Why does Windows live mail sometimes takes so long to open?

Does Windows Live Mail commonly hang and run slow?

• I recently updated from Outlook Express to Windows Live Mail. Of course, this means I'm on Windows XP Service Pack 3 and I wanted to do the live mail update in prep for an eventual upgraded, on my main computer to Windows 7(or 8, I dual boot the 8 consumer Preview now) and I don't think there is a way to run Outlook Express in any of the Windows 7's or 8's, even Vista requires conversion to Windows Mail. I had lots of dbx store folders and 2 pop addresses. Live Mail takes about 5 minutes to download all mails and it gives that slow program hourglass while doing so. Is this normal?

• Answer:

  It shouldn't take any longer than normal. Make sure your antivirus is not scanning email documents as this is redundant and Windows Live does not recommend it since it already performs its own scans. "Disabling Email Scanning does not leave you unprotected against viruses that are distributed as email attachments. Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect scans incoming files as they are saved to your hard drive, including email and email attachments. Email Scanning is just another layer on top of this. To make sure that Auto-Protect is providing the maximum protection, keep Auto-Protect enabled and run LiveUpdate regularly to ensure that you have the most recent virus definitions." http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2002111812533106 I would also try pinging each of your incoming smtp addresses to see what the time<xx ms you are getting is. If this is below 70 ms on each server then you should be ok, if not then you have another problem with responses timing out.