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MS Assistant Addresses Office Issues

Last week I reported on a spate of Outlook errors characterized by MoAppCrash in Reliability Monitor details. Alas, the 12240 update did not fix that issue. In fact, it’s struck over 100 more times since that last report. I may now, however, be on the track to a more permanent fix. I’ve learned about the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant (MSS&RA) a tool specifically design to deal with Office, Office 365 and Outlook problems. Thus, this MS assistant addresses Office issues across the board. Here’s how it describes itself on the afore-linked download page:

The Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant works by running tests to figure out what’s wrong and offers the best solution for the identified problem. It can currently fix Office, Office 365, or Outlook problems. If the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant can’t fix a problem for you, it will suggest next steps and help you get in touch with Microsoft support.

How MS Assistant Addresses Office Issues

The MSS&RA works like the built-in Windows troubleshooters. (They’re available at Settings → Update & Security → Troubleshoot.) You fire it up, tell it which Office component is acting up, and it runs tests to see what’s working and what’s not. I’m getting an error inside of the Outlook tasks window that reads “Task ‘Internet Calendar Subscriptions’ reported error (0x80004005): The operation failed.” It seems to be related to a long-since canceled subscription to Google Calendar that I couldn’t seem to make Outlook let go of. But now, having run the calendar troubleshoot in the MSS&RA (see Figure 2 below), that problem is no longer recurring. There might just be something worthwhile about using this tool, after all.

Here’s what I see when I fire the MSS&RA up from the Start Menu:

Figure 1: Because I’m having an Outlook problem, it’s my choice from this menu, which covers a raft of issues.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

Working my way into the Outlook options, I dig into Outlook calendar issues, and it starts running a bunch of tests. In the final item check (not shown), the troubleshooter finds an issue with an invalid address for the Internet calendar subscription.

Figure 2: The troubleshooter does a thorough job of checking Outlook account and connectivity settings before digging into calendar stuff.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

I’m not sure if the problem is fixed but I think so. I’m not getting an error from the Outlook Send/Receive progress pop-up window any more. I had been getting the 0x80004005 code on every prior pop-up before running the MSS&RA tool. I’m not seeing any more MoAppCrash events in Reliability Monitor, either. I’ll admit it’s really fixed when I go a couple more days without seeing these things recur. But at the moment, I’m optimistic that isn’t going to happen. Stay tuned!

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