The Outlook Freeze: New Windows 11 Update Breaks POP3 Accounts in Outlook Classic
Do Son 
Should you be utilizing the Classic version of Outlook on a system fortified by the latest cumulative updates for Windows 11 24H2 or 25H2, you may observe that the client becomes prone to freezing or succumbs to a protracted white screen upon the addition of POP/SMTP accounts.
A multitude of users have recently voiced their grievances within the Feedback Hub, identifying KB5074109—Microsoft’s routine January security release—as the catalyst for this instability. While IMAP configurations appear to remain unaffected, those employing POP3 accounts report that the application inevitably seizes and becomes unresponsive approximately five to ten minutes post-launch. Even terminating the task and relaunching the software fails to provide a permanent remedy, as the cycle of stagnation promptly repeats.
Attentive observers will note that the primary Outlook process often fails to exit gracefully, lingering instead in the background. Consequently, subsequent attempts to invoke the application via its icon frequently result in an error interface. While forcefully terminating the process via the Task Manager may grant a fleeting window of utility, users are strongly cautioned against composing correspondence during this interval, as a sudden freeze may lead to the irretrievable loss of unsaved data.
Microsoft has officially acknowledged the anomaly, conceding that POP account users may find Outlook erroneously appearing as closed or failing to initialize. However, a formal workaround has yet to be disseminated by the corporation. For the time being, the most efficacious recourse remains the uninstallation of the KB5074109 update, followed by a temporary suspension of system updates to restore the stability of Outlook Classic until a definitive resolution is authored.
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