ActiveSync may disable Business Contact Manager

When you start Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, you may notice that neither the menu nor the toolbars for Business Contact Manager appear.

Additionally, the Account History or Business Contact History field displays all the detailed contents of your Inbox instead of displaying only the history items that are related to the Account History or Business Contact History field.

This problem occurs if Outlook 2003 is started in background mode by both a Pocket PC and Microsoft ActiveSync. If you start Outlook 2003 in background mode, Business Contact Manager does not load as expected.

To work around this problem, use the following steps after you start Outlook 2003 in background mode:

1. Remove the Pocket PC from the cradle.
2. Quit Outlook 2003.
3. Wait about 60 seconds, start Task Manager, and then click the Process tab.
4. If the Outlook.exe file still appears in the Image Name area, right-click the Outlook.exe file, and then click End Process.
5. Click Start, point to All Programs, click Microsoft Office, and then click Microsoft Office Outlook 2003.
6. After Outlook 2003 has started, cradle your Pocket PC again.

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

Use the following steps to determine if Outlook 2003 is running in background mode in the Pocket PC:

1. On your desktop, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE, and then click Task Manager.
2. Click the Processes tab.
3. In the list of processes, look for the Outlook.exe file under the Image Name area. If you see the Outlook.exe file listed, but it is not on your Task Bar, Outlook 2003 is either running in background mode or has stopped responding.
4. Quit Task Manager.