Outlook 2007 Authentication and Slowness Issues (POP/SMTP)

[Jason]

I've looked through these Outlook 2007 threads, as well as searched various
other resources looking for a solution to the authentication issues as well
as the slow downloading issue. I've not found a good solution, but hopefully
this information will help.

I turned on logging (Tools..Options..Other..Advanced Options..Enable
Logging) and this is what I have found and/or tried...

With regards to POP3 or SMTP:
- Standard ports, no SSL
- no SPA
- no anti-virus
- absolutely verified username / password

SMTP:
- connects
- EHLO
- AUTH NTLM (fails)
- AUTH DIGEST-MD5 (fails)
- AUTH LOGIN - success

POP3:
- connects
- AUTH NTLM (fails)
- AUTH DIGEST-MD5 (fails)
- USER, PASS (plain) and success
- stat, uidl, list, compares, dele
- Tries to retr new messages, and fails (connected to host, disconnected
from host)

If I disable NTLM and DIGEST-MD5 then SMTP will try AUTH LOGIN first and
succeed while POP3 will try USER,PASS and succeed without issue, fast as
Outlook 2003.

I never had issues with Outlook 2003 so I'm not sure what auth methods it
tried in what order, but I know that I never had to mess with my mail server.

Questions:
- Has anyone else turned on logging and noticed issues with these
authentication methods?
- Is there a way to force a specific method from the client only? I'd like
to be able to keep NTLM and DIGEST-MD5 enabled on my server (Kerio
MailServer).
- Can someone try this with Exchange?

Thanks,
- Jason