# Anyone else affected by this Microsoft Outlook outage? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2024, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460 "2024-07-19T13:02:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/21 "2024-07-19T15:26:00Z")
I can’t get emails via Outlook on my government laptop. It affects other stuff too - I cannot log on to my company’s timekeeping web page. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/22 "2024-07-19T15:31:32Z")
I can’t sign in for anything - timekeeping, email, or substantive work. Think I’ll call it a total loss and go play some music. Or read a book in the back yard. Lovely day out! ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/23 "2024-07-19T15:35:51Z")
> [@Breaking news - huge outage/interruption created by Crowdstrike problem (July 2024)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-huge-outage-interruption-created-by-crowdstrike-problem-july-2024/1004454/31): > > The combination of big businesses who have lost money over this, coupled with lawyers, accountants and insurance companies, will no doubt do their best to make your point. It may not result in this particular company going bankrupt, but there will be financial and business repercussions. Sorry, didn’t see the MPSIMS thread. Not sure if any useful purpose is served by having 2 such threads (in the past, I’ve misunderstood “breaking news” thread constraints.) Mods notified. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/24 "2024-07-19T15:36:33Z")
Retired at home. Internet works, I can log in to my credit union and brokerage accounts. Not affected at all. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/25 "2024-07-19T15:40:50Z")
Thank you for checking. I think it is fine to leave your thread open and separate. The #breaking-news one is already having some minor problems, and yours can be a more open thread. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/26 "2024-07-19T15:52:05Z")
I’m theoretically not affected, windows starts, no blue screens, I get emails, everything seems ok, except… The first 2 times I booted the laptop it took about 20 minutes to start everything ran really really slow, it event took a lot of time to display the initial windows screen, I thought may be it was a hardware problem. Now everything seems to be running but when right click on something the contest menu takes ages to load (about 3 minutes(!!!)). The funny thing is that when I couldn’t use the computer for anything I took it to tech support and they told me to raise a ticket… using MS Teams. When I explained why that was impossible they told me to call a number, I went back to my desk, tried one more time… and everything ran ok (except for the aforementioned context menu) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/27 "2024-07-19T15:59:51Z")
My computer did take a long time to accept my password, with the little spinning thing going, but it eventually started up. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/28 "2024-07-19T15:59:54Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I can’t sign in for anything - timekeeping, email, or substantive work. Think I’ll call it a total loss and go play some music. Or read a book in the back yard. Lovely day out! Luckily, my “real” work is accessible, and Microsoft Teams works, so I can get stuff done. We have to record our time manually, until the system comes back up. A couple months ago, the VPN that we all use to do EVERYTHING got farkled somehow. It was a MONTH before it was straightened out. In the meantime, if we were not on by 7:30 AM every day, we could not get anything done until 3:30 when, for some reason, signins would work again. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/29 "2024-07-19T16:10:35Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Blah-blah-blah. I suspected someone would come in and make some distinction that is utterly meaningless to me (and I suspect many other people unable to access computer applications.) The text said “Global Microsoft/Outlook/Crowdstrike Outage”. The distinction is worth making because “Outlook” confusingly can refer to four different things! “[Outlook.com](http://Outlook.com)” is Microsoft’s free email website, formerly Hotmail. One can also download a free client app that works with that website,also called “Outlook”. Thirdly, Outlook is a component of a subscription-based version of Microsoft Office called Office 365, and this has or had a problem that is unrelated to the Crowdstrike issue. Finally, Outlook is a program that comes with standalone one-time purchase versions of Office. Anyone, I don’t have an outage with any services that I use, including internet, phone, banking, or federal government. From what I was reading, in Canada the only airline affected was Porter, but major US airlines including American, Delta, and United were affected so flights to or from the US were delayed or cancelled. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/30 "2024-07-19T16:27:56Z")
OCLC servers use Crowdstrike so I can’t do any work today. Until this gets fixed I’m having a “just run out the clock” Friday. Fine with me. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/31 "2024-07-19T16:34:16Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > The distinction is worth making because “Outlook” confusingly can refer to four different things! Yeah, I realize that these sorts of distinctions are important to people whose job it is to install and maintain them. And I understand they are supposed to make sense to me, but they simply do not stick. Heck, this morning when trying to sign in I got some weird screen (similar to screens that pop up occasionally) asking for my username (or ID - I forget which) and password. Tech people don’t seem to appreciate how meaningless that request is to me. I have 1 8-digit number I enter every day to get into my computer. Is that my username? User ID? Password? Something else? And if someone tells me the name of that 8-digit number, short of taping it to my laptop, how am I supposed to remember it when something similar goes wrong 3 months from now? Did anyone seriously not know what the title of this thread was referring to? ESPECIALLY anyone involved in tech, who presumably knew something weird was going on with computers today. Or do you really think that I - as a user who doesn’t care what is going on “under the hood” of my work-issued laptop is going to take this workplace interruption as an opportunity to educate myself on technical terminology? “Doctor - help me. I broke my leg.” “Well, before I assist you, let me explain that what you have there is properly called a comminuted fracture…” ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/32 "2024-07-19T16:37:38Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Yeah, I realize that these sorts of distinctions are important to people whose job it is to install and maintain them. And I understand they are supposed to make sense to me, but they simply do not stick. It was interesting to me and related to the topic. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/33 "2024-07-19T17:25:29Z")
My nephew is stuck at the airport in Denver. They are giving out meal vouchers which also don’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/34 "2024-07-19T17:44:42Z")
As far as I can tell, everything is working. Email, SDMB, Times all good. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/35 "2024-07-19T17:53:50Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > “Doctor - help me. I broke my leg.” > “Well, before I assist you, let me explain that what you have there is properly called a comminuted fracture…” No, it’s more like you sprained your arm and are telling the doc that you broke your leg. Your title is **fundamentally wrong** because the outage has nothing to do with Outlook – nothing at all. This is not nitpicking on some obscure technicality. The media have no trouble describing the outage correctly for the lay person, variously calling it a “global IT outage”, a “worldwide tech outage”, or (somewhat less accurately) a “Microsoft outage”. I don’t even know where you got the idea that Outlook was in any way involved, but even if it was (any of the four different variants of Outlook that I described) it could not have the kinds of profound effects this is having because what they all do is just send and receive email – that’s not going to ground planes and instantly bring e-commerce to a halt. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/36 "2024-07-19T18:04:01Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > They are giving out meal vouchers which also don’t work. I hear you have to soak them in water and then chew very thoroughly. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/37 "2024-07-19T18:19:10Z")
DISASTER! Ticket master is down!! How will I get into tonight’s Roughriders game!?! 🏈🏈🏈 😮😬😮 ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/38 "2024-07-19T18:23:31Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > DISASTER! Ticket master is down!! It’s up and running here. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/39 "2024-07-19T18:36:15Z")
I was finally able to log into our timekeeping system a little while ago. Outlook was still not working well for me (it was intermittently working badly, or not at all). My husband told me that one of his colleagues could not log into their computer at all; not sure why that would occur, but I gather from this thread that others have at least experienced delayed logins. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460/40 "2024-07-19T18:38:30Z")
**Moderating** : Please stop this back and forth with @Dinsdale. Thank you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-affected-by-this-microsoft-outlook-outage/1004460.md?page=3)