24th September 2001

I once caught Sprocket perusing my Outlook data, which led him to discover what we were buying him for his birthday. Naughty puppy! Since that revealing incident, I've password protected my Personal Folders within Outlook, which is the non-technical term that Outlook gives to the data storage file where all of your info sits. To set a password on your PST, switch to the Outlook Today folder, then click File | Folder | Properties for Personal Folders (NOTE: In Outlook 2002, it says Properties for Outlook Today). Next, click the Advanced button followed by Change Password. Enter your current password, which will presumably be blank, then your new password twice, and you should be safe and sound.

While you're in that same neck of the woods, see that Compact Now button? It's a good idea to hit that once in a while because as you work within Outlook over time, the Personal Folder file tends to grow in size, but has a lot of wasted space mixed in (due to deleted items being removed). It's always a good idea to make a copy of the file, which is usually named OUTLOOK.PST and located in your profile directory. The full path to the file is also listed in that same Personal Folder properties area, and can be selected with the mouse cursor and copied to the clipboard for easier reference.