I have been getting a lot of mail asking why is Outlook 2007 running on Vista and XP so slow !

There is no real answer to that question but the following it is common for computers to have some corrupt .DAT files that Outlook requires.

 

Let me explain:

 

Outlook has the .DAT files that it uses in order to keep Outlook operating smoothly. If your outlook is slow or doesn’t load or doesn’t respond, then try RENAMING these files.

What you need to do is :

• Close Outlook
• Find these files (listed below with their location)
• RENAME them to <filename>.OLD
• Launch outlook which will now recreate a fresh copy of those files

Outcmd.dat - This file is usually the problem child and responsible for Outlook not opening/loading.

This file is where Outlook stores all the changes that you make to your toolbar. Whilst this doesn’t seem to be a big issue since you don’t THINK you change your toolbar,

this is where the Adware, Spyware and Virus applications normally hit. This file can become corrupted and the result is that your Outlook doesn’t not to load.

It can be found here :

XP - C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Vista – C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

 

Extend.dat – This file is an internal cache file used by Outlook to store paths to all DLL files used for Outlook extensions

It can be found here :

XP – C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Vista – C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

 

Frmcache.dat – This file is as an index of the individual forms that have been cached on the computer

It can be found here:

XP – C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Vista – C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FORMS

 

Views.dat – This file may not exist on your computer if you have not created a custom view on your folders.

If you have it can be found here:

XP - C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Vista – C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

 

Give this a bash and see if it improves your Outlook experience !

 

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