Outlook 2010 hangs "Loading" - pls help

this is a bit of a critical issue - big Outlook 2010 client running on a netbook, big data store/s. I figured someday it would be an issue and we're there.
basically I can't get the patient to lie still - when we open, it hangs "loading" - presumably jjust loading the main profile.
Need some tips.

should I run scanpst.exe? if so, ... i've noticed that scanpst isn't always installed... its not on my own Office 2007 pro. ms adamantly claims I'm defective but it just ain't on the drive.

I plan to try to get it to run in safe mode, but then what?

confirmed. no "scanpst.exe" is on the HD...office 2010, just like Office 2007

we'll give it a shot.
how do I stop outlook 2010 from trying to [unsuccessfully] load a profile? tried msconfig>diagnostic startup> outlook.exe /safe trying to run the embedded cleanup tools, but hung again.

how to manually copy/save the main data files so that the folders/contents and stashed data is not lost if we uninstall/reinstall?

scanpst isn't there.

Reading through the notes on Diagnostics I wouldn't think it could help this sort of issue. Apparently what we've run afoul of is well known.
see: Complete Outlook 2010 Lock-Up when accessing archive pst files

a remarkable 'pile-on' toward the end of the thread. I did not do the Exchange installation, but given the unremarkable skills of the crew that did, I bet they did what folks in that thread did, setting up Exchange in a manner that ignores the idiosyncrasies of a client [the boss in this case] using Office 2010. they all wish they had banned MSO 2010 and stuck with MSO 2007 for mail purposes... yikes.

So, any idea what I need to rename/delete on the local hard drive to have any chance of successfully rebuilding the client? Exchange is nominally working ok - OWA works

just another suggestion

Could there have been any new Outlook Add-ins installed recently?
The Loading screen is where Outlook loads all the Add-Ins