Where does Outlook store saved e-mail passwords? The .pst file?

[John_Cambridge]

I want to save the my e-mail account password in Outlook 2007 so it doesn't
keep asking me for my password. However, I also want it to be secure.
Where does Outlook store my e-mail account password? In the .pst file? If
it does store it in the .pst file, I was thinking of just storing the .pst
file on an encrypted drive for security reasons. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Roady [MVP]]

It's definitely not kept in the pst-file. It's kept in Windows' protected
storage. Long story short; before Windows Vista is was kept (encrypted)
within the registry and now it is kept on the hard disk (still encrypted).

"Secure" is a relative term which all starts with how you think you can lose
your data and to what level your computer is accessible by others.

 

[John_Cambridge]

Thanks for the response.

If I have Outlook installed on my laptop, and my laptop gets stolen, how
vulnerable is my e-mail password? If the oassword was stored in the pst
file, I could easily just store the pst file on an encrypted drive. If it's
stored in the Windows protected storage, would an attacker need to obtain
my Windows password before being able to access the protected storage? What
should I do to ensure that the password is secure? I'd prefer not to use
full drive encryption since I'd be taking a hit in performance.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

If I have Outlook installed on my laptop, and my laptop gets stolen, how
vulnerable is my e-mail password? If the oassword was stored in the pst
file, I could easily just store the pst file on an encrypted drive. If
it's stored in the Windows protected storage, would an attacker need to
obtain my Windows password before being able to access the protected
storage? What should I do to ensure that the password is secure? I'd
prefer not to use full drive encryption since I'd be taking a hit in
performance.

I have a laptop with full drive encryption (SafeBoot) and I don't notice any
performance hit.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

If your entire laptop gets stolen, nothing on it would be safe without full
encryption. If you have a more recent laptop or one that is designed for
corporate use, you probably already have a tool available which can encrypt
at hardware level which will cause no performance hit at all. In Windows
Vista, BitLocker would be a good choice too without having negative effect
on your performance. See Brian's suggestion as well.