My computer is generally very fast for all applications I use, including the full Microsoft Office 2000 and Studio MX suites. However, Microsoft Outlook 2000 is noticeably slower to load, sometimes taking up to one minute whereas any other programme only takes 5 seconds at most. Is there any obvious reason for this? I do have a few thousand emails stored in my various Outlook folders (archiving them is not an option as I refer back to them regularly) - could this be the cause? If so, can anyone offer a workaround?

How large is your pst file? And what exactly is the problem with archiving them? You'll still be able to see them, as the file/folder structure will be copied as well. The only difference is, they'll be in a separate pst file.

Are you using an exchange server ? if so.. there are some things to do ... just tell me . Sharing knoledge will make us all better...

My pst file is 365 MB (honestly I don't know is this large? Or small?). No, I don't use an exchange server; I download email directly onto my local machine. Perhaps falsely I had the impression that archiving email messages made them harder to access - I'll investigate this. In the meantime, any other ideas? :)

365 MB is not small, but it's nowhere near the 2 Gig maximum size recommended for a pst file. If you want info on archiving, just email me...