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Q: I was looking for an old e-mail within Outlook and realized I may have put it in an archive.  The archive was generated on my old machine so there was no telling where it might have been as I squirrel stuff under non-default locations.  So I started searching for my .PST files.  When I narrowed my search to my user account on my disc .PST files still did not show up.  That’s when I figured something was fishy.  My regular .PST file is located in “C:\Users\fil\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook” and even when I went into that directory to search – nothing; Vista claimed there was no file matching that.  I know search works cause I did a search on .jpg from another location – bingo it found it.  What’s going on with the search that it won’t give up my .PST files?

– Phil G.
Fort Walton Beach, FL

A: The Vista search can be a little strange if you’re not used to it, Phil.  By default, it will not find “hidden” or “system” files on your computer.  For that, you must perform an Advanced search.  The following procedures apply toVista only.  For the search tools to become available, you must actually begin a search, so in a Windows Explorer window, enter your file search criteria in the Search box.  Note that the tool ribbon changes to include “Save Search” and “Search Tools”.  Select “Search Tools” and click “Search Pane”.  In the pane that appears, on the far right side, click the down arrow next to “Advanced Search”.  Then check the box that says “Include non-indexed, hidden, and system files (might be slow)”.  Then click on “Search” to re-run the search.

You can also get Outlook itself to tell you where the files are located.  The easiest way is to simply right-click the topmost item in the tree under “All Mail Folders” in Outlook’s left-hand navigation pane.  Mine says “Mailbox – Jeff Werner.”  Select “Properties for xxxxxx” (whatever YOURS is called) and on the “General” tab, click “Advanced” to view the filename and path.  If you navigate to that path and still can’t see the file, make sure you are showing hidden and system files by clicking on “Tools” then “Folder Options…”.  Go to the “View” tab, and make sure “Display the contents of system folders” is checked, as well as “Show hidden files and folders”.

I think it’s worth mentioning that choosing non-standard locations for system files doesn’t really accomplish much other than making it harder for support people to help you diagnose problems.  I went through my phase of putting files only where I wanted them to go, and after a while I found out I was fighting a losing battle.  The system tends to be more stable if you let the programs store files where and how the original programmer intended.

READER TIP OF THE WEEK: Reader Ken J. writes in with the following:  “Last week I tried to uninstall Office 2007 because it was giving me an irritating little message indicating it had been installed over Office 2003.  There is no easy recommendation readily available for this uninstall.  Most of it is either someone’s guess or faulty recommendation.  It took me a week to find this solution, so I pass it on just in case someone might be experiencing the same problem.  The Windows Installer Cleanup can be downloaded from tinyurl.com/45×45.  It easily removed MS Office so I could successfully reinstall it!”