123 Technology News, Views, and Reviews

1. Introduction

Almost everyone we work with uses Outlook as a massive filing system, saving emails into organized folders within Outlook, or never deleting their Deleted Items folder, or having thousands of emails sitting in their Inbox. Sounds familiar?

But there’s a problem with that: Outlook was never designed to be a file storage system. It really was designed more to be an email client for email ‘triage’ and light filing.

We strongly recommend you keep your Outlook file on a diet. Avoid corruption, speed up Outlook… even speed up boot times by keeping the Outlook file size in check.

Note: The following walkthrough, and associated screen shots, was done using Outlook 2003. But the process is very similar with most other versions of Outlook, including Outlook 2007.

2. What you Need To Know

Outlook stores all its information (e-mail, calendar, contacts, etc.) in a single file called ‘Outlook.pst’ (”pst” stands for Personal Store).

If not regularly maintained, this file can get large. While the technical maximum size of a PST file is 2 GB, problems, such as slowness opening Outlook or even slowness booting your computer, can occur well before then. We recommend keeping the size well below 500MB.

3. How big is my Outlook.pst file currently?

To find out, from within Outlook:

3.1 - Make sure your Navigation Pane is open: From the toolbar: View > Navigation Pane

3.2 - Right-click on ‘Personal Folders’, and then select ‘Properties for “Personal Folders”‘, as shown here:

3.3 - To see the size of your PST file, and the sizes of all the folders within it, on the next dialog box, click the Folder Size button. Here’s what you’ll see:

In this case, we have a PST file that is over 1GB in size – well over our recommended limit. We’ve got to work on that.

4. Basic Housekeeping

4.1 - When you delete it, delete it for real. Some people want save the files in the Deleted Items folder. Not a good practice. If you really are unsure about saving something, then move it to a folder. Deleted Items should be deleted.

Note: If you DELETE an email and it’s moved to the Deleted Items folder, make sure that either the Deleted Items folder is automatically emptied by Outlook (which is NOT the default) or be sure to periodically delete the items in the Deleted Items folder (we know, it doesn’t make much sense to have to delete items that are in a Deleted Items folder…).

To automatically empty the Deleted Items folder each time you exit Outlook, do the following from within Outlook:

• From the toolbar: Tools > Options > select the Other tab.
• At the top of the tab, click ‘Empty the Deleted Items folder upon exiting.’
• Click the Advanced Options button
• Set the value for the first option, ‘Warn before permanently deleting items.’ If you un-check this item, then Outlook will quietly delete items from the Deleted Items folder without notice every time you close the program. If you leave it checked, every time you have items in the Deleted Items folder and try to close Outlook, Outlook will ask you if you really want to delete the files. Your choice.

4.2 - Routinely clean out your Inbox. You Inbox is really the triage area. Get into the habit of either responding to emails, or moving them to folders. This is really just good time management skills.

Here’s my own personal rule of thumb about the Inbox: If the email in the Inbox would take two minutes or less to reply to/respond to/take care of/delete, I do it. If it’s longer than that, then it goes on a to-do list, or on my calendar, and gets OUT of my Inbox.

Inboxes with a thousand entries in them are both unmanageable and space-consuming. Practice Clean Inbox Hygiene.

5. Advanced Housekeeping, Step 1: Set up Auto Archiving

Who knew that Outlook has a built in archiving mechanism that is actually simple and useful to use! If you didn’t, now you do. And before I get the questions: “But I need instant access to every email I’ve ever sent or received at my very fingertips, and anyway, where does email go if I ‘archive’ it? How do I get to it? How could I possibly do without seeing everything in my Inbox or folders every day??…” you’ll have to make a leap of faith for just a moment and trust us. Read on.

You can set up Outlook to automatically ‘archive’ e-mail on a regular basis. What Outlook actually does is create another PST file, called Archive.pst, right alongside Outlook.pst, and moves archived e-mail to the Archive.pst folder, reducing the size of your main Outlook.pst file, in turn speeding up both computer boot time and Outlook boot time.

Here are the steps for Auto Archiving:

5.1 - From the toolbar: Tools > Options > click the Other tab > click the Auto Archive button. Here’s what it looks like, along with our recommended settings:

With these settings, Outlook will run the Auto Archive program every 14 days, and will archive items that are 6 months old or older. It will also show the archive folder in your folder list (more on that below).

5.2 - Be sure to click the button Apply these settings to all folders now. This will set these auto archiving rules for all of your personal folders in Outlook.

6. Advanced Housekeeping, Step 2: Run the Auto Archive NOW

To get Outlook to do an archival right now:

From the toolbar: Tools > Mailbox Cleanup > click the AutoArchive button

7. Advanced Housekeeping, Step 3: Compact Now

OK, here’s a tricky concept: If you delete items from your Outlook.pst file, or archive off to the Archive.pst file, the size of the Outlook.pst file will not change unless you compact the file. Huh? Well, the PST file is essentially a small database, and the way databases work is that they allocate space when files come in, and that space stays allocated even if the files leave. You need to compact a database for it to run through, find all the empty spaces, and condense everything. This is where the real memory and speed savings happen!

To Compact your PST file:

7.1 - In the Navigation Pane: Right Click Personal Folders > Properties > click the Advanced button. You’ll see a window similar to this:

7.2 - Click the Compact Now button, and let it run. This may take a while, depending on how big your file was to start with.

8. Check Your Work

Reboot your PC, and open Outlook. Right-click on Personal Folders > Properties > click Folder Size, and check the Total Size:

The size should be much more manageable. If it’s not less than 500MB, then we’d suggest you delete more items and/or re-visit your Auto Archive settings, re-run Auto Archive, and re-run Compact Now.

9. Finally: How to work with Archived E-mail

In step 5.1, above, if you chose to show the archive folder in your folder list, then you should already have access to all of your archive files right from within Outlook. Here’s what the navigation pane should look like:

You can always hide the archive folder by right-clicking Archive Folder and choosing Close “Archive Folders”

You can show the archive folder by going to the toolbar: File > Open > Outlook Data File… > select archive, and click OK.

10. Conclusion: Outlook Hygiene = Happiness

All right, this last title might be just a bit too geeky. But no one likes a slow machine. No one wants to lose e-mail due to corruption. Stay clean. Keep your Outlook Fit and Trim!

- Randy Garland 123 Technology

If you don’t know by now, having a Windows logon password is NOT sufficient to protect the data on your computer. There are many ways, both remotely and locally, that your data can still be accessed.

There are really only two ways to absolutely protect data from prying eyes:

1. Keep the data off your computer, in a safe somewhere, or
2. ENCRYPT your data with a strong and reliable encryption code

Since we’re computer people and can’t imagine having to keep our data jewels in a physical safe, how about an encryption safe on your computer?

TrueCrypt

TrueCrypt is an encryption program that enables you to create your own digital safe. You can create an encrypted file container, or you can encrypt entire hard disk partitions, floppy disks, USB memory sticks, and other storage devices - openable only by you with your secure (!) password. If anyone gets access to that digital safe, they would see the safe as an unintelligible file only.

The rest of this article assumes that you have created a file-hosted safe.

BTW, this tool is FREE. As always, we love FREE.

You can find the download at:

http://www.truecrypt.org. When there, click on Downloads in the toolbar, and then grab the latest stable version (version 4.3a as of the time of this writing). Open and run it to install. At the end of the installation it recommends that you read the Beginner’s Tutorial. We suggest that, too.

Creating Your Encrypted File Container

TrueCrypt creates a file of a size of your choosing, which acts as the container for all forms of data that you’d like to save in it:

• Double-click the TrueCrypt icon on your desktop
• In the dialog box, click the Create Volume button. You have the option of creating a standard or a hidden volume. Select standard, and click Next.
• In the Volume Location dialog box, click the Select File, and browse to the location where you want to place your file store. Give the file store a name (any name; preferably nothing obvious like “encryptedfiles”), and click Save. Then click Next.
• On the next page you have your choice of encryption algorithms; the default settings are perfectly fine (algorithm is AES, and the Hash Algorith is RIPEMD-160). Click Next.
• Next, decide how big you want your file store to be. If you want a 1 GB file store, enter 1000 (1000 MB = 1 GB). Click Next.
• On the Volume Password screen, you need to create your password. This is critical. You want it secure, but you don’t want it so cumbersome that it’s difficult to open the file store every time you want to access it.

As an aside, Microsoft defines a strong password as one that has the following characteristics:

1. Is at least seven (7) characters long
2. Has at least one character from at least three of the four following categories:
   1. Capital Letters
   2. Lowercase Letters
   3. Numbers
   4. Characters (such as #,$, %)

An example of a safe password:

Tio9*az – Capital letter, lowercase letter, number, AND character.

• Once your entered and confirmed your password, click Next.
• On the Volume Format page, set the filesystem to NTFS if you’re running anything later than Windows 98. Then (and this might sound strange), spend 30 seconds wiggling your mouse around on the dialog box. This randomizes the hash algorithm for your data store. It’s actually important.
• Once you’re done wiggling, click Format. TrueCrypt will now build your file store.
• When it’s done, you’ll see the Volume Created dialog box. Click Exit.

Using TrueCrypt

Here is a picture of the main TrueCrypt interface:

(Click to Enlarge)

Click on Select File and find the file store you created. If you want TrueCrypt to remember that location and automatically fill in the location for you in the future, Uncheck the Never Save History box. It’s less secure (anyone who accesses your machine and opens TrueCrypt would know the name and location of your file store), but it’s more convenient. Your call.

Then click an open drive letter from the list at the top, and then click the Mount button and enter your (safe!) password. Leave the check boxes unchecked, and click OK.

Your file store will now be unencrypted and will appear as the drive letter you selected. You now have full access to the data in the file store.

When you’re done working on your files, re-open TrueCrypt, click the Dismount button, and the file store is safely encrypted again.

Usability Notes

A few quick tips will make TrueCrypt a bit easier to work with:

1. Right after you’ve selected a drive letter, clicked Mount, and entered your password, go up to the toolbar and select Volumes, and choose Save Currently Mounted Volumes as Favorite. This will set it so that the same drive letter is always used for that particular file store. You won’t have to choose a drive letter, and it’s also good if you have more than one file store – assign them to different drive letters.
2. In the toolbar, choose Settings > Preferences. We recommend you Check the following settings:
   1. Auto Dismount: Auto-dismount volume after no data has been read/written to it for 60 minutes (or less).
   2. Windows: Open Explorer window for successfully mounted volume
   3. Password Cache: Wipe cached passwords on exit

There are lots of other options, a way for you to place an encrypted file store on a USB key (or encrypt the whole key), and more. Read the Help files for details.

Randy Garland 123 Technology

One of the major causes of slowdowns with desktops is the number of applications or applets that start up automatically when you boot your machine. Often unbeknownst to you, as you install new applications on your computer, they often set up pieces of code to automatically start. A lot of these you don’t need and don’t want to have taking up memory on your system.

Here are a few examples:

1. Quicken and Quickbooks – Both automatically setup the Billminder to automatically start when your computer starts. You might not even use Billminder, but it’s there, consuming memory. Also, Quickbooks, and I believe Quicken too, installs a run time program to automatically check for updates. Shut it off! They’ll remind you periodically anyway that you “haven’t checked for updates in a while…” and you can do so manually.
2. Adobe Reader – We’re not big fans of Adobe Reader to begin with. It is HUGE compared to other PDF readers out there. But if you insist on using it, just know that a piece of Adobe Reader starts up every time you start your machine. Why? Because, when you DO go to open up Adobe, they want it to open FAST. So they pre-load some code, and it’s eating memory, all the time.
3. Same story for some versions of Microsoft Office. There’s a component that automatically starts up with your computer, to make all their apps open faster when you call on them. We turn this off.

So, how do you control just what’s going on with your computer at startup time? Well, you’re reading the right blog…

StartupCPL

This was written by an MIT grad named Mike Lin, and has been around for years. Go to:

www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

You’ll find an introduction, a ‘tip jar’ (please donate if you can), and then down below, two choices of downloads: A control panel and a standalone executable. The standalone executable is a ‘run it once, use it, and it goes away’ application; the Control Panel actually creates a new Control Panel in Windows Control Panel. You can use either, but we install the Control Panel.

Simply save the file, then unzip it and run it. It installs with one click.

If you’ve installed the Control Panel version, if you go to Start > Settings > Control Panel, you find a new control panel icon that looks like this:

Double-click the icon, and you’ll see this interface:

Click each tab to see what’s starting up at start up time. Uncheck the items you don’t want. Then re-start your machine. If you notice anything not working the way you need it to, go back to the Control Panel and review what you unchecked. You need to be a bit conservative here.

Always looking for speed…

Randy Garland

123 Technology, LLC

The software environment for remote access to computers has blossomed in the last few years. Using one of the many solutions now available, you could, for example, from any broadband Internet connection in the world, log on to your home/office computer and access the computer as if you were sitting right in front of it. Need to work on a document that sits on your computer at work, from home? Remote Access. Want to view your email that sits on your home/office computer in Outlook or Outlook Express and you’re half-way around the world? Remote Access. Lots of possibilities.

The two serious contenders in this category are Citrix’ GoToMyPC and LogMeIn from LogMeIn.

The two go back and forth in terms of features offered and quality of connections. Generally, LogMeIn is less expensive. Better yet, LogMeIn has an absolutely FREE version. We like free. Hence, our pick is LogMeIn.

SETUP

Here’s what you do to set up your free LogMeIn account:

From the computer you will want to access remotely, visit www.logmein.com

On the home page, there’s a big green button that reads ‘Get LogMeIn Free Click Here’. Click the link

On the next page, toward the bottom, you are asked for your email address, zip code, and a password to create an account. Answer a couple of quick questions, and Go

You’ll then be asked to Download software and run it on your computer. When the setup is done, you’re just about ready.

View your email inbox for the account you just set up with LogMeIn. There will be a message from them, asking you to verify your email address. Click the link in the message

Setup is done!

REMOTE ACCESS

To access your computer from literally any computer that has a broadband Internet connection:

1. From the local computer, open a browser and go to www.logmein.com
2. At the top of the page, enter your email address and password that you used to establish your LogMeIn account
3. Once you’ve signed in, you’ll be presented with a list of computers to which you could connect. Select the computer you set up
4. After a plug-in download for your browser, a window – your ‘target’ computer’s window – will appear. You’ve got connection, and you’ve got control.

At this point, you can do just about anything you could normally do if you were actually sitting in front of the computer itself.

With the free version of LogMeIn, there are two limitations:

1. You cannot transfer files between your ‘local’ and ‘target’ computers
2. You cannot print something that’s on your ‘target’ computer to your ‘local’ computer

For that, you’d need to sign up for their paid version, LogMeIn Pro, which is currently $12.95 per month, or, if you prepay, $70 per year ( a deal!). This compares to GoToMyPC which will set you back either $19.95 per month or $180 per year, prepaid.

FYI, LogMeIn has a bunch of other products, two of which we use quite often: LogMeIn Rescue, which allows 123 Technology engineers to quickly access a customer’s PC to remotely troubleshoot problems, and LogMeIn IT Reach, which allows us to monitor and receive automatic alerts from remote computers.

Randy Garland

123 Technology

If you’re an Internet junkie (who isn’t), then you will find Roboform indispensable. It’s the kind of utility that grows on you, and over time you’ll come to realize just how much easier and safer your online surfing experience can be by using this browser toolbar plug-in.

Pass on the Cookies and Windows Auto-Fill

First, a word on Cookies and Windows’ Auto-fill feature: both are used to capture and maintain information entered into form fields, to make your life easier the next time you come to that particular form on that particular page. Nice. But inherently unsafe. 123 Technology’s recommendation: don’t ever choose the ‘remember my password’ choice on a web site where you’ve just entered your username and password. This goes straight to a cookie (a text file), where a very simple and crackable encryption algorithm is applied. It’s unsafe. Don’t do it. Consider yourself warned : )

As far as Windows auto-fill, it’s unclear just where Windows stores this information. Scary. Instead…

Passcards

Roboform saves what it calls ‘Passcards,’ which are something like browser bookmarks on steroids. A passcard stores not only the URL, or web site location, but also login information such as username and password. When you click on a Passcard from the Roboform toolbar in your browser, it automatically:

1. Goes to the website
2. Enters your field information, such as username and password in the appropriate field
3. Hits the Enter key for you, so that you are automatically signed on

Do a lot of Google searching? How about being able to auto search on pre-saved search keywords or phrases? You can save a particular word or phrase that you enter in the Google search field as a Passcard. Then, select the Passcard, and steps 1,2, and 3, above, will happen automatically.

You can also create and save a Windows shortcut to any Passcard you want. So, if there is a site or a few sites that you access very frequently, you just need to double-click the shortcut. That will open your browser automatically, and then perform steps 1, 2, and 3, above.

Personal Profiles and Web Forms.

Roboform lets you create and store personal profiles containing information such as your Name, Mailing Addresses, Phone Numbers, Email Addresses, Instant Messaging Account Information, Business Information, Bank Account data, Credit Cards information, and more. Enter as much or as little as you like. You can then use your Personal Profile to automatically fill in web forms. You can on-the-fly select from multiple addresses, multiple credit cards, and so on, to choose what data to enter in a form.

Safenotes

You can also create sticky-notes style files containing any secret text data for just about anything. These are also encrypted and protected by Roboform (see below about Passwords and Encryption).

Password Generator

Added Bonus Feature: Do you want to create a password that is actually secure, instead of using your standard password ‘fluffy67′? The Roboform toolbar has a Password Generator, which will generate a randomized passwords with all the criteria you request (such as length, whether it needs to include uppercase, lowercase, numbers, etc.). Then you can copy and paste the strong password, and save it in a Passcard. Never use the same password twice, and get safe by throwing away your old standards.

Master Password and Encryption

All Roboform files and data, and access to them, can be protected from prying eyes (or fingers) with a Master Password that you can set. All files are encrypted with a virtually uncrackable, worldwide standard encryption algorithm.

IMPORTANT NOTE: YOU MUST REMEMBER YOUR MASTER PASSWORD. IF YOU FORGET THAT, THEN YOUR ALL YOUR ROBOFORM DATA WILL BE LOST TO YOU (OR ANYONE ELSE) FOREVER!

Backup and Restore

You MUST backup your Roboform data. If a lightning bolt hits your computer and your hard disk is destroyed, your Roboform data will be gone, too. If you’ve stored username/password information on hundreds of sites like me, you’ll know what pain and panic really feel like.

Roboform has a rudimentary Backup capability which really just copies your data from its home folder to another folder of your choice. We strongly recommend that you periodically print out your entire Roboform data and save the hardcopy in a very safe place, away from your computer.

But Wait! There’s More!

Of course; there’s always more. But we can’t spend any more time or space on this gem of a utility. Download yourself a copy (free for up to 20 saved passcards) and read the manual. I know you don’t read manuals. Read this one. You’ll be amazed at all the other features.

Enjoy!

Try to go to the Windows Update page with Firefox, and you’ll find that you just can’t update your operating system unless you’re “running Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later.”

Well Of COURSE Microsoft won’t let you download their update to their Operating System for a browser other than their own!

But there is a quick and tidy solution for this and other IE-dependent web sites: IE Tab for Firefox.

Installation (running version 1.5 or 2.x of Firefox):

1. Go to the IE Tab Add-On Page, and click the Install Now button. A window that looks like this will pop up:

2. Click the Install Now button. A new window will pop up showing a quick install, and then asking you to click a button to Restart Firefox. Click the button. When you’re back in Firefox, it’s ready to go.

How To Use:

3. In Firefox, right-click the tab that you are working in, and you’ll see the following pull-down menu:

4. Left click Switch rendering engine, and the page will re-draw using the Internet Explorer engine! You’ll know your page is being rendered by IE by the little icon in the tab:

Now, try re-loading the Win Update page, and you’ll see it’ll be perfectly happy working within Firefox.

To switch back to Firefox, simply open a different tab, or do the same steps above; namely, right-click the tab and select Switch rendering engine. You’ll be back, safe and warm at home.

Enjoy!

As we mentioned in #10 on this Top Ten list, one of the great things about Mozilla’s Firefox is the hundreds of add-ons, written by third-party companies and individuals that take Firefox from Excellent to The Best. We use many add-ons, but if we had to select one, indispensable add-on that everyone surfing the Internet with Firefox should have, it is IE Tab by Hong Jen Yee.

There are STILL some web sites, most of which use either .asp or .aspx scripting languages, that don’t work quite right in Firefox and for which you would normally need to crank up Internet Explorer to make full (or in some cases, any) use of. A perfect example is Microsoft’s own Windows Update page.

But with IE Tab installed, you CAN run Windows Update right from Firefox. The ultimate compatibility test.

Read our blog entry on how to Install and Use IE Tab.

Microsoft typically releases critical security patches to their Windows operating system and other software packages on the second Tuesday of each month. This is commonly known as “Patch Tuesday.”

Leaving no stone unturned, the bad guys have come up with a way to scare you into opening up email that purports to regard critical Microsoft updates, but when you click on the enclosed link, a server attempts to install a Trojan virus.

The email message describes a “Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer” that fixes a critical security flaw in the browser. It comes with a link entitled “Download this update.”

When users click on this link, they are taken to a server that attempts to install the virus Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Agent.avk.

The program then attempts to replicate by going out to other computers on the Internet and install the same software.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You would typically NOT receive email alerts when Microsoft releases their security updates. Instead, if you have Automatic Updates turned on, you’ll see a little yellow shield icon in your taskbar. The icon looks like this:

This is from Microsoft. You need to double-click the icon and install the updates.

123 Technology

No respectable Top Ten list would be complete without Mozilla’s Firefox, so that’s where we’ll start. If you still ask, ‘Why Firefox and not IE 7′, well, here’s additional ammo:

* Internet Explorer 7 still has bugs - not surprising given that it’s essentially a brand new (version 1.0) browser from Microsoft, and we rarely trust 1.0 versions of software from anyone, especially Microsoft. Here’s a glaring real-life example of a problem that we encountered in the field with IE 7 (might get a bit technical; keep your seatbelts buckled):

“Acme Insurance” was using several applications with executables drawn from a server. At some point, they started getting a scary error message whenever they tried to open the applications (paraphrasing): “This application is from an Unknown Publisher and may be dangerous. Would you like to proceed (OK or Cancel)”…

Turns out that the ’some point’ at which this started to happen was when Internet Explorer 7 was pushed to their desktops automatically by Microsoft’s monthly Updates (they called the update ‘Critical’ and rolled it out to everyone). Everyone naturally upgraded from IE 6 and IE 7, ooh’d and aah’d over the revamped interface (and tabbed browsing a la Firefox version 1.0 of the year before), and were happy as clams.

The problem: it gets complicated, but Internet Explorer is not just a browser. It’s actually the place where network access privileges are stored and manipulated for the entire Windows Operating System. Confused? Well, let’s just say it goes back some ten years when Microsoft insisted on torch-welding IE 6 onto the Windows OS and contended in court that the two were evermore inextricably intertwined (and coincidentally neutered the upstart Netscape browser and ended the browser war of the 90’s).

Well, MS changed things in IE 7. Surprise. And the technical settings that had to be changed in IE 7 to make it work like IE 6 to re-enable free access to Acme Insurance’s own internal network would bore you, but suffice it to say, the changes we had to make were, at best, a technical workaround.

Now, back to Firefox. Clean, way ahead of it’s time with tabbed browsing back in it’s 1.0 incarnation, more robust and subtly refined in 2.0, and they address security holes much more quickly than Microsoft. That’s good enough for us!

Two final notes:

1. As of this posting, Firefox had just released their latest version:  Firefox 2.0.0.4.

2. Firefox is not just great for its built-in functionality, but also for the (now thousands) of add-ons written by happy programmers that significantly enhance its abilities. Check out the add-ons!

… Coming Attraction: #9 on our list of the Top Ten for ‘07 is one of the best Firefox Add-Ons no money can buy (because it’s free)! Coming soon.

We’re crazy about making the little (or big!) annoyances in Windows go away through third-party add-ons, software, and tools. We’re constantly reading, testing, evaluating… And every once in a while a tool or program or add-in is SO good that it finds its rightful place on our own desktops - the ultimate compliment.

Coming forth are our TOP TEN “gotta have,” “would happily sacrifice my left foot to keep” utilities or programs for 2007. Keep tuned to this station for more.