![Outlook issue communicating with the server.]()
by Brahim | Jan 25, 2019 | Microsoft, Outlook, Software
A customer called unable to open outlook, which, after closing and then reopening outlook appeared to solve the problem. However, not ten minutes later the phone rang. They were now unable to open an email without outlook crashing, petulantly ignoring his request to view its contents, as it was clearly busy communicating with the server.
We did some investigating and decided removing his profile and forcing outlook to re-download the emails would solve this obviously corrupted email.
It didn’t.
The email refused to budge from its persistent communication with the server. Our next step was compromised by Outlook 2010 struggling to keep itself running when trying to download. The large amount of data being downloaded in a single effort, caused it to crash multiple times before we moved on. A self-inflicted injury.
Outlook 2010 became a dud, but luckily we had a copy of 2013 ready to go. Once that was installed, (with it’s own issues adding insult to injury of course), next up was to try and identify what in the email was causing the problem. Forwarding the email was our next plan. But our attempt to forward the message to our own inbox, merely attempted to open the contents as part of the message. Another clear dead end.
The next plan stepped up to bat. We’ll create a folder, place the problem email into it, extract the data and read it at our end to try and find the problem.
No need to open it, no problem right?
Despite our plan being completely flawless, it immediately failed.
Once we moved the email we found that opening the folder defaulted to opening the email. So we added a second, newer email to load first. But this revealed a new issue to ourselves. Namely when we re-opened outlook, it now crashed on a second, unrelated email in the main inbox.
This exposed that there was a bigger underlying issue than a single problematic email, namely that something common to both emails was to blame, not a singular unique issue.
This called for yet another trusty “new plan”™
Using safemode, we finally managed to open the previously unopenable emails and quickly determined the issue to be HTTP Images failing to load properly. This we can do!
The solution turned out to be simply setting a registry key to block the HTTP Images for Outlook and a quick restart of the computer.
Once it had restarted, there sat the mystery email, perfectly innocent, opening as if nothing had happened.
![Outlook issue communicating with the server.]()
by Brahim | Sep 24, 2018 | General
Have you ever opened up Google Chrome and seen this come up?
We all know how infuriating that can be! However here at TC-IT services we’ve come up with a quick fix…just hit the space bar, or if your using a mobile device, press on the dinosaur…and see what happens.
A dinosaur game! Now it won’t fix your internet problems in anyway, but it will distract you from the lack of internet for a few minutes as you try and beat your high-score. Why not pass it round the office, or show your senior management team?
Of course when you realise you really can’t afford to spend your whole working day playing a dinosaur game, give TC-IT services a call and we’ll look into your problem for you!
![Outlook issue communicating with the server.]()
by Brahim | Sep 14, 2018 | Microsoft
One of our customers recently experienced issues when searching for files in File Explorer. When searching for files and folders, it was unusually slow.
Here is a quick solution to resolve any slow searching issues:
Steps To Resolve Slow Searching In File Explorer
- Open File Explorer from the taskbar at the bottom of your screen
- Click on the View tab
- Open Options from the right-hand side
- Go to the Search tab
- Press Restore Defaults
Many Windows 8 and 8.1 users experience this issue after having installed Classic Shell, a program which gives the look and feel of Windows 7. Classic shell enables a search setting which has a negative impact on searching: “Always search file names and contents (this might take several minutes)”. The steps above will ensure that this setting is disabled and restored to defaults.
For more information, click here or alternatively contact us for further assistance.
![Outlook issue communicating with the server.]()
by Brahim | Jul 12, 2018 | General, Hardware
Is your PC not turning on? Yesterday we were assembling a new ASUS PC. The power supply had all the relevant components connected to it, however, when turning on the power switch, nothing happened! There was only a faint blinking from the standby power (SB PWR) switch, shown below:
We then disconnected all components that are not necessary for booting the PC from the motherboard, so we just had the basic things connected to the power. Alas, we still had the same problem.
After trawling through many tech blogs we could not find the answer to the solution..there was talk of the motherboard not receiving enough power, and that something connected to it was causing it to short circuit. However we only had the necessary things attached to the power source (motherboard, pwr switch and CPU fan) so we couldn’t see what was causing the problem.
We then noticed that the motherboard didn’t have stand off screws. The motherboard was screwed directly into the base unit, causing the screws to conduct electricity from the power source – causing the motherboard to short circuit. Applying the stand off screws to the motherboard ensures isolation from the base unit and decreases the chance of short circuiting.
A quick resolution to this problem is to check that your motherboard has stand off screws.
![Outlook issue communicating with the server.]()
by Brahim | Jul 6, 2018 | Hardware
Wireless keyboard and mouse interference can result in lag. While working on your laptop or computer, you may find that your wireless keyboard and mouse become unresponsive, stuttery and laggy. This can be very infuriating, but here are some steps to help resolve the problem.
A common cause of wireless keyboard and mouse lagging is a result of wireless interference from USB 3.0 devices, such as external hard drives and other USB 3.0 removable media. Interference may produce the following symptoms:
- Delayed keyboard and mouse inputs
- Ignored mouse or keyboard inputs
- Decreased wireless range between the mouse/keyboard and USB wireless receiver
Reduce wireless keyboard and mouse interference
- If your PC or laptop has USB 3.0 (SS) ports, connect USB 3.0 devices in these ports. Then plug the USB 2.0 devices such as the wireless receiver in the USB 2.0 ports, giving as much distance away from the USB 3.0 device as possible. For instance, if your laptop has a USB 3.0 port on the left, plug in your external hard drive there and if there is a USB 2.0 port on the right, plug in your USB wireless keyboard and mouse receiver there.
- Ensure that your wireless keyboard and mouse receiver are positioned as close as possible to the keyboard and mouse.
- In situations where you are unable to create much distance between the USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 devices, use a USB extender cable to increase this distance.
More information is available here.
Please feel free to contact us for any further help.
