You are addressing the resulting problem & not the cause
You need to asertain what is causing the crashes or hanging, iether problem
could cause pst corruption
Try running Outlook using the safe switch to see if it then runs ok
Start
Run
Outlook.exe /safe

"Andrew Hamilton" wrote in message
...
I'm having a problem with Outlook 2003 crashing frequently and
unpredictably and with Outlook sometimes hanging while starting up. In
the latter case, I need to use Task Manager to stop the Outlook.pst
process and then restart. I run SCANPST very frequently, several
times a day, because of all the crashes.

Sometimes Outlook stalls on startup right after I've run SCANPST.
Other times, Outlook crashes after only a few minutes of usage, right
after a SCANPST. So I'm wondering if one of the expensive commercial
Outlook repair utilities can fix my problem(s). I would have to pay
for this out of my own pocket, but I'm willing to do so. Any
comments?

Are there any alternative ways to address this problem?

I use multiple PST files, even though I'm using a Unicode-based PST
file, to make it easier for backups and shuttling the files between
desktop and laptop. These PST files range between 400 and 800 MB
each, with say 20-30 thousand emails each.

I'm running OL 2003 with Win XP, with all the service packs applied on
both desktop and laptops.