Q When I used Schedule Plus, I kept my addresses and contacts on a floppy disk so I could use them at home, work, and school. I now use Microsoft Outlook. Is there a way to keep the same info on a floppy so I can use it at any location?

A Once again, we have to deal with the problem of Microsoft hiding data. The file you want is probably c:\windows\outlook.pst, but it could also be c:\exchange\mailbox.pst. The file almost certainly has a .pst extension. Just choose StartûFindûFiles or Folders to find the file, then copy it to a floppy by right-clicking it and selecting Send Toû31/2 Floppy (A).

When you bring the floppy to another computer, make sure that Outlook isn't running. Then find that system's .pst file, and copy the .pst file from the floppy disk over it, changing the name if necessary.

Of course, once you know where the files are on all three of your PCs, you won't have to go looking for them again. Better yet, you can automate the process of copying the .pst file and uploading it to another PC by replacing the shortcut you use to launch Outlook with a batch file:

You can create this batch file in Notepad or any other text editor. Be sure to change the paths and filenames as appropriate for your particular system. The file name on A: should be the same on all of your computers. Make sure there is nothing, not even a line return, after cls.

To save the batch file, select FileûSave As, then select All Files (*.*) from the Save as type drop-down list, and name the file outlook.bat.

One last note: Outlook data files can become too big for a floppy disk. But luckily, they compress nicely with any zip-compatible compression utility. The only problem is that you won't be able to use outlook.bat to automate the copying unless you add some lines for running PKZip or any other command-line compression utility (and be sure to have that utility on each of your target systems).