Skype Slowness Issues

Problem:  whenever Skype opens, the computer slows down significantly.

Solution (possibly):  I have seen some version of Skype slowdown when trying to pull contacts from Outlook.  Though this feature might be nice for some reason, it wasn't for me and definitely wasn't worth bring my computer to a halt.  Turn off this integration by doing the following:

1.  Open Skype.
2.  Go to Contacts  and make sure "Show Outlook Contacts" is NOT checked.

Older versions of Skype may have the "Show Outlook Contacts" option listed elsewhere, but you should upgrade to the latest version of Skype anyway.  It may fix your problem without disconnecting the Skype/Outlook connection.

Other things to try:  uninstall Skype Toolbar or see if your antivirus might be the culprit. 

Outlook 2003: MAPI32.DLL error

Problem:  You open Outlook and you get the following error message:

Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. MAPI32.DLL is corrupt or the wrong version. This could have been caused by installing other messaging software. Please reinstall Outlook.

Solution:  For some reason, a repair installation doesn't seem to have any effect on this problem, but the solution is quite simple. 

1.  Browse to C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033

NOTE:  For 64-bit OS, the path might be C:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033

2.  Find the file MSMAPI.DLL and rename it to MSMAPI.OLD.

3.  Open Outlook 2003 and all should be well.  A new MSMAPI.DLL file should be visiable.

Locate Link Browser Box Opens When Clicking E-Mail Link in Outlook 2003

Problem:  You receive an email with a "mailto:" link to someone's email address.  When clicking it, a new email window should open.  Instead, a "Locate Link Browser" windows opens asking you to locate a file.

There are several suggestions saying to modify the URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol file type behavior, but I found this to be the easiest solution:

Open Internet Explorer and go to Tools > Internet Options > Programs tab.

Change your default email client to Outlook Express and hit Apply.

Now change your default email client back to Outlook 2003.  Hit OK.

Everything should be working now.

How to Recover Hard Deleted Items using Outlook Web Access 2003

You've accidentally deleted a message permanently and you don't see it listed when you go to Tools > Recover Deleted Items.  What do you do?  Well, if you're on Exchange 2003, there's a little workaround through Outlook Web Access (OWA).

1.  Use this address as a model:  https://ServerName/exchange/Username/inbox/?cmd=showdeleted


Change "ServerName" to the name of your exchange server and "Username" to the user account you're trying to recover deleted items from.  You can also change "inbox" to any folder you have on your mailbox, such as Sent Items and Calendar.

2.  Log in with the user's credentials.

3.  Check the box next to the message(s) you need to recover and click "Recover."

4.  Messages should start appearing in Outlook and on OWA.

How to Find Outlook's Temporary Folder

It happens all the time:  a user opens an attachment in Outlook, edits the document and then saves it.  Sounds okay, right?  The problem is, they never told the document where to save it to and Outlook automatically saved it to the temporary folder.  A temporary folder you can't browse to.  So what do you do?

Method 1 (The Easy Method):

Download OLK Finder 2.0. Run it, select which version of Outlook you are running and watch the OLK Content window fill with your temporary files.  From this window you can right-click and copy the file you are looking for and paste it into another folder for future use.

This handy tool works for several versions of Outlook.

Method 2:

In the Registry Editor, browse to one of the following keys:

Outlook 2003:  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security
Outlook 2007:  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Security

Double-click "OutlookSecureTempFolder" and copy the value data.   Go to Start > Run... and paste the data to open the folder.

Outlook 2003 Out of Office Assistant - "The command is not available"

When trying to adjust setting in the Out of Office Assistant, you get the following error message:

The command is not available.  See the program documentation about how to use this.

To fix:

Go to Help > About Microsoft Office Outlook and click on the "Disabled Items..." button.  You will see outex.dll listed.  Click on it and then click the Enable button.  Fixed!

NOTE:  For this fix to work, you must be connected to an Exchange server.  If you are using Outlook for personal, then this error is expected since the Out of Office Assistant is not usable without Exchange.

Outlook 2003 Will Not Open

No matter how many times you click the Outlook icon, it never pops up on your screen.  Sometimes it has started, but you would never know because the graphic user interface never appears.  Try this:

1.  Press the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys together.
2.  Click on the "Image Name" column header (this sorts all processes alphabetically).
3.  Look for "OUTLOOK.EXE".
4.  Click on every instance of it and click the End Process button until none are listed.

At this point, you may be able to open Outlook.

So what happened?  I often blame Outlook problems on Plug-ins.  iTunes has been especially troublesome lately as the iPhone seeks to integrate with every piece of software produced thus far.  The iTunes plug-in allows iPhones to synchronize with Outlook contacts.  I suggest finding other ways to accomplish this, because the iTunes plug-in has been a repeat offender in cases such as this -- it will re-install itself when you update iTunes.  Other repeat offenders have been Google Desktop and Skype, but these have been less common as they released updates.

How to remove plug-ins:

Go to Tools > Options > Other tab > Advanced Options button > COM Add-ins.  This is where you'll find the iTunes plug-in and possibly others listed.  I personally remove all of these, but by all means keep what you find valuable. 

If you are still unable to open Outlook, try going to Start > Run... and type in:
Outlook /safe
(note the space before the slash)

This will open Outlook without any plug-ins.  Once open, you can then disable problematic plug-ins as instructed above.

More-advanced users can remove plug-ins through the registry by cleaning out this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\