Microsoft admits classic Outlook for Windows has a massive resource usage problem
Users of classic Outlook for Windows have been complaining since last year that Microsoft's email client has turned into a massive resource hog. Months later, the company has conceded that the complaints are justified.
Microsoft is eager for everyone to move away from the classic version of Outlook to the newly updated edition of the app, and there have been suspicions voiced that high CPU usage is an underhand tactic to encourage the move. But having acknowledged the problem, Microsoft says that it is working to come up with a fix.
See also:
- It must be a day with a ‘y’ in it – there’s a problematic Windows 11 update causing blue screens
- Those scary-looking 0x80070643 -- ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE messages? Just ignore them, says Microsoft
- Microsoft says that Windows 11 24H2 now plays nicely with wallpaper customization applications
The writing has been on the wall for classic Outlook for some time, and its days are certainly numbered -- but Microsoft has not yet completely abandoned it.
In a support post about the issue, the company says the problem may be experienced when composing an email:
When you write an email in classic Outlook for Windows, you may notice the CPU spikes up to 30 to 50% at some times and increases the power consumption. You can observe this if Task Manager is open while you type.
This issue can occur after updating to Version 2406 Build 17726.20126+ on Current Channel, Monthly Enterprise Channel, or the Insider channels.
The usual blurb about working on a solution that will be delivered soon is rolled out, but Microsoft also suggests another workaround -- jumping to the Semi Annual Channel “where the issue has not been observed”.
How to do this? You can either follow the guide to using the Office deployment tool, or use a registry key to switch to Semi Annual Channel:
- Open a Command prompt window (ensure Run as administrator was selected).
- Paste the command below and press Enter:
reg add HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\common\officeupdate /v updatebranch /t REG_SZ /d SemiAnnual - After you add the registry key, select File > Office Account > Update Options > Update Now to initiate the switch to Semi Annual Channel.
Image credit: Michael Nesterov / Dreamstime.com