Some users may migrate to another email program eventually, for instance from Microsoft Outlook to Thunderbird or an online email service like Gmail, Yahoo Mail or Hotmail. And some might want to migrate that old data to another computer, maybe one that is not running Outlook anymore, or a different version of Outlook.

That’s when things get problematic as it is not possible to just open the old Outlook inbox files on the computer then. For that, you may need to use a version of Microsoft Outlook, or a third party program like Kernel Outlook PST Viewer.

When you start the program for the first time after installation, you are asked to select a PST file from the local computer.

The software populates with all mail folders and emails, with options to read all emails that have been received or send. While it is not possible to reply to those emails directly, all the information stored in them is still available, even without access to Outlook on the system.

Other benefits of using the program include the ability to open PST files created with any existing version of Outlook, to view the contents of password protected Outlook PST files without knowing the password, and working around file corruptions.

The biggest issue that users may have is the lack of exporting tools. It is for instance not possible to extract attachments using the viewer. For that, Mailstore is the better choice as the program can make PST data available as well.

Windows users can download the latest version of Kernel Outlook PST Viewer from the developer website. The program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system. (via)

Still, it does nothing more than that which may not be enough for some users. That’s where MailTriage for Outlook 2010 steps in. The add-is is currently freely available for home and business users. It is not clear if it will remain free or if the developers will start to charge for it.

The add-in is compatible with Microsoft Outlook 2010 and requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 4 to be installed on the system. You can download the Outlook add-in from the developer website. It is supplied as a setup file that you need to execute on your local system. The setup will install the add-in automatically. It requires an Internet connection during installation.

It adds a new conversation view pane to Outlook. This pane, which you see above in action, displays all conversations of the active folder in list view. You see the number of emails, the sender, subject, last received email and size of all emails in the interface. It is possible to sort the columns, for instance by size which can be handy for deleting or archiving large email conversations that are no longer needed.

A status report with a preview of each message is displayed on the right of the conversation view which can provide a quick overview of the conversation.

The add-in comes with a rule manager that offers to create basic or complex custom rules for grouping conversations. A basic example would be to group incoming emails based on a selected keyword. This rule manager is available under the right-click context menu. You can use the context menu to delete email conversations right from the MailTriage view which is usually a lot faster than deleting the emails in the selected Outlook folder.

Outlook 2010 users who are interested in MailTriage can download the add-in free of charge from the developer website. I was not able to get the program running on a 64-bit system. It worked fine on a 32-bit system though.

Update: The MailTriage website is no longer available. The add-in can still be downloaded from third party websites such as Softpedia. It is however very likely that it will eventually stop working as it is no longer being updated.

This article offers a short but handy list of Microsoft Outlook downloads that put the messaging software to the next level. The following seven programs are partially third party tools and partially add-ins. I have added a short description to each listing, a screenshot, a link to a previous review here on Ghacks and a link to the developer website.

Microsoft Outlook Mail Statistics

One area where Outlook could need some improvement is statistics and information. That’s changed by the portable third party tool Outlook Stats View by one of my favorite Windows developers Nirsoft. It basically scans all emails and displays information about all users that emails have been send to or received from. Very handy for a top ten listing of your most important email partners. [homepage]

Outlook Password Recovery

Outlook data is stored in pst files which use a weak encryption. The free Outlook Password Recovery software can retrieve the passwords so that it is possible to access the data if the original password has been forgotten or lost. [homepage]

Microsoft Outlook Temp Cleaner

Email attachments are automatically stored in a temp file by Microsoft Outlook. This can be problematic for a number of reasons, including security, privacy and the notorious can’t create file errors. The temporary files cleaner can be used to delete the files with the click of a button. That’s handy if you do not want to hunt down the folder that is used by Outlook on the system. [homepage]

Microsoft Outlook Email Compression

This is an Outlook add-in that can reduce the size of the Outlook inbox by compressing threads. It basically removes redundant information from the threads. Only really useful if the inbox quota has been set to a very low level in your office. [homepage]

Outlook Blocked Attachment Unlocker

Outlook blocks certain email attachments by default for email security. This includes for instance executable files. Users who do not need those extra security protection in Outlook, for instance if they are running a security software that includes an email scanner. This program can be used to remove the filter from specific file types that are otherwise blocked by the email client. [homepage]

Microsoft Outlook Attachment Extractor

Attachments take up valuable space. One trick to cope with that is to extract attachments from Outlook to free up space. This is again helpful mostly in corporate offices with email quotas, but can be handy on home PCs as well if the hard drive is not to big. You can use this program to extract attachments from Outlook emails. This moves the attachments to one of the computer’s hard drives. It is possible to link to those files in the emails so that no information are lost. [homepage]

Microsoft Outlook Mail Attachment Recovery

It can happen that you delete an email or attachment that you did not want to delete. This program tries to recover previously deleted email attachments. It uses the temporary folder that Outlook uses to store email attachments in. It the attachment is still in the folder it is recoverable. [homepage]

Did I miss a tool? Let me know in the comments.

The latest Update for the Outlook Connector (version 14.0.6106.5001) is being widely complained about online for constantly causing folder synchronisation errors.  Users of the software are getting the message…

Task ‘-@-.com’ reported error (0×80004005) : ‘Network operation failed’
Task ‘-@-.com’ reported error (0x8004102A) : ‘Error with Send/Receive. There was an error synchronizing your folder hierarchy.The network connection is unavailable or interrupted. Please try again later.’
Task ‘-@-.com’ reported error (0x8004103A) : ‘Synchronization error.’

The official Microsoft Answers support website has a thread about the problem that people are subscribing to in ever greater numbers as the weekend goes on. Many people are reporting that the problem is affecting their calendar, and that there’s no way to fix it.

If you have this problem already then, alas, it looks as if you’ll have to wait for Microsoft to provide a fix.  If you have upgraded your Outlook Connector recently however, rolling back your system using System Restore, might rectify the problem.  For new installations of Outlook however it’s not good news as the system will not allow you to set up a Hotmail or other account unless you are using the very latest version of the connector software.

People who have been hit by this problem have tried everything from completely uninstalling both the Connector and Office, deleting the store folders for both and cleaning out the registry.  They’ve done this though only to find when they reinstall everything the problem still remains.

Microsoft have not yet made any comment about the problem, but ought to be aware of it by now because it’s causing people such significant inconvenience.  Until the problem is resolved my personal recommendation would be to switch temporarily to Windows Live Mail which still syncs with your Hotmail or Gmail account without any problems.

The latest version of the connector was released on the 7th July and should be avoided if you see it in Windows Update.  You should right-click on this update and select “Hide” from the context menu that appears.  With this update hidden Outlook should continue to work for you as normal.  When a replacement update for the connector software is released by Microsoft this should then appear as normal in Windows Update so that you can install it.

It’s not very often that Microsoft release a product update that breaks the product, though as they go this one can be seen in two ways.  Outlook will continue to work, though it will report errors, and if you’re happy to keep your calendar temporarily updated in your web browser then you should be fine.  However, it is very inconvenient for many people and the number joining the complaint thread on the Microsoft support website is growing constantly.  Clearly people are annoyed and these are just the people who know how and where to look for product support online.

There will be a great many more users of the Outlook and Outlook Connector software that will not know where to get help and will currently be thinking there is something wrong with their computer.  This could cost some people money if they ask for an expert to look at it for them.  Clearly then Microsoft need to fix this problem as a matter of priority.

If you are experiencing this problem, the main thread for information on the Microsoft Answers website can be found here.

UPDATED : The problem has now been confirmed to have also affected the x64 version of the latest Outlook Connector update.

The figure may not look as impressive as it could be considering the hundred of millions of Hotmail users. Then again, users had to opt in to enable SSL. Another reason was that Microsoft’s desktop email programs, Windows Live Mail and Microsoft Outlook, did not support Hotmail SSL. What that meant is that users had to make a decision. Either enable SSL in Hotmail and break compatibility with the desktop email software, or leave the SSL setting disabled to keep using the desktop email programs.

Microsoft updated SSL protection for Hotmail and other Windows Live services yesterday to give desktop email users the same level of protection than online users.

Windows Live Mail has been updated so that all traffic is now using SSL. Even better; The feature becomes available immediately after updating Windows Live Mail to the latest version. This can be done manually via the Windows Live website or automatically via Windows Update.

Outlook Connector has been updated as well so that Outlook users who have configured a Hotmail account in Outlook can use SSL as well. This is again enabled automatically without user interaction.

Microsoft has furthermore enabled SSL on a number of Windows Live websites for PC and smartphone connections. The announcement mentions hotmail.com and live.com.

Lack of SSL support was one of the most requested Windows Live Mail and Outlook features. It is good for all Windows Live users that Microsoft has added SSL support for their external desktop clients, especially so since SSL is enabled by default in the new versions. (via)

One of the biggest changes in this new version of Hotmail are additional mouse and keyboard shortcuts. A new menu has been created that appears when a user right-clicks on a message in the inbox. The menu offers a direct link to reply, reply all or forward the selected message. This is in addition to previously supported right-click actions such as delete, move or mark as junk.

Users who like to use keyboard shortcuts whenever possible have now access to a whole new set of shortcuts, taken directly from Microsoft’s desktop messaging client Outlook, as well as the online email services Gmail and Yahoo Mail.

Users of Outlook, and those who switched from Gmail or Yahoo Mail to Hotmail can now use keyboard shortcuts that they are already familiar with. Popular ones include:

Outlook

Gmail, Yahoo Mail

• Delete a message – # – Delete
• Create a new message – C – N
• Send a message – None – Alt+S
• Open a message – O – None
• Print a message – None – P
• Reply to a message – R – R
• Reply all to a message – A – A
• Forward a message – F – F
• Save a draft message – Ctrl+S – Ctrl+S
• Mark a message as junk – ! – None
• Mark a message as read – Shift+I – K
• Mark a message as unread – Shift+U – Shift+K
• Move to a folder – None – D
• Open the next message – J – Ctrl+.
• Open the previous message – K – Ctrl+,
• Close a message – U – Esc
• Search your email messages – / – S
• Select all – * then A
• Deselect all – * then N
• Go to the inbox – G then I – M
• Go to your Drafts folder – G then D
• Go to your Sent folder – G then T

All keyboard shortcuts work at the same time, which means that you can either press the delete key or # to delete a message, or Ctrl-n, c or n to create a new message.

You find all supported keyboard shortcuts here.

Hotmail users can now customize their email messages by setting a default font and personal signature for all email messages. Here is a video that demonstrates the new features.

What’s your take on the new Hotmail features? I really like the new keyboard shortcuts as they tend to speed things up considerably.

Can’t Create file: [filename]. Right-Click the folder you want to create the file in, and then click properties on the shortcut menu to check your permissions for the folder

The only option? To clear the temporary storage space to make room for new attachments. Clearing the cache does not negatively affect the attachments in Outlook, it simply means that Outlook won’t be able to access them from hard drive cache but instead from MIME format directly which might take longer to process.

Outlook Cleanup Tool is a free program for Outlook that can clear the cache automatically or semi-automatically so that the can’t create file error does not pop up anymore in the email client.

Run the program after download to resolve the error. It displays a list of cached files. The information are taken from the Registry. A click on Clean Up clears the temporary cache which in turn resolves the error message.

It needs to be noted that the cache will be filled again by Outlook, and that it may be necessary to run the tool regularly to avoid the can’t create file error message.

The program can be run from the command line. It has a /silent switch which will clean up the cache automatically without user interaction. Handy to use the command in a batch file at log on for instance or log off.

Besides solving the can’t create file errors, it resolves a privacy issue as well, if other users have access to the computer system. Caching attachments as temporary files might give other users access to them in the temp folder, even if the original attachment has been deleted or detached from the email message. Cleaning the temporary data folder removes that possibility.

You can naturally locate and delete the temp folder manually. For that, you need to open the Windows Registry and search for the key OutlookSecureTempFolder.

It should be under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\x.x\Outlook\Security where x.x is the internal version of Outlook.

You can download the portable Outlook Cleanup Tool from the developer website over at Intelliadmin. The program is compatible with all versions of Windows from Windows 2000 on, and all versions of Microsoft Outlook from Outlook XP to the very latest Outlook 2010.

Installation of the Microsoft Outlook add-on should not pose a problem. Users need to make sure that Outlook is closed during installation. The wizard that is displayed after installation can be skipped by clicking next all the time, no personal data needs to be entered.

A new Text Lightning entry is added to Outlook’s toolbar which offers access to the add-in’s features. The add-in furthermore adds a sidebar to the right of the new email message window for quick access to pre-configured texts, images and files.

The main feature of Text Lightning is the ability to create and use text modules. The available text modules can then be added to email messages with a double-click, via individual keyboard shortcuts or drag and drop.

New text modules are added with the shortcut Ctrl-N or a right-click on the sidebar and the selection of Add Quick Text from the context menu. Text can be imported as well either from a file or a folder with multiple files. Supported file formats for single file import are Microsoft Excel xls and Comma-Separated text csv files, for folder import HTML, text and TextLightning files.

The add-in supports both plain text and rich text. One interesting option is the ability to add files to text modules which are then automatically added as attachments.

Another interesting option is product guessing. This basically can be used to configure products that Text Lightning tries to identify in email messages to only display relevant text modules.

Text Lightning can be downloaded from the developer website over at Xequte. The developers are unfortunately not listing compatibility information on the website. The add-in worked flawlessly under Outlook 2010. (via)

The application scans the system for the installed Microsoft Outlook version and display information about it in the interface. This includes the product ID, Outlook version or serial number. All startup parameters are listed in a pulldown menu at the top.

Here it is possible to select one item for the Outlook start. Each item is explained briefly after it has been selected by the user.

The explanations are usually sufficient to understand the meaning of the selected parameter. It is for instance possible to run Outlook without extensions, in Safe Mode which disables additional options, or to run a profile cleanup which removes invalid entries and recreates the default Registry keys where applicable.

Outlook Parameter GUI can also be handy to learn the different Microsoft Outlook startup parameters as it can be used as a reference. Interested users can download the Windows application from the developer’s website.

Spamfighter promises a solution for both of these problems. The software, which is available as a free and professional version, fights spam on a system wide level. The software supports Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird. Computer users with one or multiple of those clients configured on their system can make use of the antispam software.

Spamfighter Review

New users need to create a spamfighter account right in the application after installation. All they need to supply is an email address and password.

The application always starts in the Overview window which displays information and statistics. Among them the number of processed emails, the emails that have been blocked by Spamfighter or by the user, the time saved and the spam ratio. Community statistics are displayed as well, they currently read 45 billion processed emails of which more than 37 billion were spam, that’s a ratio of 85%.

Spamfighter taps right into all compatible email clients that are configured on the system. We could not get the program to work with the latest Mozilla Thunderbird 3.3 alpha, but that’s understandable since it is not officially supported. Spamfighter did install correctly into Outlook 2010 which was installed as part of Microsoft Office 2010. It has to be noted that Spamfighter can not process IMAP accounts.

The controls in the email client can be used to block or unblock emails among other things. Spamfighter will automatically create a new spamfighter folder in the email client where all emails that have been identified as spam are stored in. It is possible to unlock emails from there with the unblock button, or move regular emails into the spam folder with the block button. Emails in the spam folder can be accessed normally. All spam that is manually blocked is reported to the Spamfighter community so that all community members benefit from spam reports by members.

Additional controls are accessible under the more button.

Here it is possible to blacklist or whitelist domains or email addresses. Whitelisting means that emails will never be identified as spam, blacklisting the opposite of that.

The spam folder can be changed in the main program. Here it is furthermore possible to select if spam mails should be flagged as read or unread when moved, and whether Spamfighter should rescan the folder on startup which will rescan all unread emails that are stored in selected folders of the email client.

Filters can be edited in the main program as well. Here it is possible to add entries to blacklists and whitelists, or import lists from comma separated data files or compatible email clients.

Another interesting option is language recognition. Here it is possible to reject emails based on their language. Say you are from the United States and only receive emails in English. You could then select to only receive email messages in English which would automatically flag emails in different languages as spam. The other option available is to block emails from select languages only. It pretty much works the same way, the difference is that you will receive emails in all languages but the ones that you have selected to reject.

Spamfigther Verdict

Spamfighter is an excellent program for computer users who run at least one of the supported desktop email clients. Its core features are the cloud based approach to identifying new spam messages and the filtering system, especially the language filter.

The program is easy to setup and use as it integrates automatically with supported email clients. Experienced computer users will find the whitelisting and blacklisting of email addresses and domains useful, inexperienced users that it works very well right of the box.

Spamfighter Giveaway

We have ten licenses to give away. Please let us know about your current antispam setup for a chance to win a license.

Each course may offer textual information and / or video contents that demonstrate Outlook 2010 features, commands or the interface.

Lets take a closer look at the training courses offered over at Microsoft’s Office website.

• Make the switch to Outlook 2010 – Training Switch from Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2010. This course explains how to do familiar tasks, such as send e-mail messages and use the calendar.
• Tame your Inbox: Organize messages by conversation – Training Ever wish you had a smarter, handier way to arrange your Outlook Inbox? Now, learn how Date (Conversations) can simplify and clarify your view. [link]
• Getting started with Outlook 2010 – Article If you know Outlook 2007, used an earlier version of Outlook, or have never used Outlook before, explore these resources to begin learning. [link]
• Download Office 2010 training – Article Get free, downloadable versions of many Office 2010 training courses. They’re in PowerPoint 2010 format, so you can customize them for group training. [link]
• Get familiar with the Outlook Calendar – Training Learn how to use the Outlook 2010 calendar to create appointments and meetings, set recurrence, tasks and reminders, and create all-day events [link]
• Use e-mail signatures in Outlook 2010 – Training Learn how to use e-mail signatures. This course shows you how to create signatures, use handwritten signatures, pictures, and complex layouts. [link]
• Use electronic business cards in Outlook 2010 – Training Learn how to create electronic business cards. This course shows you how to edit and format them, and use downloadable card templates. [link]

Here are our recommendations to get started. First, you should take a look at What’s new in Microsoft Outlook 2010 to get a feel for the new features in Microsoft Outlook 2010.

Outlook users who are currently using another version of Outlook should take a look at the video training series “make the switch to Outlook 2010″ that demonstrates core features in the email client.

The training series for Outlook are probably best suited for inexperienced users, and users who have little computing experience. Still, users who have not worked with Outlook 2010 yet may benefit from the training courses as well, regardless of their experience level.

It is possible to change the file extensions, for instance by zipping the files, to bypass the Outlook attachment filter. Then again, there are other options including the possibility to add blocked file extensions to the whitelist so that they are not blocked by Outlook anymore.

We have discussed those manual options that require editing the Windows Registry in the articles Add File types to the Microsoft Outlook Attachment Manager and Enable blocked file types in Outlook.

Registry editing is on the other hand not the most comfortable option when it comes to unblocking specific file types in Microsoft Outlook.

CodeTwo Attach Unblocker is a Microsoft Outlook add-in that adds a new tab under Options to unblock specific attachment file types.

outlook blocked attachment

The add-in consists of a simple form that can be used to add or remove file extensions in Outlook. File extensions can be added in the form .ext, and appear in the list of unlocked attachments in the program.

All unblocked attachments can from that moment on be saved and opened like all other standard file extensions.

outlook blocked attachments

Blocked attachments cannot be viewed, opened, saved or forwarded. Whitelisting them in the add-in ensures that they become fully accessible in the email client.

blocked attachments

CodeTwo Attach Unblocker is compatible with all the latest Outlook editions released by Microsoft. The program is available for download at the developer website.

Another program that can be used for this purposes is Outlook Tools, which offers far more options than CodeTwo Attach Unblocker.

Outlook Password Recovery, and Outlook Express Password Recovery are two free programs to recover the password of a pst file used by Microsoft Outlook.

The two programs are compatibility with lots of Outlook versions and editions, including:

• Microsoft Outlook 2010/2007/2003/XP/2002/2000/97
• Microsoft Outlook Express 4.0 and above

Outlook Password Recovery

outlook password recovery

The program offers a basic user interface after installation and startup. The recovery process completes in two steps. In the first step, the user selects a pst file from the local computer system and clicks on the Recover Password button afterwards. The existing password is then displayed in the field below from where it can be copied and entered into Outlook to access the data in the email client.

The password is almost instantly displayed in the client, which makes Outlook Password Recovery a software for the troubleshooting toolbox. [download]

Outlook Express Password Recovery

The software is even easier to use. A click on the Recover button in the interface displays all user accounts, email addresses and passwords in the interface.

outlook express password recovery

Both password recovery tools are compatible with all recent Microsoft operating systems, including 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7, Vista and XP. The only drawback is that both need to be installed on the system, before they can be used. Still, nice to have tools in case of password emergencies.

Many people were expecting this to have been released with the new Office 2010 suite recently but news soon came that it might be some time before it was released.

The Connector provides a stream of information from SharePoint, Windows Live and Social networking sites.  The connector is built into Outlook 2010 but will be available to download as a plug-in for Outlook 2003 and 2007.

The forthcoming version of Windows Live Messenger will also feature social networking integration and this is a tool that can prove useful in the business space if utilised properly.

The Outlook Social Connector (OSC) should be available for download later today.

UPDATE : You can now download the Outlook Social Connector HERE.

The free software program will automatically scan the PC on startup for an installed version of Microsoft Outlook. The relevant file paths and information are displayed in the first window that is displayed to the user. It is here possible to change the paths (outlook path, roaming Outlook data, local Outlook data and temporary folder to open attachments) if necessary.

The very same menu links to tools like the Outlook inbox repair tool, account settings and the Windows Event Viewer. A Microsoft Update can also be initiated right from that window.

Lastly it is possible to minimize Outlook to the notification area and to configure Outlook to display all emails in plain text.

But that window was just the startup page. Outlook Tools comes with four additional tabs that can be used to configure startup switches, clear the MRU, configure new mail alerts and blocked attachments.

All known Microsoft Outlook startup switches are displayed on the second page. Here it is possible to select one of more than 40 different startup switches. They are all explained on the developer’s homepage and it is probably a good idea to take a look at the descriptions before tinkering with those settings.

Clear MRU will creal the most recently used lists of Outlook. This is an automatic process that can be initiated manually as well. Outlook Tools offer options to clear individual lists from selected profiles easily.

The new mail alerts page can be used to configure the desktop notifications that appear when new emails have been received. The Outlook user can change the interval from seven seconds to another value to better suite the needs of the user. The transparency of the notifications can also be changed on this page.

The last page lists the blocked attachment types in Outlook with the option to enable them individually again.

Outlook Tools is a free software program for Windows that requires the Microsoft .net Framework. It is compatible with the following systems:

Outlook 2000, Outlook 2002/XP, Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010
Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server (+R2), Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 (+R2) or Windows 7

The software program can be downloaded from the developer’s website over at How-To Outlook.

The autocomplete list in Outlook is populated automatically whenever new information are added to the Microsoft software. This for instance means that every new email address that is used in Outlook will be added to the autocomplete list.

Outlook on the other hand offers no option to edit the contents of the autocomplete list which can become a nuisance if entries appear in the list that are not needed anymore, should not be shown as suggestions at all or are misspelled or wrong.

NK2Edit has been recently created by one of our favorite developers Nir Sofer. It is the successor of NK2View which provided a similar but limited functionality.

The main changes between those two versions are mentioned in a blog post.

NK2Edit can be used to edit all fields of an NK2 file. The program loads the NK2 file completely opposed to NK2View which manipulated the bytes of the existing file. This decreases the risk of ending up with a corrupted NK2 file.

NK2Edit also provides some unique features for advanced users, including the “Raw Text Edit Mode” which allows you to view and edit the records of NK2 file as a text file that looks like the .ini files of Windows. NK2Edit also allows you to write simple scripts that add, remove or modify records in the NK2 file.

The second change is a new license for NK2Edit. The program is still free for use for personal usage but not for companies. Companies need a license before they can use the program.

NK2Edit can be downloaded from the Nirsoft website. It is a portable software program compatible with most Microsoft Windows operating systems.

DeskTask is an alternative to outlook on the desktop. It was back then recommended by Jojo in the comments and a review has since then been on my todo list.

The software program connects to Microsoft Outlook to display the Outlook Calendar and Todo list on the computer desktop. This feature became even more interesting with the release of Windows 7 which provides options to look at the computer desktop without having to minimize the applications.

DeskTask is compatible with all Microsoft operating system from Windows 2000 to Windows 7 and all Microsoft Outlook versions from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2010 RC.

The program should display the Outlook Calendar and Todo list automatically upon startup. It is possible to move the interface around on the computer desktop so that it can be placed in an appropriate location.

DeskTask display the current’s week calendar sorted by days and the todo list in its interface. The homepage of the developer contains a faq for possible problems or errors that users might experience using the application.

DeskTask is a free software that can be downloaded directly from the developer’s website.

Error messages such as “Object was not found”, “The operation failed. An object could not be found” or ” Can’t open this item. The object could not be found” are often displayed when the user tries to remove them from Outlook. That leaves the Outlook user with no other option than to create a new Outlook profile which will mean that all settings, accounts and other information and personal preferences will not be carried over.

CodeTwo PST Ghostbuster is a portable program to resolve issues with duplicate pst files in Microsoft Outlook. The program can be used to automatically remove duplicate pst files from a Microsoft Outlook profile. The program displays a pulldown menu and a text form in its interface. The first menu can be used to select the affected Outlook profile while the text form can be used to enter the name of the folder that is appearing several times in the email client.

A click on the check button will scan the Outlook profile for duplicate pst files. A duplicate entry was found and can be cleaned if the message “Invalid sections that should be removed were found” is displayed to the user. Clicking on the repair button will then resolve the issue so that the duplicate pst file is removed from Microsoft Outlook.

PST Ghostbuster can be downloaded from the developer’s website. It is compatible with Microsoft Outlook 98 to Outlook 2007 and Windows 2000 to Windows 7.

OutSync is an add-on for Microsoft Outlook that can semi-automate that process, at least for the contacts that are also Facebook friends of the user running the add-on. The idea is simple. Check Facebook to see if Outlook contacts are friends of the user in the social network website. If they are check if they have added a profile photo to their Facebook account. Copy that profile photo over to Outlook to add it as the account photo in the email software.

The process to sync Facebook photos with Outlook Contacts is a four step process. It begins by downloading OutSync from the developer’s website. The first startup may take between one and two minutes. The computer user then needs to perform a Facebook login from within OutSync and wait until the program has matched all the contact information. It is here possible to uncheck contacts from being synced which might make sense if a photo is already assigned to them. Pressing the sync button will update the selected Outlook contacts with the information found at Facebook.

The main benefit of OutSync is for Windows Mobile users. Updated contacts are automatically synced with Windows Mobile devices by Exchange server or ActiveSync. Thus new and fun photos appear during calls and other places where contacts are used.

Outsync is compatible with Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 running on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows Server.

The add-in is compatible with Microsoft Outlook 2007 and will install a new toolbar into the application after installation. It will also install various runtimes that are needed to run the Outlook add-in.

The options to export the data from Microsoft Outlook is then available from the new toolbar. It is here possible to export Outlook emails, notes, appointments, contacts or tasks into the following formats: MSG, unicode MSG, RTF, TXT, CSV, ICS, vCard, HTML, XML

The user can either select an Outlook folder or single items for the export of the data. Outlook Data Export can be downloaded from the program’s page over at the Codeplex website. It is only compatible with Microsoft Office 2007.