Tips & Tricks

By Sandra Rosenzweig
     
      Once in a while, I get a frantic call from someone who has lost one or more email attachments. The problem is that, as part of its virus-checking routine, Outlook saves all attachments to one of your hard disks. When you click to open the attachment, Outlook creates a hidden Outlook Secure Temporary File folder for each attachment, which is renamed OLK plus a randomly generated string of numbers. This temporary folder is super hidden, and it may get deleted before you try to open it again. However, you can recover the files from the most recently created OLK folder. Go to the Start menu, then Run, and type in cmd. When you get the DOS-like prompt, type in cd (change directory) and navigate to the c:\Documents and Settings\ [your username on this computer]\Local Settings\temporary Internet files\. Then, at the same DOS prompt, type dir/a to see your OLK folders. If this doesn't work with your user ID, try the others in Documents and Settings, starting with Default User, then All Users. Open a message with an attachment in your Inbox or other mailbox. Save it, then choose Save As. Most likely Outlook will offer the OLK folder as the Save location. Leave the Save As dialog box open, then open the folder where you want to store the file. Finally, drag and drop the file or files from the Save As dialog box to the destination folder.
      Thanks to Fred Langa and his geekish LangaList newsletter (www.langa.com).
     

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