Closing a program in Windows does not close it.

[OhioSteve]

We have a problem with some new laptops. Closing MS Outlook in Windows causes Outlook's inteface to vanish. However, Outlook.exe continues to run in the task bar. This causes problems later, especially if the user tries to open Outlook again. If you kill the process in task manager outlook really does terminate.

Using Google, I found that Fourelle Venturi Personal Client can keep Outlook open. Apparently, it checks Outlook's "message stack" periodically. We have this on the laptops and the users need it. I removed it from a test machine and that fixed the problem.

A shareware addin called "shutdown addin" is supposed to fix the problem. I installed it on one of out laptops.

shutdown addin did not fix the problem consistently. First, it did never worked unless the user chose exit from the file menu. Even then, it only worked about 2/3 of the time.

Can you think of any way to force Outlook.exe to quit reliably? Can I do something in the cmd window to say, "If Outlook starts to quit, really make it quit!" Frankly I am fresh out of ides.

 

[bcastner]

What version of Outlook?

 

[OhioSteve]

Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 (11.6359.6360) SP1. I have disabled the Voice recognition for office on my sample laptop. Otherwise it has the default settings.

 

[bcastner]

http://sunflowerhead.com/software/knockout/

 

[OhioSteve]

Knock Out tells the users when Outlook is running. I just want it to close completely when they tell it to close.

 

[bcastner]

Knockout provides a foolproof way to terminate Outlook.

 

[OhioSteve]

I had thought that the user still had to click an icon with knockout. Maybe I'm wrong about that. I will download knockout and evaluate it.

 

[OhioSteve]

Okay, I have experimented with Knockout on the laptop. It is somewhat helpful because it notifies you when Outlook is running invisibly. It also provides you with a convenient way to close Outlook.

However, it does NOT close Outlook automatically. That's what my users need: a simple solution. If the user closes Outlook, then the process Outlook.exe should terminate without any other input from the user.

 

[bcastner]

http://www.daveswebsite.com/software/olshutdown/default.shtml

 

[OhioSteve]

bcastner, daveswebsite is where I got the software that I mentioned in my first post. It did not work consistently. If the user Xs out of the outlook window, the utility does not close Outlook. Sometimes it does not work even if the user goes to file/exit in Outlook.

 

[Papa4]

Try a utility that you may already have installed on your
XP system named TASKKILL.EXE Go to the HELP utility and
search for this name to get more info.

Papa4

TaskkillEnds one or more tasks or processes. Processes can be killed by process ID or image name.

Syntax
taskkill [/s Computer] [/u Domain\UserName [/p Password]] {/fi FilterName [{/pid ProcessID | /im ImageName}] | /pid ProcessID | /im ImageName} [/f] [/t]

Parameters
/s Computer
Specifies the name or IP address of a remote computer (do not use backslashes). The default is the local computer.
/u Domain\UserName
Runs the command with the account permissions of the user specified by UserName or Domain\UserName. The default is the permissions of the current logged on user on the computer issuing the command.
/p Password
Specifies the password of the user account that is specified in the /u parameter.
/fi FilterName
Specifies the types of process(es) to include in or exclude from termination. The following are valid filter names, operators, and values. Name Operators Value
Status eq, ne RUNNING | NOT RESPONDING | UNKNOWN
Imagename eq, ne Any valid string.
PID eg, ne, gt, lt, ge, le Any valid positive integer.
Session eg, ne, gt, lt, ge, le Any valid session number.
CPUTime eq, ne, gt, lt, ge, le Valid time in the format of HH:MM:SS. The MM and SS parameters should be between 0 and 59 and HH can be any valid unsigned numeric value.
Memusage eg, ne, gt, lt, ge, le Any valid integer.
Username eq, ne Any valid user name ([Domain\]UserName).
Services eq, ne Any valid string.
Windowtitle eq, ne Any valid string.
Modules eq, ne Any valid string.

/pid ProcessID
Specifies the process ID of the process to be terminated.
/im ImageName
Specifies the image name of the process to be terminated. Use the wildcard (*) to specify all image names.
/f
Specifies that process(es) be forcefully terminated. This parameter is ignored for remote processes; all remote processes are forcefully terminated.
/t
Terminates the specified process and any child processes which that process started. In the table in the definition for /fi, change the row for 'status' from:
/?
Displays help at the command prompt.
Remarks
The "WindowTitle" and "Status" filters are not supported when a remote system is specified.
The wildcard character (*) is accepted only when specified along with the filters.
Termination for remote processes will always be done forcefully regardless of whether the /f parameter is specified.
Supplying a computer name to the HOSTNAME filter will cause a shutdown and all processes will be stopped.
Use tasklist to determine the Process ID (PID) for the process to be terminated.
Taskkill is a replacement for the Kill tool.
Examples
The following examples show how you can use the taskkill command:

taskkill /pid 1230 /pid 1241 /pid 1253
taskkill /f /fi "USERNAME eq NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" /im notepad.exe
taskkill /s srvmain /f /im notepad.exe
taskkill /s srvmain /u maindom\hiropln /p p@ssW23 /fi "IMAGENAME eq note*" /im *
taskkill /s srvmain /u maindom\hiropln /fi "USERNAME ne NT*" /im *
taskkill /pid 2134 /t /fi "username eq administrator"
taskkill /f /fi "PID ge 1000" /im *

Formatting legend

 

[bcastner]

Q. Does Venturi Version 2.3 Support Microsoft Outlook?

A.
Yes. Venturi Version 2.3 supports Microsoft Outlook 2000 (SP1), 2002 (XP) and is currently undergoing certification for Microsoft Outlook 2003.

 

[OhioSteve]

Papa4, I appreciate the time that you put into your post.

My goal is to restore the same level of functionality that our users had prior to this incident. If they close Outlook in the gui, then that action alone should end the outlook.exe process.

I suspect that the users would need to choose to run taskkill.exe each time the problem occured.

 

[OhioSteve]

We still have not fixed the problem, but we have documented the symptom more precisely. Outlook will work as long as you do not connect it to our exchange server. Once you configure your account and start interacting with exchange, then the problems start. But the problem only occurs on a small number of laptops, and those laptops have the Venturi software.

 

[jimp56]

reboot one of the laptops, then run outlook with the /noextensions switch "outlook.exe /noextensions"
(you may have to specify the path to the outlook.exe file)

If it closes normally when run with this switch, then its definitely the venturi software or some other add-in.