A MAPI-based program may stop running on a computer that is running Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2002

When you try to run a MAPI-based program on a computer that is running Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Outlook 2002, the MAPI-based program may stop running after a while. Additionally, when you monitor the MAPI-based program, you may observe a handle leak.

This problem may occur because of a handle leak when a MAPI-based program opens a message store. When a MAPI-based program opens a message store, two handles are opened to the following registry subkey: When the MAPI-based program is finished using the handles that were opened to the registry subkey, the handles are not closed. If the MAPI-based program runs for a long time and repeatedly opens message stores, open handles build up. This may cause errors or unpredictable behavior in the MAPI-based program.

To work around this problem, quit and then restart the MAPI-based program.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.