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Problem making Outlook active with task bar button

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 12:13 am
by Ashe Too
I've searched on this and can't find any info on this. I might not be using the right search terms, but here's the problem: When I have Outlook and any other program(s) open on my T61, if I am working in the other program and click the Outlook button on the task bar to make outlook active, there is a significant delay before Outlook pops up on top as the active window. OTOH, if I minimize the other window(s), then I can immediately use Outlook (i.e., Outlook is responding fine). This might not be a problem if I'm only working with Outlook and 1 other app, but I'm generally using Outlook with 3 to 5 other apps. Anyone got any experience with this?

Re: Problem making Outlook active with task bar button

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:12 am
by yak
I have no idea what could cause this but a temporary fix may be to set a high priority to the outlook process in the Task Manager.

You could also switch to a different mailer, like Mozilla Thunderbird or something.

Re: Problem making Outlook active with task bar button

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:42 am
by RealBlackStuff
How much RAM do you have and what OS?
If XP, you need at least 1GB, for Vista 2GB. In either case 3GB is optimal (4GB is not possible due to chipset limitations).
Maybe this helps: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/03/micr ... w-fix.html

Re: Problem making Outlook active with task bar button

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 10:40 am
by Ashe Too
Sorry about the lack of detail in my OP. I've got a T61 (6459CTO) with Core 2 T7500 at 2.2GHz; 3 GB RAM; 1 GB Turbo Memory; 320 GB - 7200 RPM Seagate HDD; NVidia Quadro NVS 140M; Windows Vista SP2 (32 bit fresh install w/ SP2 slipstreamed into the iso). This is my business machine and our firm is on Exchange and aren't planning to migrate to another messaging system. Everything on the machine is very fast (faster than XP)...except making Outlook the active window from the taskbar button.

Re: Problem making Outlook active with task bar button

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 12:43 pm
by RealBlackStuff
Have you tried Alt-Tab ?

Also found this:

You might get your desired result by adjusting;

"ForegroundLockTimeout"
Specifies the time, following user input, during which the system will not
allow applications to force themselves into the foreground.

and

"ForegroundFlashCount"
Determines the number of times the taskbar button will flash to notify the
user that a background window has been activated by the system. If the time
elapsed since the last user input exceeds the value of
"ForegroundLockTimeout", the window will automatically be brought to the
foreground.

The D_Word values can be found at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Setting them to zero should effectively disable them.