Friday, March 11, 2005

Stardate 59190.9 - How to Fix Outlook

I mentioned in my previous post that I had an issue with Outlook. I have no idea if these blogs are indexed by something like Google or not, but since I found a solution to a DVR issue on a blog via Google, I thought I'd post my solution so in case anyone else was having the same problem they could benifit from my lesson learned. Here is the message I sent to my co-workers:

I found this today when taking a look at possible culprits for my Outlook problems. The "NsOlExt" extension is for the smart card reader. So if you turn this off, Outlook is supposed to behave normally again but you won't be able to sign or encrypt anything using the card reader, I think.
I “unchecked” NsOlExt and shutdown Outlook. It locked up and I had to kill the process. I then restarted Outlook, ran it for a while, then shut it down. It shutdown with no problems at all. FYI, NsOlExt stands for Netsign Smartcard Outlook Extension.


Here is the article I found on-line that pointed me in the correct direction:

Solution Title: Outlook 2003 hits 100% CPU Utilization at Shutdown
Date Asked: 02/21/2004 03:32PM PST
Date Answered: 02/22/2004 06:51AM PST

A new installation of Office 2003 and having problems with 100% CPU utilization at shutdown and it ends by killing the process in task manager. I have tried a variety of things to include:

1) Validated the .PST file is in good shape by attaching to it on my other Office 2003 (Outlook).
2) It sends/receives just fine and CPU % is 0-1% when idle
3) Created a new profile with no change in behavior
4) Made sure word was not the default editior - it was but changing it made no difference
5) Uninstalled Outlook component from Office 2003 then reinstalled it with no change

Other note, I spent a couple hours on the phone with Microsoft today working on an Office Update issue, that now works. The computer had Office XP on it and this was an upgrade in place shift to 2003. Part of the MS support approach was to remove the registry entries and anything relating to Office and then reinstalling.

I went into ADD-INS (TOOLS >>-> OPTIONS >>-> OTHER >>-> ADVANCED OPTIONS >>-> ADD-IN Manager) and there were two. I left the "Exchange Extensions" one checked and unchecked the "NsOlExt" one. After that all my problems appeared to have been resolved. Of course, I have no clue what "NsOlExt" is and wonder if anyone can tell me the implications of having disabled this.

Regards,
Brent Obenour

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Stardate 59165.46 - Random Thoughts

What has been getting on my nerves recently, you are wondering? Actually, not too much recently. Just trying to find time to work on my D&D campaign and keep work to a minimum...not an easy task these days.

I am having Outlook issues right now after I installed a smart card reader (litronic) and software, but my team's technical support is looking into it. I assume I just need some updated software, but it is painful as Outlook crashes a couple of times a day now.

Yep...boring times right now.