Outlook is the common and popular name of the Microsoft Outlook. Fully named as Microsoft Office Outlook since 2003, Outlook is a personal information manager from Redmond, Washington based software giant, Microsoft. Often used as an e-mail application providing a calendar, task and contact management, note taking, and a journal, Outlook is the part of the Microsoft Office suite.

Usually used as a stand-alone application, Outlook can also operate in conjunction with Microsoft Exchange Server to provide enhanced functions for multiple users in an organization, such as shared mailboxes and calendars, public folders and meeting time allocation.

Microsoft brought out Outlook to replace its previous scheduling and mail program, Schedule+ and Exchange Client. There are several versions of outlook that include— Outlook for MS-DOS (bundled with Exchange Server 5.5), Outlook for Windows 3.x (bundled with Exchange Server 5.5), Outlook for Macintosh (bundled with Exchange Server 5.5), Outlook 97 (released January 16, 1997, also bundled with Exchange Server 5.5), Outlook 98 (released June 21, 1998), Outlook 2000 or Outlook 9 (released June 7, 1999, also bundled with Exchange 2000 Server), Outlook 2002 or Outlook 10 or Outlook XP (released May 31, 2001), Office Outlook 2003 or Outlook 11 (released October 21, 2003, also bundled with Exchange Server 2003), and Office Outlook 2007 or Outlook 12 (released November 30, 2006). Outlook 2007 is the latest release that came out in Jan 2007.

Thru Outlook, Microsoft aimed to offer an easy to use tool to its e-mail clients. However, there often have been reports of outlook problems. The users are often coming across outlook problems. The cited reasons of the outlook problems include the embedded automation and lack of security features compared to competitors. These outlook problems have been often exploited by malicious hackers using e-mail viruses.

Outlook problems typically occur in the form of an e-mail attachment that executes on the user's machine and replicates itself by mass-mailing the user's or Exchange server's address list. The Melissa and Sobig Worms are some of the culprit viruses responsible for outlook problems.

Another of outlook problems is that other programs can exploit, in fact have exploited Outlook's HTML e-mail capabilities to execute malicious code or confirm that e-mail addresses are valid targets for spam. The notorious worms & viruses have created most of outlook problems, which have earned Outlook a reputation as a highly insecure e-mail platform.

According to UNIX programmer Bill Joy, the most of outlook problems of insecurity are largely due to its being programmed in C. C makes it highly vulnerable to attacks. The programming makes it rather easy to write programs to exploit it. Joy also reckons that the widespread use of Outlook is a major contributing factor in the proliferation of spam.

Aiming to fix outlook problems, Microsoft took corrective steps to fix Outlook problems in Office Outlook 2003. Among the most publicized security features are that Office Outlook 2003 does not automatically load images in HTML e-mails, and includes a built-in Junk Mail filter. Service Pack 2 has augmented these features and adds an anti-Phishing filter. This release was well received, and was regarded as the primary driver of Office upgrades among business users.