Outlook 2007 won't close and other problems

Yesterday I set up a new user on an existing PC and encountered a bizarre error. Outlook would not close, either by clicking the close button or by using File->Exit. Only Task Manager worked.

Googling for a solution yielded a few suggestions, one of which involved disabling add-ons in the trust center. Opening the trust center hung Outlook completely. Some posts referred to a non-functionalreadingpane. Yes. I had that too. None of the suggested fixes worked for me (they didn't work for a lot of others either). Just one contributor had the solution - after 3 hourts of reading user group posts and trying out their suggestions.

There was a clue that I missed. On startup, Outlook was still posting a "configuring user accounts" message, even though it had apparently done that and the actual email part of Outlook was working. Also, at one point, I received an "a dialog box is open" message but no dialog boxes were apparent.

The solution was to End Task Outlook, open Word, enter the user's name and initials when prompted, and then re-open Outlook. All problems went away. Evidently Outlook was failing to "show" the new user name dialog but nevertheless waiting under some circumstances for input from it.

Thee are times when I'd like to punch some token Microsoft programmer.

Just for the smell of it

If you own a house with a garden, build a pergola and train jasmine over it. Sit under it in the evening and have a meal, a drink, a chat. The scent is almost overpowering at this time of year - worth the time you spend stopping it taking over completely.