are you using anything, like a pda, that might be accessing outlook data?
http://www.slipstick.com/problems/close.htm

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Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
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> Every time I close Outlook, "Outlook.exe" continues to run and must be
> "ended" manually. I then must reboot to re-open the program. I have
> reinstalled AND "repaired" per "Outlook Help" with no success. What next?