Disabling unnecessary plugins is a great way to make your Outlook start faster, run more reliably, take less memory. In Outlook 2003 there are three places to look for installed addins and to disable them.

1. COM Add-ins

To view and disable COM Add-ins in Outlook 2003, navigate to:
“Tools->Options->Other->Advanced Options->COM Add-ins…” and uncheck the Add-ins you do not need.

2. Add-in Manager

Navigate to “Tools->Options->Other->Advanced Options->Add-ins Manager…” and uncheck the Add-ins you do not need.

3. Registry Add-ins

In Outlook 2003, some Add-ins are not shown in the UI. You have to look for them in the registry.

1.    Run regedit*.

2.    Navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ Outlook\Addins”.

3.    Look at all subkeys of Addins. Those are Add-ins you have installed. To disable a particular Add-in, set its “LoadBehavior” key to 2.

* – as always be very careful while performing registry modifications.

Do not forget to restart Outlook after making these changes.

To run the OUTLOOK  Inbox Repair Tool ScanPST.exe (ScanOST for exchange), follow these steps:

1.       Exit Outlook.

2.       Make sure that the Show hidden files and folders option is enabled in your folder options.

3.       The Scanpst.exe is a hidden file on your computer, and you might be unable to locate it if this setting is not enabled. To check this setting, follow these steps:

a.       Click Start, and then click Run. Type Control Folders, and then click OK.
Note If you are using Windows Vista, use the Start Search box.  Right-click Control Folders, and then click Run as administrator.

b.       Double-click Folder Options.

c.       Click the View tab.

d.       Under Hidden files and folders, make sure the Show hidden files and folders option is selected, and then click OK.

4.       Click Start, and then click Find or Search, depending on which version of Windows that you are running.

5.       In the search box, type Scanpst.exe. If you cannot find the Scanpst.exe file by using Find or Search, try to locate the file manually. Check the following locations for the file. Where the file is located depends on which version of Windows you are using:

o        disk drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE12

o        disk drive:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Mapi\1033\

o        disk drive:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Mapi\1033\NT

o        disk drive:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033

o        disk drive:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12

o        disk drive:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\System\Mapi\1033\

o        disk drive:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033

6.       Double-click the Scanpst.exe file to open the program.

7.       Click Browse to locate the .pst file.

o        Windows 98 or Windows Me: disk drive\Windows\ Local Settings\Application Data

o        Windows NT 4.0: disk drive\WINNT\Profiles\username\Local Settings\Application Data

o        Windows XP or Windows Server 2003: disk drive:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

o        Windows Vista: disk disk drive:\users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Note If your operating system is not listed or if you cannot find the file, see the Help provided with Outlook.

8.       Click Start. The Inbox Repair Tool scans the file and reports whether it found any errors.

9.       Click OK.

1. Ensure your system is up to date by installing all High-Priority/Required updates on Microsoft Update (required for Microsoft Office XP and 2003 users).

2. Download FormatConverters.exe and save to hard disk

3. Double-click the FileFormatConverters.exe program file on your hard disk to start the setup program.

4. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.

www.valleycomp.net Jeff Tilton