related to the alternatve input do-hicker. Well... I disabled and uninstalled all the alternative input devices (Windows XP comes default with 2 such software "devices": handwriting recognition and speech recognition) - I disabled them and removed them, restarted the computer and it seems to work fine now. Although I'll give it a couple days to see what REALLY happens, you'll be hearing back from me. Thanks for your time and help!

-CCF


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## Del (Aug 31, 2001)

Hope all works out ok for ya,
have a great one..


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## cchirs (Jul 26, 2003)

FALSE ALARM!

Its still broken. HELP!!!


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## philosurfer (Aug 7, 2003)

I had the same problem, and no matter how many times I reinstalled, the same thing would happen (the really nasty experience is when you've got a folder with a few unread messages and the first one has an attachment). The trick that seems to have worked is uninstalling Office completely and deleting the "program files" folders, rebooting, cleaning out the registry, then reinstalling. I had done this kind of thing before, but the difference that seems to work is that I didn't apply any patches or service packs (for me, as long as email's working properly I'm okay with not having the patches). Hope this helps.

P.S. I wonder if there's a way for people with this type of problem to lobby Microsoft (I used to know about a feedback site, but have lost track of it); it's just plain bad customer service to hit you with a fee (or the "threat" of one) just to report on something that's obviously a result of their buggy code.


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## cchirs (Jul 26, 2003)

I didn't actually do that - although I suspect it wouldn't work. Becuase I just formatted my harddrive about 2 months ago and I had this same problem before the format. It has to be some other issued that I just can't nail down. And I think Office 11 will be released before it even matters and I'll be buying the upgrade to fix the problem. The sad part is - that's the way Microsoft wants it - for MORE MONEY, MORE MONEY, MORE MONEY.

I got the Office 11 beta package, and I really like it, especially OneNote - although I could never get Outlook 11 to work correctly - it has lots of new features that I really like but the software itself only works about 50% of the time. VERY unstable. And I'm expecting the same thing to happen to Outlook 11 that has happend to Outlook since 97. Microsoft touts all these great new features, and interfaces in the beta version but its all stripped out just before the release just to make the damn thing work. It's terrible. I'm still looking for a startup sound saying "Send Bill Gates more money."

Thanks for the suggestion - and if anyone out there has anything else - I'm dying to hear it.


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## Del (Aug 31, 2001)

When I used Outlook 2000, I loaded a security patch from M$.
After that, I couldn't open any attachments, looked it up at M$.
They said it was a glitch and no cure.
That's why I don't upgrade anything or install SP's or patchs from them. Works fine, I leave it alone if it's M$.


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## cchirs (Jul 26, 2003)

They don't make a difference for me - same problem with or without the updates.


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## Del (Aug 31, 2001)

To tell you the truth cchirs, 
I was tired of fighting city hall, OE worked fine and I use it for email. Only use Outlook if I want to use the other features.
Maybe someone here has the cure.


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## cchirs (Jul 26, 2003)

Yeah - this is not good - I use all the features of Outlook. To Do List, Calendar, Email, Notes - all to sync with my PDA.


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## lfredericks (Aug 10, 2003)

My problem was not receiving - but sending attachments. I could send emails just fine as long as they did not have any attachments.

Mcafee also screwed up my sync with my PDA. 

I uninstalled Mcafee anti-virus and it appears to be working. I am going to install norton anti-virus and see how that goes.

Lee


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## Del (Aug 31, 2001)

You're not going thru a Linksys Router are you??
If you are, you have to change the MTU setting on the router to 1492 to fix the problem. It's on Linksys site but impossible to find it.


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## lfredericks (Aug 10, 2003)

nope - going through a netgear router. By the way - I am still having problems sending but not receiving, even after installing Norton AV. I am not sure what the problem is anymore.


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## Del (Aug 31, 2001)

I used to use Outlook then I downloaded a security patch and attachments went bye bye. M$ said no fix, so I use OE again.
Did you install any security patches in Outlook?
Did you try OE and see if it worked ok?


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## lfredericks (Aug 10, 2003)

I may have installed some patches - don't recall.
outlook express appears to work though. I think I will use it for sending out attachments and use outlook 2002 for everything else.


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## Schubert (May 18, 2004)

With XPP and Office 2003, I have worked on this problem for weeks even involving M$ and still have no fix. Outlook Express works fine with attachments but wanted to benifit from other features of Outlook 03 after receiving Office 03 From M$ as a freebe. *Imagine that!* I can sometime get Outlook to work with attachments after running detect and repair on a clean boot but it soon returns to hanging on both IB and OB e-mails w/ attach. I had at one time suspected it was related to dial up connection which I have to use periodicly to attach to private netwok. However, I have eliminated that as a cause. Still working on it but I think it is a serious bug in code that we will just have to make M$ admit to. Keep sending reports when it prompts you to.


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## Del (Aug 31, 2001)

Same problem I had, searching the Knowledge Base at M$, they said it was a known problem and no fix short of uninstalling and reinstalling Outlook.
It was a security patch for outlook that did it.
By the way, I was running ME at the time, so not an XP problem alone.


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## bogyi (Aug 3, 2007)

don't forget to check the pst files as well. 
most of the problem in outlook with attachment comes from Antivirus software.
Try uninstalling the antivirus software. If it works, then reinstall then AV software and disable email scanning for attachments.
- Try clean up Temporary Internet Files as well.
- Disable firewall / bypassing router might fix the sending issue and make sure you are on your isp network and using thier outgoing mail setting.
- If you do need to uninstall the upates for Outlook, go into Add/Remove, check the "Show Updates" on right hand side corner. Then choose the appropriate software/updates to uninstall.

best. to you all.
Good luck


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