What is it about Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 that makes it run so slowly?
Ten years ago I decided to boost Microsoft’s expansive coffers and handed over a pile of money for MS Office Professional 2000. It was meant to be the Bees Knees of office softwar.
…….a minor digression here - I tried explaining ‘Bees Knees’ to a man in a bike shop in France as I was about to buy a top notch mountain bike – “C’est genoux des abeilles” I said, grinning from ear to ear and pointing to the bike. The Frenchman wrinkled his brow, cocked his head and gave me a ‘try me again’ look. I repeated my Anglocism: “C’est les genoux des abeilles” and gave a thumbs up sign with an even bigger smile. He looked down at the bike, looked at his knees, screwed his face up tightly to enhance the wrinkles and studied an imaginary bee. He suddenly strode off with a light bulb dimly glowing above his head. He returned shining slightly brighter and held aloft a pair of bikers knee pads. Oh dear. Foolishly, I had involved the poor chap in an incomprehensible outburst of my own pleasure and I tried in vain to explain that it was an English expression that meant it was ‘magnifique’! Alas, Jean Pierre had latched on to the knee aspect and wasn’t going to let me off lightly. He tried everything in his power to make me make him understand what I was talking about and eventually turned away shaking his head and emitting the kind of noises and gesticulations that alert you to the fact, you’re talking to a Frenchman. He never did get it.
….back on topic again – Having forked out for Microsoft’s Office invasion system, there was no turning back. The 2003 version of Office was a good move with lots of improvements and new features. I skipped 2007 as it really didn’t seem to warrant the upgrade – I was happy where I was. Then along came MS Office 2010.
MS Office 2010
My wife-cum-business partner and I had been lagging behind the market and media scene (it’s really easy to do these days), so a software upgrade to go with our immersion into the social media world seemed like a good idea. Two year old computers should be able to make the grade, I thought. I checked that weird computer system performance element in the control panel called Computer Performance Base Score. Average Base Score of 3.0. It gave me the option to check for software that is compatible with the score. So why is it that when I clicked on that link and headed to Microsoft online, that’s the last I heard of the Base Score? It’s just a sales pitch!
Everything in Office works sublimely, except for Outlook, which has a new feature that I call the ‘Grump’. Click a button and nothing happens. Click it again and Outlook will let you know what it thinks of impatience. At least ‘Clippy’ and his finger wagging have left the scene!
Crash and restart. Most days.
Slow email downloading and a refusal to obey commands instantly. Perhaps Outlook has become too big for its boots.
My system:
RAM - 2 Gb
ROM – 120Gb
AMD Athlon 64 x 2 dual core processor T57 1.90Ghz
Windows Vista with 32 bit operating system
System Requirements according to Microsoft
| Component | Office 2003 | Office 2007 | Office 2010 |
| Memory (RAM) | 128 MB | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Hard disk | 400 MB | 2 GB | 3 GB |
| Display | 800 × 600 | 1024 × 768 | 1024 × 576 |
| Computer and processor | 233 MHz | 500 MHz | 500 MHz |
(The new paste feature for tables is a hoot! I love it!)
Apparently, if you run Office 2007 you should be able to run Office 2010.
As far as the technical mumbo jumbo is concerned, my system is compatible. I will persevere though and perhaps have a breakthrough in comprehension or patience. However, it would appear that something’s got to change. Me, The Computer or MS Outlook? That is the question.
