Email address autofill

[David]

We are using Outlook XP on a Windows XP operating system. When I click new
email and I type in the recipients name it comes up with a few suggestions.
Some of the suggestions are people who I don't have in my address book
anymore. I am not sure how or where Outlook is finding this contact to
autofill in his email address. Where does Outlook pull this data from if
not the address book?

 

[Andreas Roeder]

HI David,
this list is stored in the *.NK2 File

 

[David]

Thank you Andereas! I have to admit that I find the existence of this file
quite disturbing. I opened it up in notepad and could read most of the
information. This could be a huge security risk. Where can I edit the
settings on how this file is used? Like what gets entered in it? How to
clear it? If it is being used or not used?

Thank you!

 

[Brian Tillman]

I have to admit that I find the existence of
this file quite disturbing. I opened it up in notepad and could read
most of the information. This could be a huge security risk.

How so? There are no credentials in it, only email addresses.

Where can I edit the settings on how this file is used?

You have two choices only: enabled or disabled. Tools>Options>E-mail
Options>Advanced E-mail Options.

Like what gets entered in it?

The addresses you enter into one of the address fields (To, Cc, Bcc) of the
Compose window get stored there.

How to clear it?

Either hightlight the name you don't want with the arrow keys and press
Delete or, with Outlook closed, delete the file to clear all the entries.

If it is being used or not used?

It's used if you've enabled it and not used if you haven't.

 

[David]

Brian you are awesome! How long have you been doing this stuff? The only
security risk I see is from a virus stand point. If you were to become
infected it could easily pull email addresses from the .hk2 file and infect
all your associates. I guess it would be just as easy to read it from your
address book though. Oh well. Thank you for all the help! I hope one day
I can repay the favor.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Brian you are awesome! How long have you been doing this stuff? The
only security risk I see is from a virus stand point. If you were to
become infected it could easily pull email addresses from the .hk2
file and infect all your associates. I guess it would be just as
easy to read it from your address book though.

Far easier to use documented interfaces to do the latter, as you might
guess.