Let’s get to the Fix:
The issue is a result of how the new McAfee Buffer Overflow Protection interacts with the Outlook automatic completion feature. To fix the problem you need to tell McAfee to Exclude outlook.exe from the Buffer Overflow protection: Add an exclusion locally for outlook.exe under Buffer Overflow Protection settings: Additional Background/Information
- Please note, in my case, my notebook was installed with:
Microsoft Vista Enterprise EditionMicrosoft Outlook 2007 (errr… Office 2007)McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.5.0i
- If your computer is attached to a company network, there is a chance that these settings will be grayed out. In these cases, your computer is probably managed by McAfee’s enterprise management product (EPO) or, when McAfee VirusScan was installed, a password was used to lock the config. In either of these cases, you will need to contact your Systems Administrator or Helpdesk for assistance.
- When I first ran into this problem, the first thing I did was delete my .nk2 file (Check here for instructions on where to find the .nk2 file) thinking that perhaps mine had become corrupt. Although this was a “temporary” fix, once the file grew I began having performance problems again with the auto-complete function. Just an FYI. I spend 1/2 my day in outlook these days… … so before the fix I was ready to lose my mind. Then there’s the users who were beginning to riot in the halls with pitchforks……. Glad the article helped you out! Thanks Glad it helped you out! Rich You just saved my life. My entire IT org. was working on this STUPID problem! Thank you very much mrgroove! Machine setup: Win XP Pro SP2 McAfee 8.5.0i Outlook 2007 with all updates Original NK2 file size is\was 1.2MB Thanks again, would have probably ended up reinstalling Outlook in the end. I’ve created the topic here: https://www.groovypost.com/forum/mcafee-causes-slow-outlook-email-address-auto-complete-t81507.html Just register real fast and let’s continue the conversation and fix the issue! -MrGroove I also used this opportunity to clear out the Outlook Auto Complete cache (Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.nk2). While this will be a pain in the short term as I build it back up, things are very responsive again and like many others I’m not ready to chuck things out the window! I’m not sure why this started happening all of a sudden (within the last week or so) when I’ve had Outlook 2007 running for months. Perhaps our IT organization pushed out something with McAfee that impacted this?? Sounds odd but I think your right. Your IT guys must have pushed out something. You should give them the link so they can adjust the policy (if it makes sense for your org.). You might as well unistall McAfee because most viruses come from email especailly outlook which has many security holes…. I agree, that by disabling buffer overflow protection in outlook you are opening up an attack surface for your computer. That being said, I don’t agree that this change to the AV client introduces an unacceptable level of risk for the average user or corporation. The primary method which malicious emails infect the desktop are through attachments and malformed/malicious HTML. With this in mind, there are several ways which Outlook protects you from these threats such as Disallowing Programmatic Access, Disable of attachment preview and my Favorite, the option to convert all email to Plain Text prior to displaying it to the user. That being said, each user/company will need to make their own decision based on benefit vs. risk and the level of risk they are willing to accept. For me personally, I see this as very low risk (otherwise I would not have recommended it to my users). Thanks! Gene I was running into the issue and thought it was just my PC, until one of the executives called in to mention he was having the exact same problem. We are beginning to roll out Office 2007 and I was able to catch this issue and have the exception added to our EPO server before this caused big problems across our enterprise Still, huge thanks for this information. :) cheers In my case, I have seen buffer overflow protection is disabled because I have HIP installed in it, In this case how can we proceed as I don’t see any exclution list in HIP application effectively helps you to restore .pst file of any version of MS Outlook, beginning with MS Outlook 97 Comment Name * Email *
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