Question

Multiple processes of closed program [Outlook] still running

Asked by: BRGTrident

"Outlook continues to run and appears in the Task Manager Process box after you quit Outlook."   I found a similar item [where I got the previous statement] in the FAQ re:OL98; I'm using OL2002 on a WinXPPRO machine.  Sometimes, I get one or two (or more) additional instances of OLXP after closing the one I was using.
I've made sure that no other users have anything open.  They do close when I terminate the process from the Task Manager, but sometimes when I reopen OL I get a message that it wasn't closed correctly and offers to open in safe mode- not consistently though, maybe 20% of the time.  It seems to not be happening as much since I've stopped allowing Mailwasher to turn on OL after it processes mail on the ISP server(s), but it does still happen.
The reason that this is a problem (other than the loss of memory resources) is that when my AVG updates and restarts overnight, if there is an instance of OL running, it stops until I close it/them.  This morning, without having OL running, there were 4 instances of OUTLOOK.EXE in the Task Manager processes list.
There are a few other processes that seem to be running when they're not, but I'm not sure if they are normal. Right now, with Outlook, IE6 and Mailwasher on my taskbar I also have WINWORD and 5 instances of svchost.exe [3x System, 1 Local and 1 Network service].  They don't seem to be causing any trouble, just noticing.
Any help appreciated.
Trident

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Asked On
2003-06-03 at 06:08:07ID20634996
Tags

still

,

outlook

,

process

,

running

Topic

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
6
Points
250
Comments
16

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Answers

 

by: sramesh2kPosted on 2003-06-03 at 06:18:13ID: 8638400

svchost as the name implies runs services. it is normal u can see more entries of it.

 

by: sramesh2kPosted on 2003-06-03 at 06:18:58ID: 8638409

for outlook, you may try a repair installation of ms office

 

by: BRGTridentPosted on 2003-06-03 at 06:30:40ID: 8638535

I think I will try to do a repair install of MSO.  And thanks, I thought svchost was an ok thing to have there, but just thought I'd check.  I'll repost after the reinstall.

 

by: jonnyz0109Posted on 2003-06-03 at 06:34:03ID: 8638563

Also make sure it's not running at startup.  So on a clean reboot, before opening anything manually, make sure you don't already have an outlook.exe in there.  I'd suspect you wouldn't but it's worth a check.

 

by: BRGTridentPosted on 2003-06-03 at 07:06:36ID: 8638809

Actually, I've checked that already.  It doesn't run at startup.  I really wouldn't care if it did, as long as it didn't run 2 or more times at the same time!  Something I didn't mention previously; there are times when OL is not on my taskbar, but when I try to start it, nothing visible happens.  Then I go to the Task Manager and sure enough, there are already 2 or more instances in the processes list.  Close them all and then I can start OL without a problem.
I'm wondering, should I have posted this in the Applications:MSOffice section?  I'm not sure if it's an Office/Outlook issue or a WindowsXP issue.

 

by: D-o-NPosted on 2003-06-03 at 07:39:33ID: 8639094

You can try to repair/reinstall as sramesh2k suggested, but with an app as highly integrated as office, your system will never feel right... I would format and reinstall apps or system restore to a point where everything was ok.

you can also try SP1 / SP2/

 

by: jonnyz0109Posted on 2003-06-03 at 07:46:00ID: 8639165

I would tend to the statement D-o-N makes here.

> > Something I didn't mention previously; there are times when OL is not on my taskbar, but when I try to start it, nothing visible happens.  Then I go to the Task Manager and sure enough, there are already 2 or more instances in the processes list.  Close them all and then I can start OL without a problem.

I had the exact same problem with my last computer.  Although it didn't do it randomly, it was connected to some buggy apps that I had elsewhere on the computer that would cause explorer and/or an office app to close unexpectedly, and this would cause the problem of outlook running but not visable on the taskbar.

How did I fix my problem?  Uninstalled office and reinstalled new from the disk.  This seemed to correct all my problems, surprisingly.

 

by: jonnyz0109Posted on 2003-06-03 at 07:48:08ID: 8639183

And to answer your question, posting in the MSOffice TA may have helped, although it is probably too late to close this one here, as experts have already provided valuable information.

I have seen other experts post links/pointers to questions in other TA's... for instance post a 25-pointer question that says hey here is my problem, please post in this question [link].  Not sure what EE thinks about this, but I don't see why it would be a problem.  

 

by: BRGTridentPosted on 2003-06-03 at 08:01:58ID: 8639337

Unfortunately, this has A)been happening for a few months and B)only my most recent few weeks of System Restore points are still available.  I had to delete a lot of the early ones a few weeks ago when I my virus scanner caught a virus and then after cleaning it was found in an earlier restore point.  All the advice I could find on deleting restore points indicated that I could either delete all of them or all but the last few- I did the latter.  I have a feeling that jonny is right about some buggy apps causing this, but I think that at this point I've gotten rid of the majority of them and now it's just the "remnants" causing problems.  I'll try the repair/reinstall of Office and go from there.  I'm not a big fan of the format/reinstall thing, but I do recognize that it might be necessary.  Did that about 6 months ago.   Tedious, to say the least.
Thanks for all the input so far.

 

by: CleanupPingPosted on 2003-08-03 at 21:59:54ID: 9064432

BRGTrident:
This old question needs to be finalized -- accept an answer, split points, or get a refund.  For information on your options, please click here-> http:/help/closing.jsp#1
EXPERTS:
Post your closing recommendations!  No comment means you don't care.

 

by: jonnyz0109Posted on 2003-08-04 at 20:48:46ID: 9076161

Any update on the cleanup of apps and the repair/reinstall of Office?  I still have a sneaky suspicion that this might solve the problem!

 

by: BRGTridentPosted on 2003-08-12 at 07:18:11ID: 9130253

I finally did a repair/install and that didn't work. So I uninstalled and reinstalled and now everything seems much better.  I'll be letting it run for a while and post back later to let you know if it continues to be effective.
Thank you all.

 

by: tqmbillPosted on 2003-09-01 at 11:48:42ID: 9262962

This is a "known issue".  It has to do with existence of a PDA, Palm, etc. using ActiveSync and also antispam apps such as SpamNet.  I have not been able to fix it.

 

by: BRGTridentPosted on 2003-09-02 at 06:35:08ID: 9267090

I've found that the repeating occurances of Outlook are still happening (and it's happening in Word, my email editor) after the reinstall.
I don't use any of the ActiveSync software as i don't have a PDA, but I do use MailWasher for my antispam program.
I wish MS would acknowledge it as a known issue and do something about it.
:(

 

by: tomn2tsrPosted on 2004-01-14 at 13:03:01ID: 10114590

FWIW, I had a similar issue to that which you described.  I ran SpyBot S&D and had it remove all "bad" things and then immunized the system.  That did NOT seem to clear up the problem (although it did fix quite a few things there.)  I then applied Office XP SP2 and additional patches (from the office updates site) on this day.  After the SP2 and patches update, the problem has abated.

Hope this helps.

 

by: BRGTridentPosted on 2004-02-25 at 07:45:35ID: 10451352

As a followup-
Outlook XP never did stop this behavior.
But I have recently installed Office 2003 and Outlook runs beautifully.  My only caveat is beware: DO NOT try to use WinFax Pro if Outlook 2003 is installed.  They are NOT compatible.  I tried everything to get them to work at the same time (not even together as they should) and it was impossible.  After uninstalling WinFax, all is bliss.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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