Outlook 2003 Still Sucks

Despite my best efforts, there are folks still using the crappiest PIM on the planet (Outlook 2003). I'm still in its 2000 incarnation, which is far faster than the newer code. Given that Robert Scoble thinks I've become boring (no, just busy), I thought I'd share with you one of my recent articles in CPU Magazine. I've been given full permission to do it here, too… so long as everybody who reads it promises to subscribe. M'kay? M'kay. What tools did I miss?

PocketKnife Peek (free; www.xintercept.com). With this on-demand add-in, you can preview any message without opening it. There's no easier way to recognize URL spoofs. It'll automatically transmogrify HTML messages into text, letting you break the chain and respond in ASCII with ease.

SpamBayes (open source; spambayes.sourceforge.net). This project picks up where Bayesian filtering left off. I haven't found a better-integrated spam stomper for my Inbox. It's simple to train, use, and maintain over a lengthy period of time. There are no whitelisting features within the client, but I've found false positives to be inconceivably low.

OutlookHelper (free; www.outlookhelper.com). Create voice mail, animated messages, view attached images from several messages en masse, and much more. It also comes with a virus alerter-something your co-workers probably need more than you.

Lookout (free; www.lookoutsoft.com). Recently acquired by Microsoft, this relatively new tool hit the ground running a few months ago. In the background it indexes the messages in your Outlook and Windows folder hierarchy. What makes it good? Speed. Pure, unadulterated speed.

NewsGator ($29; www.newsgator.com). RSS and Atom are here to stay, so you might as well find a news aggregator that already matches your lifestyle. It's still a little rough around the edges, but then again, I subscribe to well over 1,000 feeds. It's easy to forward your favorite posts to friends and colleagues, and sometimes (if the entry is properly configured) you can follow up with the author immediately. Seamless.

PayPal Payment Wizard (free; www.paypal.com). I can't think of anybody who doesn't have a PayPal account. I've been with them since they were X.com. Remember those days? Instead of logging into the Web site to set up a payment URL or button, you can do it all within Outlook. Lockergnome.com, my own company, uses PayPal for our Payment Processing, so this has truly been a godsend for our invoicing departm, I mean, person.

Attachment Options (free; www.slovaktech.com). There's no easy way to work around Outlook's all-or-nothing attachment-blocking approach without outside help (or Registry hacking). Through this tab you can enable and disable file types at will. I guess you never know when someone's going send you an OPS (Office Profile Setting). It could happen.

UrlRunAddIn (free; www.cheztabor.com). Broken URLs, be gone. When someone sends you a link that has more than a billion characters in it, chances are you received it in a broken state. Instead of sewing that sucker back together again with a complicated copy-paste routine, just install this and right-click on the mess (including any brokets).

Send to OneNote from Outlook PowerToy (free; www.shahine.com/omar). Tablet PC users will love this little sucker. I'd tell you more about it, but its title is pretty darn descriptive. End of line.

Personal Folders Backup (free; www.microsoft.com). When was the last time you saved a copy of your PST to another hard drive? What are you waiting for, an irreversible crash? Let this remind you to do the deed once a week.

Infuzer 5-day Weather Feed (free; www.infuzer.com). This very extension is what inspired me to assemble this article. Keep it running in your System Tray and it'll keep your Outlook calendar filled with the latest weather forecast for your area. Amazing and absolutely indispensable, especially if you're also a Pocket PC user.

Outlook Reminders by Email ($7.50; pwp.netcabo.pt/rsoutlook). As the name implies, there's no better way to keep your calendar synced with your mail account when you're out and about. There's also a Send By SMS add-in available here if you're never without your cell phone.