Outlook 2003 UI -- how do I make it look like Outlook XP?

[Coda]

Hi,

I just upgraded to Outlook 2003 and I really am having a difficult time with
the new user interface. Being rather old and cranky at this point, I'd just
like to set it up so it looks and operates just like Outlook XP. (I was
forced to upgrade because Outlook XP had some sort of virus that couldn't be
fixed.) Is there a way to do this, and if so how? The navigation pane used
to have a place for the calendar, notes and tasks icons (in the midst of
e-mail folders); those are now gone (and are at the bottom of the screen) and
I'd like to put them back where they were (among other things).

Thx much!

- polly

 

[google_poster]

Customize the navigation pane using the "configure buttons" button at
the bottom right of the nav pane (looks like a chevron). Only display
the Folder List. Although it sounds similar, this is different from
displaying mail; it includes the icons you are looking for.
--Bob

 

[Roady [MVP]]

See http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/classicview2003.htm

I'm curious about the "virus" story that forced you to upgrade...

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003


-----
Hi,

I just upgraded to Outlook 2003 and I really am having a difficult time with
the new user interface. Being rather old and cranky at this point, I'd just
like to set it up so it looks and operates just like Outlook XP. (I was
forced to upgrade because Outlook XP had some sort of virus that couldn't be
fixed.) Is there a way to do this, and if so how? The navigation pane used
to have a place for the calendar, notes and tasks icons (in the midst of
e-mail folders); those are now gone (and are at the bottom of the screen)
and
I'd like to put them back where they were (among other things).

Thx much!

- polly

 

[Coda]

Thank you SO much!! This article totally solved the problem. Now I'm
slightly less cranky today ;-)

The "virus" was something I posted in another forum (as well on geeks2go).
Basically, the symptoms on my machine were that after a couple of hours of
running (following a reboot), outlook would steal my cursor focus as I tried
to type in another window. The frequency of this behavior would increase
over time. I'd stop Outlook, and then, a few minutes later it would start
itself and start to spawn many many copies of Outlook. I have run every
virus checker (with updated definitions), spyware checker, etc. known to man,
cleaned up everything found (nothing sounded like what I was experiencing)
but the problem still persisted. Upgrading to Outlook 2003 seemed to do the
trick so far (with this problem).

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Did you try a Detect and Repair? Viruses are never cured by an upgrade.
Your performance problems were not caused by a virus but by a misbehaving
Outlook. Had you posted to this group when it happened, someone might have
been able to save you a bit of cash.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Coda asked:

| Thank you SO much!! This article totally solved the problem. Now I'm
| slightly less cranky today ;-)
|
| The "virus" was something I posted in another forum (as well on
| geeks2go). Basically, the symptoms on my machine were that after a
| couple of hours of running (following a reboot), outlook would steal
| my cursor focus as I tried to type in another window. The frequency
| of this behavior would increase over time. I'd stop Outlook, and
| then, a few minutes later it would start itself and start to spawn
| many many copies of Outlook. I have run every virus checker (with
| updated definitions), spyware checker, etc. known to man, cleaned up
| everything found (nothing sounded like what I was experiencing) but
| the problem still persisted. Upgrading to Outlook 2003 seemed to do
| the trick so far (with this problem).
|
| "Roady [MVP]" wrote:
|
|| See http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/classicview2003.htm
||
|| I'm curious about the "virus" story that forced you to upgrade...
||
|| --
|| Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
|| Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
|| http://www.howto-outlook.com/
|| Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more
||
|| -----
|| || Hi,
||
|| I just upgraded to Outlook 2003 and I really am having a difficult
|| time with the new user interface. Being rather old and cranky at
|| this point, I'd just like to set it up so it looks and operates just
|| like Outlook XP. (I was forced to upgrade because Outlook XP had
|| some sort of virus that couldn't be fixed.) Is there a way to do
|| this, and if so how? The navigation pane used to have a place for
|| the calendar, notes and tasks icons (in the midst of e-mail
|| folders); those are now gone (and are at the bottom of the screen)
|| and
|| I'd like to put them back where they were (among other things).
||
|| Thx much!
||
|| - polly

 

[Brian Tillman]

(I was forced to upgrade because Outlook XP had
some sort of virus that couldn't be fixed.)

Highly unlikely and an upgrade wouldn't fix it anyhow.

 

[Coda]

Sadly, no, I didn't think of that. I had been working with our IT department
to try to figure out what was going on (and following their advice on how to
track it down). In retrospect, I should have tried that and reinstalling
Office XP (but the behavior I was seeing was so funky it was really difficult
to tell what was going on and it did look very virus like). But perhaps it
was just a bug or a corrupted Outlook and it could have been solved by a
simple reinstall or detect/repair. Sigh.

No cash was expended (by me), however; our department has a group license of
Office 2003.

Now I'm tempted to reinstall XP just to get to the bottom of the original
problem. (OTOH, I wasted so much time on this this week that maybe I
won't... ;-)

Thanks for your thoughts and advice! Now that I've discovered this forum
I'll definitely post sooner if I have another such inexplicable problem.

Did you try a Detect and Repair? Viruses are never cured by an upgrade.
Your performance problems were not caused by a virus but by a misbehaving
Outlook. Had you posted to this group when it happened, someone might have
been able to save you a bit of cash.

--Â
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Coda asked:

| Thank you SO much!! This article totally solved the problem. Now I'm
| slightly less cranky today ;-)
|
| The "virus" was something I posted in another forum (as well on
| geeks2go). Basically, the symptoms on my machine were that after a
| couple of hours of running (following a reboot), outlook would steal
| my cursor focus as I tried to type in another window. The frequency
| of this behavior would increase over time. I'd stop Outlook, and
| then, a few minutes later it would start itself and start to spawn
| many many copies of Outlook. I have run every virus checker (with
| updated definitions), spyware checker, etc. known to man, cleaned up
| everything found (nothing sounded like what I was experiencing) but
| the problem still persisted. Upgrading to Outlook 2003 seemed to do
| the trick so far (with this problem).
|
| "Roady [MVP]" wrote:
|
|| See http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/classicview2003.htm
||
|| I'm curious about the "virus" story that forced you to upgrade...
||
|| --
|| Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
|| Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
|| http://www.howto-outlook.com/
|| Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more
||
|| -----
|| || Hi,
||
|| I just upgraded to Outlook 2003 and I really am having a difficult
|| time with the new user interface. Being rather old and cranky at
|| this point, I'd just like to set it up so it looks and operates just
|| like Outlook XP. (I was forced to upgrade because Outlook XP had
|| some sort of virus that couldn't be fixed.) Is there a way to do
|| this, and if so how? The navigation pane used to have a place for
|| the calendar, notes and tasks icons (in the midst of e-mail
|| folders); those are now gone (and are at the bottom of the screen)
|| and
|| I'd like to put them back where they were (among other things).
||
|| Thx much!
||
|| - polly

 

[Coda]

You're probably right... I was thinking that perhaps some part of Outlook had
gotten overwritten by some piece of malicious code; more likely is that it
just got damaged or had a bug that came out with one of the system patches.
But I guess at this point I'll never know... I'm certainly hoping it wasn't a
virus and was something more benign.

Thx for your help!