Outlook 2007 after a reinstall

I recently had to rebuild my main drive and re-install Office 2007.

I've been able to recover several .pst files but now whenever I am typing an
e-mail message, after about a line and a half, the window goes gray, and I
can't type anything else until I click on the window again.

When you're typeing something and looking elsewhere (I can do that) you can
write several sentences before you realize that what you were writing is not
on the screen.

I have XP Pro SP3 installed, and use Avast Anti Virus. This happens with
Avast Office filters on or off.

No other application software is running while I do all this, but the
problem happens in just about every text box. You are typeing along and
suddenly the box goes gray and you aren't adding any text. It happend 4 or 5
times while I was writing this...