Adding a password to a reminder?

[Jeff]

This is a family PC which several of us use. Outlook 2002, XP ProSP2.
There have been a couple of occasions when one of us have set a reminder in
Calendar, but it has popped up when another user is at the machine.
Teenagers being what they are, they don't appreciate the importance to
someone else, and its been 'dismissed'. The Mum misses a deadline cos
no-one reminded her....

I realise the answer to this lies in our helping one another out - and I'm
creasonably confident that will happen - but I wonder if as a failsafe I can
prevent an item being dismissed in some way, using a pssword etc. That way,
when it appeared onscreen it would have to be attended to by the person who
put it in. Is this possible?

I know I could set up individual logon accounts for everyone etc etc, but
that would be a backup nightmare since we already have well established
automated routines. Thanks!

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

No, there's no way to do this.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

In

This is a family PC which several of us use. Outlook 2002, XP ProSP2.
There have been a couple of occasions when one of us have set a
reminder in Calendar, but it has popped up when another user is at
the machine. Teenagers being what they are, they don't appreciate the
importance to someone else, and its been 'dismissed'. The Mum misses
a deadline cos no-one reminded her....

I realise the answer to this lies in our helping one another out -
and I'm creasonably confident that will happen - but I wonder if as a
failsafe I can prevent an item being dismissed in some way, using a
pssword etc. That way, when it appeared onscreen it would have to be
attended to by the person who put it in. Is this possible?

I know I could set up individual logon accounts for everyone etc etc,
but that would be a backup nightmare since we already have well
established automated routines. Thanks!

You need to set up multiple user accounts - but this is really no big deal,
and is better all around.

Set everyone's My Documents to point to wherever you wish -

c:\data\user1
c:\data\user2
c:\data\user3

and set the NTFS security appropriately so that administrators & system have
full control, and users have Modify over their own folders.

Move the default OL PST files to c:\data\user*\outlook\ for each user (move
the file while outlook is closed, rename it to username.pst, open outlook,
point it at the new location when prompted)

Make all user accounts limited user accounts only, and set up a separate
"deity" account that has admin rights for you to use when you need to do
admin work (best not to work as an admin when you don't need to).

Use good passwords (8 char minimum, combo of alpha & non-alpha, mixed case)
and make sure you have set the same on your built-in administrator account.

To back up all your data, all you need to do is back up c:\data. I prefer
redirecting My Documents anyway, as profiles sometimes get corrupted and I
don't like using the default file locations for anything.

You can also back up c:\documents and settings\* to back up the profiles -
you may need to take ownership of the folder (as Administrators, not
Administrator) in order to do this - then reset security so that
Administrators & System have full control over everything, and each user has
Full Control over his/her profile subfolder. Push the changes down.

You can do your backups with a scheduled task - use one of your
administrator accounts to set the task to run under. Use NTBackup or
whatever you will.

 

[Brian Tillman]

This is a family PC which several of us use. Outlook 2002, XP ProSP2.

If you don't want what you describe to happen, give each person his or her
own username, making sure all accounts but one is a Limited User account and
that the Administrator account is password-protected.

There's no reason in the world why this should be a "nightmare" for any
canned backup procedure.