This still didn't fix the performance problem. There is a method 4, but that only applies to OST files, which I wasn't using.

Conclusion
This has been a very unsatisfying article to write. I would have much preferred to tell you about how I heroically discovered the solutions to these issues and would solve them for you. Heck, I would have been happy to be able to tell you I looked up the fixes for these issues on the Web and that they work great.

Instead, I've spent a lot of time in the last month failing to find good solutions to some Outlook 2007 problems that I'm sure are annoying a lot of you reading this.

It is clear that there are problems with the way Microsoft has implemented the data structures that store items in Outlook 2007, and that those problems are related to new features like RSS feeds. The good news is that Microsoft knows there are problems, and they have publicly stated that they are working to resolve them. The bad news is that the problems are here now, and Microsoft has made no commitments about when they will be fixed.

If either of these issues strikes you, try the fixes I've described here. And keep your fingers crossed that they work for you, or that Microsoft gets the underlying problems fixed real soon now. That's what I'm doing.

Michelle LaBrosse is the founder and Chief Cheetah of Cheetah Learning. In 2006, the Project Management Institute selected Michelle as one of the 25 most influential women in project management, one of only two women selected from the training and education industry. Michelle is a graduate of the Harvard Business School's Owner & President Management program for entrepreneurs, and is the author of Cheetah Project Management and Cheetah Negotiations. To contact Michelle and learn more about Cheetah Learning, visit http://www.cheetahlearning.com.