Forum Discussion
Outlook crashing when sorting emails
I've been advised by Symantec support to disable Outlook scanner add-in via policies. Also had to make additional setting so clients won't show an error about the disabled scanner. Now Outlook is not crashing anymore. Symantec reasoning was that this scanner is not needed as we already have main Auto-Protect module scanning everything, also the temp files when attachment is opened or saved.
We thought about Semi-Annual channel. But this way you don't get new useful features fast (well, at least useful in theory), so money return for pricey licenses is less. Also, now we have to deal with one or two changes (like removing Share Workbook button, introducing AutoSave, etc.) or bugs every month. With a Semi-Annual channel you would get a bunch of issues at once. Not sure what is better for admins and less irritating for users :)
Yes, forgot to mention that in Safe Mode it works ok. It is very hard for me to reproduce it on my PC (Win7) as i have only a handful of emails in my Inbox or any other folder. I also wasn't able to reproduce it at all on a fresh Win10 PC after setting up my account in Outlook. During remote session i had to click maybe 30 times on various columns before it finally crashed. But it happens consistently after first click on From for many users (both Win7 and Win10).
Well if it works OK in safe mode, it's most likely some add-in causing this. I would also suggest disabling any AV and other types of "scanning" software.
I still can't find a clear pattern, but it indeed seems to be related to AV. If i uninstall Symantec Endpoint Protection on a crashing PC, it stops crashing. If i reinstall it back, it crashes again, through it sometimes takes longer to reproduce. I have checked tens of PCs today. Same models, same SEP version, no crashes. Only some crash for some reason. Some even show that SEP add-in has been disabled because it caused a crash. Will try to also post on Symantec forums, maybe even file a case.
There is a newer version of SEP released recently. We were planning to start testing it. Maybe it will fix this issue. Although it was released before the September updates of Office Monthly channel.
I've received a link to this KB article from Symantec (September 6) https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH248059.html It's a classic case. Symantec says to contact MS (because of CTR version) and MS tells us contact Symantec..
The classic story of who sh** my pants :)