Outlook 2003, Win XP Pro, Cisco VPN connection over cable. This
problem started a month or so ago. It does not occur with my laptop
using the same software and connections, so I don't think it's a
problem at the Exchange server.

After Outlooks starts up the first time and downloads mail, the first
time I try to open a message, my whole machine stalls or locks up. It
can take up to 5 minutes before it resumes normal operation. Then I
can read messages just fine. If I disconnect my vpn connection, as I
must periodically, on reconnecting I sometimes get the lockup,
sometimes not.

When the machine is locked, if I try to open Task Manager, I will
usually see the taskbar disappear. I can't switch to any other
program, either. Task Manager won't open until the lockup ends, and
then I don't need it, of course.

If Task Manager is already open and showing the processes tab when
Outlook locks, I can see that some processes are continuing to run. So
the whole PC isn't really locked up. I can also see that Outlook has
not taken over the CPU. In fact, System Idle is still the main process
showing 90% or more. In other words, it is Explorer (my desktop) that
freezes along with Outlook.

One time Outlook came up in Safe Mode. I didn't see any lockup then,
but it may have been coincidence. Manually starting in Safe Mode
doesn't help. However, in that manual safe mode I don't see anything
disabled by Outlook. Maybe forced Safe Mode disabled something that
helped.

I've looked at other threads with similar but not identical problems,
but none of the solutions helped me. My PST files are not gigantic.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.