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Outlook is simply too much and definitely too slow, even on a fast machine, to be usable for a fast email check.
I don't have Outlook open all the time at home.
Windows Live Mail is too slow...

See:http://blogs.msdn.com/b/david_leblanc/archive/2008/01/04/office-sp3-and-file-formats.aspx
Or look at [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Security\FileOpenBlock]...

The Comodo firewall is great, never had any problems with it. I would not recommend the AV part of it, it is no match for their firewall.
Just make sure you that only the firewall gets installed and...