Comments on: What are Outlook PST Files and Why Use Them… or Not? http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/outlook/what-are-outlook-pst-files-and-why-use-them-or-not/ Groovy Technical and How To Articles for New and Advanced Computer Users Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:41:14 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Find Your Microsoft Outlook .PST FILE [How-To] http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/outlook/what-are-outlook-pst-files-and-why-use-them-or-not/#comment-11197 Find Your Microsoft Outlook .PST FILE [How-To] Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:05:40 +0000 http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/outlook/what-are-outlook-pst-files-and-why-use-them-or-not/#comment-11197 [...] or just browse to it to get to them.I hope this has been helpful in aiding you to find the Microsoft Outlook PST file location.  Now that you’ve found the location be sure to backup often!  You can [...] [...] or just browse to it to get to them.I hope this has been helpful in aiding you to find the Microsoft Outlook PST file location.  Now that you’ve found the location be sure to backup often!  You can [...]

]]> By: Repair Corrupt Microsoft Outlook PST Files [How-To] | groovypost.com http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/outlook/what-are-outlook-pst-files-and-why-use-them-or-not/#comment-10269 Repair Corrupt Microsoft Outlook PST Files [How-To] | groovypost.com Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:39:17 +0000 http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/outlook/what-are-outlook-pst-files-and-why-use-them-or-not/#comment-10269 [...] in our Free Tech Support Forum is How-To repair or recover email from a corrupt Microsoft Outlook PST file.  I personally use PST files daily with Outlook for email archiving and other workflows I [...] [...] in our Free Tech Support Forum is How-To repair or recover email from a corrupt Microsoft Outlook PST file.  I personally use PST files daily with Outlook for email archiving and other workflows I [...]

]]> By: MrGroove http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/outlook/what-are-outlook-pst-files-and-why-use-them-or-not/#comment-9981 MrGroove Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:57:15 +0000 http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/outlook/what-are-outlook-pst-files-and-why-use-them-or-not/#comment-9981 @Moog, HI Moog and Welcome to the site! I appreciate your comments and feedback however I can't say I agree with them. That being said, I like a thorough discussion which leads me to: <br/> Yes I have worked in IT and I would argue that I actually have a very firm grasp around the details of general IT, information security, corporate governance, data classification and data retention. All of these topics are actually my specialty from a professional level and if you would read my article again, you would see that although I list out the What, How, Why, Pro's and Con's, I never actually make any recommendations the reader should take in regards to using PST's other than Size. I especially never hint upon data theft which I would argue is a far stretch from creating a PST on a corporate machine and storing corporate email there. Sending email home or storing it on a personal device (if not allowed per corporate policy) yeah.. different story. <br/> In regards to your comment: "RE: A competent organization has a process to classify sensitive / confidential email that doesn’t involve risking termination by hiding a resource you don’t own from the place you’re receiving it at."<br/> I applaud any Organization who actually takes the time to build a process to classify sensitive / confidential email or any data for that matter. I've written several myself.... The problem however is the "process" is doomed to fail even before it begins. Why? Well first, you need to identify all types of corporate data and (not just email) and assign it to your data classification and data retention model. Depending on the size of the "competent organization" that should only take.... a year or two.... or three... After all, before you can classify the data you must first identify all the data, the data owners, train them, coordinate them, argue with them, let them argue with legal rebuild your classification and data retention model again after the consultants leave because a new law was just passed with new mandates around data retention then the game starts all over again. <br/> So now that you have all the data identified, owners identified, data classified w/retention now the fun begins. Now you get to decide if you can enforce the new policy with technology or if you need to get the employees involved or both. In almost all cases it will be both which means now you need to train HR or some team to do a world wide tour and train the employees (or do CBT.. Hey, how about groovyPost!!!) or some sort of Corporate Policy training software/program/process (which no one will watch or they will but not really...). Then you will need to interview all the employees to discover all the workflows because Sally in accounting has a Boss who told her she can work from home on Friday but he read on the internet it's not safe to email work home so she puts it on a USB drive, takes it home and puts it on her home computer where it stays.... and then there's that guy who uses Microsoft Skydrive you didn't know about and the other guy with a blog..... But that's OK. You can just tell the auditors your a "Competent Corporation" and you've done your due diligence and writing a Policy and communicated the policy and all your employees have checked the box that says they are following the policy (but we all know they aren't including the auditor).... ohh.. what a game. <br/> Anyway, so once all the hard work is done, people are trained, Legal or the Records Management Dept. (whatever you name them) will realize that as great as the "process" is, it will be impossible to enforce it so they will just sign a big contract with Iron Mountain to Archive their Soft Copies and Hard Copies of everything, send emails to employees about not sending personal email, communicate the email destruction policies then just archive email and outlaw .pst files (if they get this far) and realize OMG... this is a really expensive waste of time wasn't it BUT, the Auditors and Legal are happy (I think?). So yeah, I understand it and no, it's not as simple as saying just write a policy and follow the process like any good "competent organization" should/does do. Respect? I wish it were that easy. I won't even get into the Gartner stats that 1 out of ever 3000 (or is it 5000) employees are working for the competition..... It's all about being informed, do your best to follow your corporate guidelines and never let your IT guys push you around. They work for you, not the other way around. If using a .PST can help you and it's not against your corporate policy, great! That's what this article is here for. To educate you. @Moog,
HI Moog and Welcome to the site! I appreciate your comments and feedback however I can’t say I agree with them. That being said, I like a thorough discussion which leads me to:

Yes I have worked in IT and I would argue that I actually have a very firm grasp around the details of general IT, information security, corporate governance, data classification and data retention. All of these topics are actually my specialty from a professional level and if you would read my article again, you would see that although I list out the What, How, Why, Pro’s and Con’s, I never actually make any recommendations the reader should take in regards to using PST’s other than Size. I especially never hint upon data theft which I would argue is a far stretch from creating a PST on a corporate machine and storing corporate email there. Sending email home or storing it on a personal device (if not allowed per corporate policy) yeah.. different story.

In regards to your comment:
“RE: A competent organization has a process to classify sensitive / confidential email that doesn’t involve risking termination by hiding a resource you don’t own from the place you’re receiving it at.”
I applaud any Organization who actually takes the time to build a process to classify sensitive / confidential email or any data for that matter. I’ve written several myself…. The problem however is the “process” is doomed to fail even before it begins. Why? Well first, you need to identify all types of corporate data and (not just email) and assign it to your data classification and data retention model. Depending on the size of the “competent organization” that should only take…. a year or two…. or three… After all, before you can classify the data you must first identify all the data, the data owners, train them, coordinate them, argue with them, let them argue with legal rebuild your classification and data retention model again after the consultants leave because a new law was just passed with new mandates around data retention then the game starts all over again.

So now that you have all the data identified, owners identified, data classified w/retention now the fun begins. Now you get to decide if you can enforce the new policy with technology or if you need to get the employees involved or both. In almost all cases it will be both which means now you need to train HR or some team to do a world wide tour and train the employees (or do CBT.. Hey, how about groovyPost!!!) or some sort of Corporate Policy training software/program/process (which no one will watch or they will but not really…). Then you will need to interview all the employees to discover all the workflows because Sally in accounting has a Boss who told her she can work from home on Friday but he read on the internet it’s not safe to email work home so she puts it on a USB drive, takes it home and puts it on her home computer where it stays…. and then there’s that guy who uses Microsoft Skydrive you didn’t know about and the other guy with a blog….. But that’s OK. You can just tell the auditors your a “Competent Corporation” and you’ve done your due diligence and writing a Policy and communicated the policy and all your employees have checked the box that says they are following the policy (but we all know they aren’t including the auditor)…. ohh.. what a game.

Anyway, so once all the hard work is done, people are trained, Legal or the Records Management Dept. (whatever you name them) will realize that as great as the “process” is, it will be impossible to enforce it so they will just sign a big contract with Iron Mountain to Archive their Soft Copies and Hard Copies of everything, send emails to employees about not sending personal email, communicate the email destruction policies then just archive email and outlaw .pst files (if they get this far) and realize OMG… this is a really expensive waste of time wasn’t it BUT, the Auditors and Legal are happy (I think?).

So yeah, I understand it and no, it’s not as simple as saying just write a policy and follow the process like any good “competent organization” should/does do. Respect? I wish it were that easy. I won’t even get into the Gartner stats that 1 out of ever 3000 (or is it 5000) employees are working for the competition…..

It’s all about being informed, do your best to follow your corporate guidelines and never let your IT guys push you around. They work for you, not the other way around. If using a .PST can help you and it’s not against your corporate policy, great! That’s what this article is here for. To educate you.

]]> By: Moog http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/outlook/what-are-outlook-pst-files-and-why-use-them-or-not/#comment-9979 Moog Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:46:09 +0000 http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/outlook/what-are-outlook-pst-files-and-why-use-them-or-not/#comment-9979 Interesting... >> Did you know it’s almost impossible to track / audit if your IT guy/department is reading your email? Moving “Sensitive” or “Confidential” email off the Email / Exchange Server to a local .PST file adds a layer of security. It appears you work in IT but don't seem to have a good understanding of why organizations have certain flows in place. Page has some great info, helpful .PST ref's but relaying an opinion advising people to take a resource they don't own (workplace email) and violate corporate policy for 99.737% of corp USA by making it unfindable does a disservice to people who find your site. A competent organization has a process to classify sensitive / confidential email that doesn't involve risking termination by hiding a resource you don't own from the place you're receiving it at. And no, it's not about the bourgie's vs. proles; it is about mutual respect betw. you and your workplace. If you're not going to give it, please don't expect it. pax. Interesting…
>> Did you know it’s almost impossible to track / audit if your IT guy/department is reading your email? Moving “Sensitive” or “Confidential” email off the Email / Exchange Server to a local .PST file adds a layer of security.

It appears you work in IT but don’t seem to have a good understanding of why organizations have certain flows in place. Page has some great info, helpful .PST ref’s but relaying an opinion advising people to take a resource they don’t own (workplace email) and violate corporate policy for 99.737% of corp USA by making it unfindable does a disservice to people who find your site. A competent organization has a process to classify sensitive / confidential email that doesn’t involve risking termination by hiding a resource you don’t own from the place you’re receiving it at. And no, it’s not about the bourgie’s vs. proles; it is about mutual respect betw. you and your workplace. If you’re not going to give it, please don’t expect it. pax.

]]> By: Jeff http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/outlook/what-are-outlook-pst-files-and-why-use-them-or-not/#comment-2624 Jeff Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:02:05 +0000 http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/outlook/what-are-outlook-pst-files-and-why-use-them-or-not/#comment-2624 They're also prone to corruption, requiring a costly <a href="http://www.pstfilerepair.com/pst_repair_tool.php" rel="nofollow">pst repair tool</a> to fix them. They’re also prone to corruption, requiring a costly pst repair tool to fix them.

]]> By: Create PST Files Using Outlook 2003 or 2007 :: groovyPost.com http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/outlook/what-are-outlook-pst-files-and-why-use-them-or-not/#comment-1328 Create PST Files Using Outlook 2003 or 2007 :: groovyPost.com Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:20:00 +0000 http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/outlook/what-are-outlook-pst-files-and-why-use-them-or-not/#comment-1328 [...] Before we dive into “How-To” create .PST files, you might want to quickly review an article I just wrote which explains the WHAT and WHY surrounding the use Microsoft Outlook .PST files also known as [...] [...] Before we dive into “How-To” create .PST files, you might want to quickly review an article I just wrote which explains the WHAT and WHY surrounding the use Microsoft Outlook .PST files also known as [...]

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