Move .OST file in Outlook 2007

I recently spent a few hours trying to figure out how to redirect the location of the Outlook offline cache file from the default location on the c-drive to a d-drive. It seems that the Outlook Customization Tool (OCT) don't like you to have spaces in the path variable found in OCT under Features -> Modify user settings -> Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 -> Miscellaneous -> PST settings. Here the variables "Default location for PST and OST" and "Default location for OST files" need you to use a path without spaces (yes i tried with and without " around the path).

I ended up using D:\Outlook\%username% as the path, and that worked for me. The path i originally tried to use was D:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook.

Please note that it seems you need to have the %username% as the last path, and that the folders need to be pre-created for this to work. It is clearly a bug.

Conflicker viral outbreaks

Recently I have assisted several customers in the removal of the Conflicker virus. The cases was very different, but they all got the virus due to two fundamental flaws: poor patch level and no working anti-virus.

The removal took quite some time in all cases, and most time where spent getting a better infrastructure in place. This particular virus can be tricky to remove completely, but now there are several good tools available for the job.

If anybody cares, I'll post my technical step-by-step removal procedures. Leave a comment if that sort of thing tickles your fancy.

In short the solution ended up being deploying WSUS to force patch deployment and a proper install of Trend Micro OfficeScan to remove the viruses. Oh, and I also implemented some GPOs to curb the virus outbreak.

Why some system administrators choose not to run WSUS, SCCM or similar tools is beyond me...

So... finally it has come to this

Today while at a conference, my friend and colleague Frode talked me into making a blog for my technical discoveries. I do this only after great deliberations, and if I don't like this fancy blogging-malarky the blog might suddenly disappear into oblivion from whence it came. Perhaps I should start using twitter instead?