Outlook 2003 100% CPU during message preview

[Oliver]

I tried the /cleanviews switch already. When I switch between messages
as the preview pane is enabled, the CPU goes to 100%. The Outlook
process consumes all of it. I have looked at the indexer (Windows
Desktop Search installed) and McAfee, but can rule them out with
reasonable certainty. This is a Laptop 1.6 Ghz, 1 GB RAM, 20+ GB free
disk. No Exchange involved, just plain POP3 email. It happens when I am
online or offline. Ran Spybot, machine seems free of Spyware. Any ideas
what to look for? Thanks.

 

[Oliver]

Issue was now experienced when simply navigating from one message to
another, when changing calendar views, or browsing the address book. In
short: everywere.

May have found the solution... read somewhere else that the file
outcmd.dat may be a culprit when performance is issue. It is located in
\documents and settings\[username]\application data\microsoft\outlook.
I closed Outlook, created backup of all file in this dir, then deleted
the content of the dir. I let the directory stand, thought.

Restarted Outlook, it seems to re-create whatever it needs in this dir
(outcmd.dat was re-created, as well as an srs and xml file).

Have not seen performance issues since. However, I am also starting now
with a fresh PST file - just to be safe.

 

[Oliver]

Oooops..... I forgot. I also checked in the Control Panel --> Mail
Under *Data Files*. I found two references in there to the same PST
file. There should have been only one. I also removed this duplicate
entry. I am guessing that the combination of deleting the outcmd.dat
file and the removal of the duplicate data file entry may have solved
this. Of course, I will monitor this for a while.