Microsoft Outlook Has Intermittent Connection Problems

Problem: Outlook has intermittent connection problems.

This issue may occur if your anti-virus software, ad-blocker program or firewall is interfering with the connection of Outlook to the hosted Exchange server.

Solution: Do each step in the order listed below. If the first step resolves your connection issue you can stop. If you are still experiencing the problem please proceed to the next step.

Step 1: Run Detect and Repair

1. Go to Start > Control Panel.
2. Double-click on the Add or Remove Programs icon.
3. Select Microsoft Office; click Change.
4. Select Reinstall and Repair; click Next.
5. Select Reinstall Office; click Install.
6. Insert Office Setup CD if prompted.
7. Restart your computer after the process is complete.

Step 2: Check your computer for viruses

Ensure that your anti-virus software is up-to-date and perform a full system virus scan/clean.

if you do not have an anti-virus program installed on your computer you can go to the site listed below for a free virus scan:

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

Step 3: Scan and remove all spyware

1. Go to the following site to download and install the spyware removal tool: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
   NOTE: we do not support this tool and are not responsible for any affects arising from its use.
2. Start Ad-Aware from the Start menu.
3. Click Scan Now and choose "Perform smart system-scan".
4. After the scan is complete click Next and follow the wizard to remove all objects (if any) that are found.

Step 4: Outlook Safe Mode

Please test Outlook in Safe Mode. Safe Mode will disable all add-ins or extensions that start, as well as corrupted resources, files, registries, and templates.

1. Click Start and select Run.
2. Type "Outlook.exe /Safe" (Quotation marks are not included and there is a space between Outlook and /Safe) and press Enter.

Step 5: Start Windows in Clean Boot Mode

Windows Clean Boot will isolate the applications we use in a stand alone environment. If some .dll files are not loaded during the Windows Clean Boot, we may be able to narrow down the root cause of the problem. To use the System Configuration Utility to perform a clean boot, follow the steps below:

1. Click Start and select Run.
2. Type "msconfig" (without the quotation marks) in the Open box and click Enter.
3. Click the Startup tab.
4. Click Disable All; click Ok.
5. Restart your computer.
6. Check whether this problem persists. Please do not start any other programs while in Boot Mode.

If the problem persists in Clean Boot Mode, enable all the services to test again (see above for directions). If the problem does not occur, it indicates this issue is related to the startup items or the services. After determining the main cause, please continue to check on one service or startup item at a time and test.

NOTE: Windows 2000 does not have the MSCONFIG program option. You can use the Windows XP version of MSCONFIG. Copy the file "msconfig.exe" from the C:\Windows\System folder to the Windows 2000 C:\WINNT\System32 folder.