A Sandpoint reader wrote in with an odd problem. One evening, she left her computer on and allowed the Windows Updater to download updates and make change to her system. The next day, Outlook was behaving differently. Now, all of her windows in Outlook opened minimized. Here's her description:
"When I click on an e-mail, it puts it in the minimized form so I have to go down and right-click it and then click maximize to open it. Outlook also does this when I go to "create new mail." I have to pick it up from the bottom bar to open the window. "
She called two separate tech support places and after a lot of time on the phone checking many system settings, she still had bizarre Outlook behavior. However, I found the answer in the Microsoft KnowledgeBase on Microsoft's Web site (http://www.microsoft.com).
To me, the clue was that Outlook started behaving badly only after Windows updated it. That suggested to me that the problem was not a virus or system-wide problem. Then I found a short article called "Maximized Message Window Size Is Not Saved (Q259539)"
The trick to fixing the problem is resizing the window, like so:
1. Open an e-mail. (It minimizes itself onto the task bar.)
2. Right click and restore the window.
3. Click and drag the lower right-hand corner up and to the left to make the window smaller.
4. Click the close button.
5. Open the e-mail.
This series of steps forces Outlook to "remember" the size window you want. According to Microsoft, apparently, when you click the Maximize button, the window is maximized for that instance only; the setting is not saved for subsequent windows that you open. Of course, that's the type of thing that, unless you know it, can completely drive you nuts. Life with computers is filled with little annoyances like these. I was glad I could help someone rid herself of one of them.
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