Outlook Attachments Slow to Open

[RecLambyUK]

We have several PC's at work (Windows 2000 SP4) all running Outlook 2003 (SP1). What is happening with certain machines is when opening attachments (Word and Excel documents) they take anything between 20-40 seconds to open. Eventually when they do open, if you close them down and open them again straight away they open instantly.

If I forward these attachments to machines elsewhere in the company they open instantly which removes the possibility of it being the mails themselves. Certain users having this problem use server mailboxes, and other people having the problem have PST files so again this doesnt appear to be the issue either.

My first thought is it could have something to do with the location of Temporary internet files. I have also disabled virus software to see if it was the on access scan causing problems, but nothing.

Any ideas anybody?

Cheers, Lamby.

 

[paulhthomas]

It maybe worth trying ti simple thing first. Disk Cleanup, Defrag, spyware checks.

 

[RecLambyUK]

Already done all that! Didnt show anything out of the ordinary.

 

[paulhthomas]

ok, so what happens if you (using a word document as an example), open word and then open the attachment?

 

[nickpark]

Are these all Exchange accounts?
What version? Cached-mode? Roaming profiles?

Is it the machines or the user accounts - can you login with a working user and have the same problem?

 

[RecLambyUK]

paulhthomas, opening any documents which are stored on the local machine or network servers are fine. It is only happening when opening the document as an attachment from an email

 

[beerhunter2]

RecLambyUK,
I have the exact same situation as you, only with Windows 2000 and Outlook 2002. In fact, I have several computers with the same problem.
I have had the opportunity with one computer to reformat and reinstall all software, and the problem went away, so I know it is not hardware related.
On another computer, I uninstalled and reinstalled MS Office, and that did not resolve the problem.
I'm going to try a few different things this week and weekend. I'll let you know what I find.

Help! I've fallen and I can't reach my beer.

 

[leverarch]

Hi,

just a quick thought for you.. related to the temporary internet files idea... I bet if you were to:

1. open up internet explorer
2. go to tools/settings/advanced options
3. put a check mark in the box called "empty temporary internet files on exit"
4. close and open and close internet explorer (so that all the files were definitely deleted)
5. try the outlook attachment problem again

then it would be fixed.

if it's STILL not fixed, find out the size of the user's profile in c:\documents and settings\username - and then figure out which directory has all the extra stuff in it & move it elsewhere. then try your outlook thing again.

my guess is that what's happening is that outlook is trying to "enumerate" all the folders in your user's profile, and
if there's LOTS of stuff, this will take a long time.

one of the classic things that users do (because they don't know any better) is to put a HUGE collection of big files on their desktop... that just slows everything down.. cuz windows has to search through this collection every time it wants to enumerate the files.

the fix to this is simple - just create a directory on their hard drive called something like "desktop stuff" (note: do NOT use only "Desktop" because you'll confuse windows immensely) and then put a link to it on their desktop & move all their files inside. That way, the enumeration process only enumerates the link, not all the files.

good luck - hope I've helped.

rgds,

lvrarch

 

[beerhunter2]

I know it took me a long time to get back to you, but here is what I found that helped me with this problem.

leverarch - Thanks for your suggestions. They did help a bit, but the registry fix mentioned in the following FAQ link really did the trick for me.

http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=5717

Help! I've fallen and I can't reach my beer.