How To Make Outlook Faster and More Reliable
I use Outlook 2007 - a lot. And I find that after time it gets bloated, starts to slow down and becomes unreliable. Every now and again I give it a spring clean. Here's what to do. Thanks to Lifehacker for the screenshots.
Install The Latest Service Pack
Make sure that you have the latest version - Go to the help menu and choose About Outlook and check the version / service pack number.
Updating your software is also important from a security point of view. I use Secunia to keep my software correctly and safely patched.
The 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 2 (SP2) [Microsoft]
Set up Auto-Archive to Clean Your Mailbox
This is not a substitute for deleting those hundreds of short emails or the handful of emails with huge attachments but rather something to be done after the deletion. Use Auto-Archive to automatically and regularly move your old emails to a separate pst file. This makes the Outlook.pst work so much quicker. Just remember to include the archive file in any backup schedule!
You can turn on the built-in Auto Archive feature by heading into Tools -> Options -> Other and setting up your preferences for when to archive—you may need to tweak them to fit your own emailing behaviour, but the key is to keep your daily mailbox nice and small.
Compact Your Personal Folders (PST) File
OK, so you've deleted your unnecessary emails and archived the others so your pst file is in great condition right? Wrong. You need to compact it to recover the space previously occupied.
All of your email is stored in a single .PST file that grows larger and larger as time goes on, but deleting messages isn't good enough because the file never gets any smaller. You'll need to head into the Files -> Data File Management menu, then using the Settings button to take you to the dialog where you can actually compact your mailbox, shrinking the file down and potentially saving you a ton of disk space.
Run the Inbox Repair Tool
This is somewhat more obscure than the compact database option but can save / recover a 'bad' outlook file. You need to find scanpst.exe in the Office installation folder. My folder is : "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12".
 Even if you don't have a problem you should probably run it every now and again to fix all the errors you didn't even realize were there. Since your personal folders file is effectively a database, it's important to keep it clean and free of errors.
You will probably do this after a fresh computer start and before using Outlook because even when Outlook is closed scanpst thinks it's open.
Disable Outlook's RSS Feature
If you're using Outlook's RSS feeds then fine. But if you're not (or don't think you are) then check and disable if necessary.
Go to Tools -> Options -> Other -> Advanced and removing the checkbox from "Sync RSS Feeds to the Common Feeds List". Don't forget to delete any RSS feeds once you are done.
Use the Mailbox Cleanup Wizard
I mentioned earlier that you should delete your big attachments. Well, this is how to find them without trawling through all your emails.
Go to Tools -> Mailbox Cleanup wizard that gives you loads of options to quickly find and delete messages you really don't need to keep around anymore.
Disable Unused Plugins
You'll be surprised how many programs 'help' you by installing a plugin to Outlook. But what do they really do for your productivity and how much do you use them?
Go to Tools -> Trust Centre, choose 'addins' and click the Go button to edit your COM Add-ins, though Windows 7 or Vista users might have to open Outlook in administrator mode to be able to disable some of them. In my experience dealing with Outlook problems, this is the hidden one that most people never think of, but gives the biggest benefit overall.
Untick or remove the ones you don't want. There used to be a problem with the iTunes add-in. You didn't know you had one? Well, if you have iTunes you have the iTunes add-in! There used to be a problem that even after removing the add-in it would load again after starting (not installing) iTunes. I don't have this problem anymore but then I have SP2!
Download Complete IMAP Items (Including attachments)
 When you are using IMAP to access your Gmail (or other email) account, you'll probably notice that Outlook can hang, stutter, and just generally become completely unusable—but it works just fine with POP accounts. You can make the whole experience a lot better by telling Outlook to download the entire message every time you synchronize so you won't have to wait while it slowly grabs the message off the server.
The option for this is not obvious. Use the down arrow on the send/receive button and choose Send/Receive Settings and from there Define Send / Receive Groups. Click 'Edit' and choose the appropriate account and make sure the "Download complete item ..." is ticked. The first time Outlook syncs with your mail server, it might take a little longer, but you should notice a significant improvement overall.
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