Call Manager slows down outlook

[darkmatter15]

New system install of 8.1 with PCM rollout.

Since installing Call manager Outlook seems to be slowing up and/or locking up all together.
The problem seems to be most prevalent when drafting a new email or a reply to email.
This happens to at least 10 different machines and all have been double checked for minimum requirements and all exceed the PCM needs.

Has anyone else seen or dealt with this yet?
Any ideas would really be appreciated.

Thanks

[brianlees]

I have had the same problems. I'm about ready to uninstall it.

Another thing I noticed is that the Outlook.exe process remains open even after I close Outlook. I have all the Outlook integration disabled, so I'm not sure why it is keeping it open.

[darkmatter15]

I had not noticed that. Unfortunately I need to keep PCM running and find the fix, too many users are already loving the whole PCM and would chop my head off if I took it away from them.

I'll post any resolutions I come.

[eazeaz]

Outlook

We have found that the new PCM takes considerably more memory than the older versions. It doesnt necessarily reflect in the task manager byte for byte though.

It will not only slow down outlook, but many other things as well.

The pcm also seems to handle the import process a bit differently through outlook.

We have found that machines with 512MB have no shot at running the PCM. 1GB ends in complaints, 2GB+ works like a champ.

I agree that the memory amounts above are crazy, and excessive. This is just what we have found to keep the complaints away.


We have also found another issue with the PCM. Having outlook in Cached mode seems to be a bad thing for the PCM. The PCM keeps the outlook data file open many times. We have noticed that upon closing and re-opening outlook, a data integrity check starts. This integrity check consumes huge amounts of resources and makes the whole pc (especially outlook) run like crap for a long time (hour or two).

Switching to online mode makes the problem go away instantly.... no OST to corrupt/keep open.

[brianlees]

Ah, the cached mode problem explains some of our issues. However, cached mode is fairly standard in corporate environments. All our desktops and laptops are in cached mode. Reduces load on the server and also allows us to take the server offline for maintenance with minimal impact.

Has anyone heard anything official from Shoretel regarding this? PCM basically makes our computers unusable after a while.

[eazeaz]

Cached mode

I used to be a huge cached mode supporter.

We reluctantly switched to online mode due to this PCM issue. I would never look back. Many "strange" outlook issues just dissapeared overnight. No more "slow" outlook, no more corrupt ost files, no more emails "dissapearing" ,etc.

Now we have an exchange server at each physical location, some people do not. For our environment, I would never switch back. It seemed like anytime someone went over about 1GB mailbox size, their outlook/pc would start to act worse and worse. We now have mailboxes that are 4GB+ and have no issues (other than having to stuff crazy amounts of memory into the exchange server)

The problems seemed to get far worse with outlook 2007.

[LarryWest]

I used to have a lot of trouble with cached mode however I made a few small adjustments and now everything is working smoothly. Its my favorite feature now!

In PCM, go to Options > Outlook > Import Options. Select the "Import Configurator" tab and take a close look at what is being scanned. By default, PCM will scan mailboxes, address lists, Personal Folders (.pst), and even Outlook Public Folders. For my users, I remove all of these selections and only select their personal contacts and our AD Global Address list. Go back to the Disk Cache tab, enable disk caching, select a "At same time every day" time (On Startup is problematic, as it greatly slows down Outlook loading if you have a big address list or a lot of contacts), then click "Read Contacts Now".

Not only will this speed up Outlook loads and caching, but will also remove duplicates and a lot of erroneous and neglected contacts that may be stashed away in Public Folders or old archives.

[Jason Learmouth]

At the same time everyday is probably a good idea with Vista since the default is for it to hibernate. PCM may not actually restart for quite a while.

[LarryWest]

I usually set it for right around lunch time. The user will likely be away from the computer and not notice the update taking place. Also, since its the middle of the day, they'll get their update even if they come in late or leave early.

[oakdale_cricket]

I was really optimistic that caching the contacts so PCM didn't scan Outlook at log in would help speed things up, but it hasn't at all. :confused1:

[eazeaz]

Outlook

did you try disabling cached mode exchange?