I'm in a big bind here, folks. My client is extremely busy, and lives by her email. She could be a great client for me in the future and refer me to others, but I really need to help her out here first!
Ok back to the originial question... When the connection dies try this trick- right-click on the Outlook System Tray Icon (by the clock) and get Connection Status. That will at least tell you what kind of connection it's using if it still exists. Actually view the Connection Status before it crashes as well. If it's connecting using HTTP/RPC there could be issues there. You might try turning off RPC over HTTP if you can (AKA "Outlook Anywhere" in the Connection tab of Account Settings.