Last night I was experiencing trouble with Outlook 2007. If I would close the app and then try to open it again it would appear to close down but would not start again. Checking in the Windows Task Manager Processes I noticed that OUTLOOK.EXE *32 was still running and after killing the process I could start Outlook again. The problem persisted. I googled the problem but none of the fixes mentioned had any effect.
After a few more reboots I just started looking at Outlook’s settings. Under Tools -> Trust Center... -> Add-ins -> Manage: COM Add-ins I started disabling things but I noticed that Windows Search Email Indexer wouldn’t respond to unchecking or removing so I went to Start Orb -> Right click on Computer -> Manage -> Services and Applications -> Services -> Windows Search -> Right click -> Properties -> Startup type = Disabled
I could then uncheck or remove Windows Search Email Indexer. You can restart or leave the Windows Search service off (I left it off). Now Outlook starts faster, closes completely and allows me to restart it anytime I like.
In fact after disabling the Windows Search service everything seems snappier and I don’t see the spinning blue chakram all the time.
Hope this helps someone out there. 🙂