A recent update for Windows may cause Outlook to crash.
The update that causes this is KB3097877 and it appears to be limited to some Windows 7 installations when downloading online images for a HTML message. The version of Outlook that you are using does not seem to matter (although to date 2010 & 2013 versions have been affected) and other non-Microsoft applications may also be affected.
Update KB3097877 is closing a Remote Execution vulnerability, if an attacker convinces a user to open a specially crafted document or to go to an untrusted webpage that contains embedded fonts.
Update: Microsoft have re-released an updated hotfix so if the update is dated 12/11/2015 you should not be experiencing these problems anymore.
KB3097877 causes numerous problems in Outlook 2010/2013 and can also cause crashes in Excel, PowerPoint and Word. Removing KB3097877 alone fixes the issue.
If you are a touch-screen user with the on-screen keyboard enabled at CTRL+ALT+DEL and experiencing a black screen and cannot login but are able to access the registry (whether locally via Windows Repair or remotely as a Domain Admin) – changing the ShowTabletKeyboard registry value to 0 may allow you to bypass.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI] "ShowTabletKeyboard"=dword:00000000
Temporary fix: Uninstall update KB3097877
To remove the patch in Windows 7, open the Control Panel, select Programs and Features, click “View installed updates” on the left hand side. You can now search for KB3097877, right-click on the appropriate entry and select uninstall.
Alternatively and perhaps preferably (especially if you’re actually able to login to Windows) simply check for Windows Updates again, if KB3097877 is available with a date of 12/11/2015 then install this and reboot again, since this is the updated hotfix from Microsoft.
If there is any confusion over the version you have, you can also search for and download the latest hotfix via http://catalog.update.microsoft.com. You will need to use a browser that supports Active-X (ie Internet Explorer). Just ensure that it is dated 12/11/2015.
