Why does Outlook appear to hang for short periods of time?

Question

From time to time Outlook appears to hang when I am using it. This always corresponds to new email arriving into my Inbox, why does this happen?

Answer

You may find this happening if you have the option to display Desktop Alerts enabled in Outlook. Each time Outlook displays a Desktop Alert it also fetches the full body of the message the alert relates to.

If this is a large message Outlook will appear to hang until such time as the message body has been fully retrieved, at which time it will once again become responsive.

If you wish to change this behaviour you can do so by disabling the Desktop Alert option within Outlook. To do this go to Tools > Options and on the Preferences tab select the E-mail Options button. In the next dialog select the Advanced E-mail Options button, uncheck the option "Display a New Mail Desktop Alert (default Inbox only)&quot then click on OK. Back out of the Options dialogues by clicking OK until you are back within Outlook itself.

You will no longer see Outlook appear to hang when new mail arrives in your Inbox. You will also no longer get Desktop Alerts but Outlook should continue to indicate there is new mail in the Inbox by changing it to bold and indicating the number of new e-mails you have numerically to the immediate right of the word Inbox.

Keywords:Outlook, new mail, desktop alert, hang, pause