Do you use the MS Outlook application to email friends and manage your day? Have you ever noticed that sometimes your MS Outlook application performs at a very slow rate and produces frequent error messages? If Outlook.pst is the name of the personal storage file then you have probably seen this error message: Outlook.pst cannot be accessed – 0x80040116.

This error is typically attributed to a damaged index of your file. If your file’s index were to get damaged, then accessing Outlook would be a task in itself. Not to mention that this issue will be accompanied by slow performance and error messages. Now it’s time that you scan and repair your PST file. Viruses, accidental shut down, software and hardware compatibility issues are the main reasons that corrupt your PST file.

Probably the safest way to fix your broken PST file is to use the scanpst.exe tool in your Outlook application. This is Microsoft’s Inbox Repair tool, which is the default tool to scan and repair PST files in Outlook. However, this tool is not very powerful and can only fix minor issues, typically associated with the corruption of the file header. The tool is not powerful enough to handle severe corruptions.

File exceeding the allocated size is a major source of the issue that causes corrupted PST file. Older versions of MS Outlook only have a maximum size of 2 GB per PST file while latter version can support up to 20 GB. Either way if the PST file exceeds the maximum size then you have to employ a cropping tool also known as 2 GB truncation tool. Only versions below and including MS Outlook 2003 have a maximum size limit of 2 GB. As soon as you exceed the size, the PST file will start acting weird and decrease performance.

The PST Crop Tool is helpful in removing unnecessary chunks from the PST file. However, the process of cropping files using this tool varies according to the version of Outlook you are using. Therefore, it is advisable that you follow the product documentation to have a smooth cropping process. If you need more help with Outlook PST issues, you can contact our online computer repair team for technical assistance.

Though Inbox Repair Tool is the default tool for PST repair it is incapable of handling major issues. Third party tools on the other hand, can help with Outlook PST issues much faster than the default tool.

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The Outlook webmail service is nowhere near as customizable as Gmail. That said, what it does offer is not something to easily overlook. There are some great features all to its won, such as email aliases, which you can store in the webmail version of Outlook address book. That means you will have more than one address under the single account.

Why You Would Want This

The usefulness of an alias may not be obvious from the start. One of these addresses can be set as the recovery email ID for if and when you lose your password. That way, hackers will find it harder to get at you through the backdoor you have set up. You can also make junk addresses so that these can be provided to websites, which require you to register. And your personal, primary email ID stays out of reach of the marketers. With them still in your Outlook address book.

Creating An Alias In Outlook.Com

• Hit the Settings button at the upper right of the page. Choose More Mail Settings from the menu.
• When you get to the next page, move to Managing Your Account, and then choose Create an Outlook Alias. You will have to sign in once more for this.
• The alias creation page loads. Type in the username you want to use as the alias address, and choose the domain you want for it. Then hit Create an Alias.
• You will be notified if the address is taken, and registered if it is not. Specify if you want the mail to the alias delivered to the primary inbox, or just a separate folder in it. Hit Done after you are finished setting that up.

  

After a few minutes, you will get an email message saying that the new alias is ready to be used. After you have it up and running, it can be used to sign into the Microsoft account with the password you have always had for. It is also possible to switch between the different addresses as the primary email, so that the rest are delegated to the position of aliases.

These aliases can be used in other places than the website, such as Outlook.com for Android. If you are a user, create aliases so you can use these when you need to keep your main ID out of it. Managing is easy if you set up a folder for the mail incoming to each of these secondary IDs.

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One of the common steps for troubleshooting when you cannot receive email in Outlook is setting up a new profile to use. Sometimes this takes care of whatever is wrong in the mail delivery system, but if it does not, there are other steps you can take. Have you checked if the connection uses TCP/IP? This needs to be the default protocol for mail to go in or out, so ensuring this is in the configuration is where you should start.

First, go to Network Connection Properties. To get there in XP or Windows 2000, perform the following steps depending on the version of Windows you are on.

• Hit Start and then Run.
• Type cpl in the text field and hit Enter. This will bring up the Network Connections window.
• Here find the connection you are on and right click it, then hit Properties.

For later version, you simply need to type Network Connections in search and then select the properties of the connection. If you have more than one connection in this window, the one you are using will likely say Connected, so chose this one.

Making Sure Outlook Is Using TCP/IP

• Go to the General tab and make sure that the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) option is selected. If it is not, leave a check in the box beside the label, and hit OK.
• If you are asked to restart the computer, click on Yes.

After this is done, try out the connection to see if it works – send yourself an email and see if it arrives. If that is working fine, you have solved the mail receiving problem.

Other reasons cannot receive email in Outlook are:

• Your internet address or connection settings were not typed in correctly. The error could be as small as a capitalization mistake, which counts.
• Your internet email settings are not configured right. Check what you have entered in Outlook with your ISP, and if there is any difference between the two, correct your configuration accordingly. People commonly type in a DNS address or a news server address in the mail server field, so check if you have done the same.
• Your remote mail configurations may also act up. Doing this is known to disrupt existing connections, with email not being sent or received as it should be.

That was on setting up TCP/IP as your default protocol in Outlook, and alternate factors, which might be preventing mail from coming in.

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Password problems do rarely occur in email client applications like Outlook. Usually, the user who sets up his email in Outlook enables the application to save the password. However, this is not a good choice if you computer or Outlook is being used by others. Well, if you come across any password problems while using Microsoft Outlook, here are some useful steps to fix the problem.

Open Outlook In Safe Mode

Running Outlook in Safe Mode is one of the easiest solutions to fix most of the common issues with the application. When Outlook is opened in safe Mode, no external services or add-ins will be enabled. Therefore, you can easily figure out whether the issue you are facing is being originated from Outlook itself, or due to any other services. If the problem does not occur when you open the application in Safe Mode, you can conclude that the issue is triggered by any of the plug-ins or add-ins you have installed.

How To Open Outlook In Safe Mode

Follow the below instructions to see how you can open Outlook in Safe Mode.

• Navigate to the Start button and choose Run from the resulting menu.
• In the Run dialogue box, type exe/safe. Proceed by hitting the Enter key on the keyboard.
• This will open Outlook. You will not find it much different from Outlook opened in standard mode. The only difference here is the application will not be supported by any external services here.

  

• Navigate to the email accounts you have set up in Outlook and try to connect it. If you do not face the password problem any longer, you should assume that it is triggered by any of the plug-ins or add-ons you have in the application. Try disabling the each plug-in to find out the plug-in that causes the password problem.

Update Your Email Account Password In Outlook

Each time you update your password from the web interface, you should make sure that the changes are reflected in the email settings in Outlook as well. Failing to do so will lead to frequent password problems.

You have seen a few steps about how to deal with password problems in Outlook.

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It is common to find an occasional error message when using MS Outlook, stating that they are issues with the ActiveX Controls in the program. There is no need to call the Outlook support yet. This error message simply means that you can enable ActiveX in Outlook so that you can access the special text format or animations present in the received message. Simply, closing the error message and trying to open the message repeatedly is not going to change anything. You will continue to see the same error message.

As mentioned above, to fix the issue you need to activate ActiveX in Outlook. This might have been set to Disabled by default as a precautionary measure. According to the Outlook support website, this is a common practice to protect the program from virus infections that might enter your system through unauthorised ActiveX content in spam messages. So, disabling it back after you are done with your current use for it would be a smart idea.

To enable or disable ActiveX in MS Outlook, you need to proceed as follows.

Go to the main toolbar in Outlook and select the option Help. Click on the option About Microsoft Outlook to check the version number of the Outlook program you are using. In the older versions of Outlook, especially the 98 and 2000 versions, you are required to change the security zone to activate ActiveX. To do this, go to the Tools menu, select Options and then, choose Security. If this is shown as a restricted zone, you need to change it to trusted zone. This will activate ActiveX.

A security prompt would appear on the screen. You can enable ActiveX from here. This message usually appears under the Menu bar. You have to click on the Options button to see the settings for enabling ActiveX. This is how it normally works in the 2007 Outlook version. The prompt for accepting the ActiveX content would appear on the screen and you just need to click on the OK button to start viewing the content.

As mentioned above, enabling the opening of ActiveX content in your email messages is a risk that might lead to virus infections. So, check the sender before you accept the ActiveX content in the mail message. Spam messages loaded with ActiveX content might contain hidden malware. If you are sure that the message is spam, delete it without bothering to open the ActiveX content in it.

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Outlook email client is a very useful application when it comes to sending and receiving messages, keeping in touch with friends and colleagues, and staying on top of things which need to be dealt with, whether at the office, or at home. This email client stores all of your important data locally so that you’re able to access it even when your internet speed drops. But sometimes the size of the thing goes up so much that it gets unwieldy, and this slows down the application.

The 2007 version of Outlook is outfitted to be able to handle a 20GB data file at the maximum, while Outlook 2010 can manage 50GB of data. The size limits can be raised manually, though this would almost always impede optimal performance. The sensible thing to do, as you’ve probably guessed already, is cut down the size of the PST file. That’s how to fix Outlook errors you might be facing, such as a noticeable lag in the application, before it responds to a command.

You’ll need to go to the location where the PST files are stored in the PC. Find and select the file, and compact it, so that the size is reduced.

• In Outlook 2007, go to File> Data File Management. Choose the oversized PST file from here, and hit Settings. Choose the Compact Now In Outlook 2010, go to the File tab, and select Info. Hit Account Settings, and then Account Settings once more. When the dialog box comes up, move to the Data Files tab, then Settings, and choose Compact Now.

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  The above step should have shrunk the file enough for Outlook to work properly once more. If it didn’t then the next step is to try and archive the PST file. For this you’ll need the AutoArchive dialog box. There, you can choose from plenty of options to archive the PST file. You could do it right away, instead of setting it up for later and then waiting for it. Hit the Archive button and this will be taken care of.

That was on how to fix Outlook errors arising from the size of the mailbox. For this, you can use the Cleanup Tools button, and then choose Mailbox Cleanup. Though the size of the PST file will remain the same after compacting it, it will have considerably more blank space in it, which the application can use for speed.

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Microsoft Outlook Express provides the option to setup multiple third party email accounts in the email client. If you are not able to access emails anymore, it means that something has gone wrong with the program’s configuration or that you have been blocked due to some reason.

Login Issues

Each account linked with Outlook Express has a username and password. You need to make sure that you entered the details correctly when you were prompted to do so. A single typo while entering the login details can cause the Outlook Express program failing to access the server and downloading email messages. If you set the username and password of the respective account with something case sensitive, enter it as such in the Outlook Express program.

Improper Configuration

If you cannot receive email in Outlook, one of the most common causes is improper configuration. One example for this is setting up the wrong server to access your emails. Though POP3 is the most commonly used email protocol, there are some email providers who make use of the IMAP servers. Moreover, the some email services use HTTP servers to access emails. Check whether you have chosen the right email protocol if a specific account is causing the trouble.

Some other possible causes that you can check when cannot receive email in Outlook are wrong server port numbers, choosing an improper option when asked for SSL details. You need to contact the email provider and get the exact details in such case.

Access Blocked

Check the Spam folders in your Outlook Express program. If you find the required emails here, it means that you may have accidentally blocked their senders or domains for deletion or created a rule for the purpose. In case you had blocked a sender or domain, their respective emails will go to the Spam folder, not the inbox. Certain rules also allow you to block certain emails from reaching your computer at all. It is also possible that your ISP has blocked the mails as they contain suspicious files or programs.

Account Issues

If you have checked all the possible causes and cannot fix the issue yet, there are other instances wherein you will not be able to receive emails. One of them is the possibility that the security of the email account has been compromised. Alternatively, you may have exceeded the storage limit offered by the provider. In that case, you would need to delete some of the unnecessary emails.

If you still cannot access email, go to the specific email provider’s page and explore the FAQ section for additional troubleshooting steps.

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Microsoft Outlook crash issues are common and can be quite a headache. There are many reasons why Outlook might stop working all of a sudden, and the reasons can range from your antivirus settings to lack of internet connection. There are a few troubleshooting steps you can try yourself before calling up a support technician when you find that Microsoft Outlook not working; find them listed below.

Restart The Computer

Sometimes, a simple restart can fix the issue with the Outlook client. When your system is out of resources and there is not enough memory for the program to run, it just freezes. If your Outlook client crashed owing to such an issue, a restart would fix it.

Check Anti Virus Settings

Certain settings of antivirus programs can make the Outlook program not respond. One such scenario is if any of your mails have been found to contain a malware or a virus. In such cases, the antivirus program would just block the program to prevent it from getting into the local system and damaging the computer.

This scenario occurs when a computer scan is in the process; allow it to complete and check again. Another possible situation is when your antivirus program has setup firewalls. Verify if the email client is working after disabling the security software for some time to check this issue.

Restore The Computer

In certain cases, installation of new programs or applications may have caused the issue. To rectify this, restore your computer to an earlier date when the email client worked properly using the System Restore option.

To do that, go to Start and look for the System Restore feature. Select a date when the Outlook program was working fine and click Restore. Follow the prompts shown in the wizard to complete the process.

Check Internet Connection

If you find that Microsoft Outlook not working even now, check whether you have proper internet access. For this, access the Start menu and go to Control Panel. Open Networks and Internet and then choose Network Sharing Center.

You would be able to check if you are connected to internet from there. If you are unable to find the network that you should have been connected to, restart the modem or contact your Internet Service Provider.

If the issue was not resolved, you may try deleting unwanted mails from the Inbox, Outbox, and Sent Items folders to check if the issue was caused due to of an oversized PST file.

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Cannot send email from Outlook? The Microsoft Outlook email client might stop sending or receiving emails for no apparent reason all of a sudden, the reasons for which can be many. There are two different ways in which you can go about troubleshooting the issue when you cannot send email from Outlook; by resetting the default settings and by ensuring that TCP/IP is set as the default protocol.

Make a New Email Profile

• Open the Start menu and click on the Control Panel
• Open the icon labeled User Accounts and then click on the Mail However, if you are using Windows XP, you won’t find the User Accounts option, just double click on Mail.
• The Mail Setup dialog box would open now. Here, click on the option labeled Show Profiles. To create a new user profile, click on the Add button, which would start a profile wizard.
• Into the Profile Name box, enter Test and then click on the Ok You will be provided with some onscreen instructions, follow them promptly to complete the profile creation process. Once the process completes, click on the Finish button.
• In the box that says ‘When Starting Microsoft Outlook, use this profile’, click on the name of the profile that you just created. Click on the Ok button to close the window.

Now, send a test email to check if you are able to send and receive email messages in the program.

Set the Default Protocol as TCP/IP

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  Open the Start menu and click on the Run However, if you are using Vista or a newer operating system, you do not need to open Run.

• Into the Run or Start Search box, enter cpl and press the Enter key on the keyboard. This opens the Network Connections window. In the window, locate the icon with your network connection’s name, right click on it and select Properties.
• In the Properties window, click on the General In the dialog box that pops up, check if the box for Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is checked. If it is not already, click on the checkmark to select it and then click on the Ok button. In case you are asked to restart the computer, click on the Yes button in the pop up box to do the same.

As before, send a test message to check if the program is working now. If you are still facing the problem, contact your ISP and check if you have proper internet connectivity.

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Lots of people face the problem where they cannot start Microsoft Outlook. There’s one error which gives you the following message each time you try launching the app: Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window. This is annoying, especially if you get it while at the office, and you need to finish important work. Many people seem to think that this has something to do with the updates they installed on the system, but the underlying problem is usually something else altogether.

Corrupt Profile

There’s a file called profilename.xml, used for storing the navigation pane settings in the program. If something goes amiss with the data inside this file, it can cause problems with the application launch. In XP and Vista, this file is found in the respective paths: C: \Documents and Settings \Application Data \Microsoft \Outlook and C: \Users \AppData \Roaming \Microsoft \Outlook. Find the file and rename it. The next time Outlook launches, it will have created a new file instead of the one you renamed, and you should be able to start it up without any hassles.

Cached Exchange Mode

This might be the reason why you cannot start Microsoft Outlook. People usually use Exchange with Outlook in the office, to work on the server with others in the organization. The Cached Exchange Mode is what automatically stores local copies of your information, and this is convenient if you’re on a laptop. Turn off this feature if you don’t need it, and there’s a chance the launch error will disappear too.

ScanPST.exe

Maybe there’s something wrong with your PST file. This is the file that stores all of the personal information inside the application, locally. If there’s a corruption of the data in there, then the application itself won’t start normally, or at all. Use a PST repair tool to find and fix the issue. The native utility for this is Scanpst.exe. If this isn’t enough to fix your issue, then download a good third party tool for deeper scanning and more comprehensive resolution.

Make a New Profile

If it’s only your profile data that’s corrupted, and assuming it can’t be fixed, you’ll need to set up another profile so that you can start using Outlook again. But before doing this, backup the profile, in case you need it in the future for some reason. That way if you mange to fix the data corruption, you can always revert to the favored profile.

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