Backing up your Outlook Files
It's important to backup your Outlook files. If you use Outlook, this is where all your email messages are, all your contact names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. Outlook also stores all your calendar entries, task items and notes. If you lost this information it could be painful, if not devastating, yet many people don't think about backing it up.
There's actually a good reason ... Outlook's data file is not easy to find - and, it's hard to backup something you can't even find! All this data that Outlook stores is contained in one big file called a personal folders file. It's name is usually outlook.pst and it is literally buried in your file folder structure like: C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.pst. Whew! What a mouthful.
Wouldn't it be nice if there was simply a menu option that said "Backup my Outlook file"? Guess what? There is! Go to Microsoft's download center and get the Outlook 2002/2000 Add-in: Personal Folders Backup. After you download and install this add-in, the file menu will have an additional item: Backup...
All the instructions for running the program are on the website. DO IT ... DO IT NOW!
Note: if you work in a corporate environment - you probably have a computer department, aka 'the IT guys'. They probably have systems for backing up your Outlook data and may not take it well if you start messing with this. Make sure to check with them before installing *anything* on your computer.
