Ok mate, I got it going...

Now this is a bit vague because I was trying to reset everything but the
process was:

1) Removed my ost (yes I'm using exchange) - well I renamed it
outlook.ost.old in C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook and
renamed my archive folder in C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local
Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
2) Uninstalled all addins
3) found this page and started playing with no success
http://www.microsoft.com/communities...6865&p=1&ntf=1

.... UNTIL I ran Outlook.exe /resetnavpane

Clears and regenerates the Navigation Pane for the current profile. Removes
all Shortcuts and Favorite Folders. Has the same effect as deleting
profilename.xml in your user directory.

After this, I was able to get back into outlook!

The only clue as to why this may have worked is because when I got the
problem, another XML file on my machine (required to run one of my
development programs) had also become corrupted - I can only guess that
perhaps the profilename.xml possibly became corrupted in a similar kind of
way...

I'm really sorry I cannot give any more detail: I've been effectively
button-mashing (ok, running varous command-line switches mainly to do with
"cleaning" stuff) but it only worked once this switch was executed.

It may be a combination or specifically this switch, but I hope this
provides a little bit of a clue...

-- Dan

"CliffB" wrote:

Since I have a second machine, I have been living with the issue on my Vista
machine. I have not heard any 'fixes' although it seems there are more
reports like ours.

Resisting a complete rebuild ...

Cliff

"CliffB" wrote:

Unable to start Outlook; rcv dialog "Cannot Start Microsoft Office Outlook;
Cannot open the Outlook Window". Error occurred AFTER a Norton 2009 "idle
time scan" hang DURING an Outlook send/receive that was apparrently hung due
to Norton.

I have attempted several published fixes including Scanpst,
DeleteOutlookProfiles, running Outlook with /safe switch (same error),
uninstall/reinstall Outlook, turning Norton 2009 off during my process, etc.

On reinstall (after running DeleteOutlookProfiles), I create a new profile
and a new Outlook PST ... still receive the "cannot open..." error.

Any further suggestions - hopefully short of resorting to my recovery image?

Thanks,

Cliff