Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell

Configuring CW Outlook

At the heart of every CW installation is a small configuration file called a profile. This file is so crucial to the operation of CW Outlook that without it the program simply will not run. So before we get into what a profile is and what it contains, if you are presently using CW Outlook, search (Start menu → Find → For Files or Folders) the partition containing your Windows installation for all files ending in the extension .fav. Now copy this file (or files, if you use more than one profile) to a floppy disk and store it somewhere safe. You will understand the importance of this step by the time you are finished reading this section.

What’s so crucial about a profile? This file contains a list of the services loaded at startup. These services tell Outlook what messaging protocols the program has available, how to connect to those services, where those services can be found, your user login name and password, where mail from those services is to be sent and delivered, and most important of all, where your data is stored. Outlook requires at least one profile configured before it will start, and that profile must contain—at the very least—the location of your data files. Without an information store to open, Outlook simply refuses to run.

Profiles can be confusing because of the many configuration options they contain and how these options interrelate with each other. To help keep this layered onion in perspective, we refer you to Figure 2-7 which details ...