I have had a problem when trying to shut down Windows 7 (64 bit) with the "Outlook needs to close" and "force shutdown?" Searches have recommended closing add ons and other things, but nothing worked. While working on my own, I found that if I deleted my "hotmail" account, which had installed itself with the "Outlook Connector", my problem was solved. I had installed the connector in order to link calendars only.

Now, if I could just figure out how to get Outlook to send mail when sent from a Word or other Office program without having to go back and start Outlook, I would be a happy camper.

I hope this will help some with a problem for which I had not been able to find a solution.