Other than the Outlook problem, the computer seemed to be working fine.
I suspected that Outlook was actually running, but just not responding as it should. It seems that computer programs will sometimes go out to lunch … or take a break from being usable. As a computer programmer, I know technically what can happen, but don’t want to bore you with the details. Just realize that it may happen, even with the best of software.
How to fix the problem in Windows
If my wife would have called technical support, they would have told her to reboot the computer. That would have fixed the problem but reboots end up being a pain because you have to make sure that everything is saved and shut down. The restart process can take more than a few minutes before you are up and running again. Being told to reboot a computer for a simple problem is aggravating.
Enter TASK MANAGER (or SYSTEM EXPLORER – see my favorite tools). Task Manager is a utility that is included in all Microsoft operating systems (XP, Vista, etc.). Task Manager gives you a simple view of what your computer is currently doing.
You can start Task Manager in several ways. One way is to press the Control , Alt and Delete keys all at the same time. You don't have to hit them all at the same time, just have all three keys pressed at the same time. Feel free to try this right now – you can hit escape and it will bring you right back here.
Another way to start Task Manager is to Right Mouse Click on the task bar. Right mouse click means to press the button on the right side of your mouse. The task bar is the information bar typically at the bottom of your computer screen where you see applications or windows currently running on your computer. It also shows the time, and most likely a bunch of useless widgets unless you have cleaned these up.
The best place to right click is over the time display. Right click and select “Task manager ”.
Task manager has a tabbed interface. The first tab is titled “Applications”. This will show you a list of running applications that have associated windows open. Believe me; you have many more programs running on your computer. In the case of our Outlook issue, it does not appear on the list because it has no open window.
The next tab is “Processes”. Each program has one or more processes that run. If your computer was a factory, each of the processes would be the factory workers. Each has a job to do and each take up space and resources in the factory (our analogy for the computer). Anyway, you will find processes for each of your major programs like Outlook.
What we found was that Outlook was a running process. It had no open window, but it was running, in the background but was unavailable, for some reason. If you Right Mouse Click on the process name; such as OUTLOOK.EXE, you will see several options. One of these options is to End Process. Left Click on that option. Another small window will pop up confirming that you really want to end this process (which means that you you are forcing the program to shut down).
Be careful with this action. Stopping some processes that are integral to Windows will leave you with an unstable computer. If this happens, you may have to go ahead and reboot the computer.
After performing this action, we were able to launch Outlook and check email.
Fixing the root cause of the problem
In computing, we often seek to find the “root cause” of a program failure. This Outlook problem is certainly a program failure but it may not be Outlook's fault. Several things could have caused the issue. If this issue happens once, then it is not a big deal. If it happens every day, then it is certainly a problem that should be fixed once and for all. For programs like Outlook, I always make sure that I’m up to date with the latest fixes (or updates) from the software vendor, in this case Microsoft. Microsoft has regular fixes or patches that you can either get over the internet, or have Microsoft Update (a program that runs behind the scenes) get for you.
Another typical issue with programs like Outlook is unstable add-ins or plug-ins. These are programs that are added to Outlook that are designed to provide additional value. A good example of this is virus checking software. Most virus checking software will install a plug-in to Outlook that will scan incoming and outgoing messages. The problem with plug-ins is that they can also get out of step with the version of the software you are running, or may simply be buggy (a term in computing that means that the software has problems).
So, uninstall unnecessary plug-ins (look for a blog entry on this) and get the latest software updates.
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