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[macca]

I recently bought a new computer with XP Home SP3 o/s. I installed M/S Office 2000 Premium, all modules of which worked reasonably well until a few days ago. The "Outlook" module always took a long while to load - longer than it took on the old computer - but now, when it gets to the opening screen, it immediately disappears, as if I have closed the program. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the program several times, with the same result. On my old computer (XP Home SP2) "Outlook" works perfectly every time, even loading a lot faster. What's the problem?
macca

[Tassie]

Have a look at this link....

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305928

[macca]

Tassie,
your link takes me to a fairly detailed discussion on how to overcome the problem by renaming 3 or 4 ".dat" files, all of which exist on my old computer but none of which are present anywhere on the new one, even after several re-installs. If I follow the suggestion to run "outlook.exe /safe" from the command line, Outlook loads but then immediately vanishes, as it does if I click the shortcut icon. I recall that I recently  installed "Malwarebytes" and "Adaware" and ran them a couple of times and I think Outlook began misbehaving some time after that. I am wondering if, by scanning, I  have inadvertently deleted a system file that might be affecting Outlook. All other components of the Office premium suite are working normally. Would it serve any purpose to do a system "restore" and if so, what would I lose?
macca

[Tassie]

If Outlook 2000 does not start when you use the /safe command-line switch, there may be other factors that are causing Outlook 2000 to stop responding. Verify the network connectivity, confirm that the personal folders (.pst) file that is used by Outlook 2000 is available on a healthy hard disk volume, and confirm that the server contains your mailbox and is available on the network.

If you do a system restore you will revert back to the date selected and lose anything installed or created after that date.

[macca]

Thanks for the info' Tassie,
I Cannot find an Outlook.pst file on the new computer. Lots of pst files but none for Outlook. There is an Outlook.pst on the old computer, would it help to transfer this file to the new one or is it something that has to be installed at the start? I don't understand the point about confirmimg the server containing my mailbox and it being available on the network but, I don't use Outlook as my email client, only as a calendar/diary/address book. 
macca

[Tassie]

To fix corrupted PST files, you can use the Inbox Repair Tool. However, the tool isn’t always able to repair every PST file. It works by repairing the PST file’s header and then deleting anything in the file that it doesn’t understand. So if a PST file’s header is damaged, as may be the case for corruption that occurs during a version upgrade, the tool should have no trouble making the repair. But if the data within the file is corrupt, the Inbox Repair Tool will likely destroy what’s left of the file. That's why it's always good to make a backup of the PST file before running the Inbox Repair Tool.

The Inbox Repair Tool is located in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Mapi\1033\NT directory of any system that’s running Windows 2000 or Windows XP. The tool’s filename is Scanpst.exe. Other versions of Windows also include the Inbox Repair Tool, but the tool’s location varies among these earlier versions.

[macca]

Thanks again Tassie but, as I said in my previous post there ain't nuthin' to repair. There is no PST file on the new computer that is remotely associated with Outlook, but there is an Outlook.pst on the old computer. Would it be any use copying the PST file from my old computer to the new one, or does a PST file have to be created when the MS Office program is installed?
macca

[Tassie]

It won,t hurt to try the pst file from the other computer, if it works fine,if not just delete it.