It's so easy to be afraid of the unknown in real life and it's no different when it comes to the computer. Many Outlook users worry about some items listed in Outlook's add-ins directory - what is it, what installed it, most importantly, is it safe?

One add-in that catches the eye when you look in Tools, Options, Other tab, Advanced Options, Add-in manager is the Redemption Helper Outlook Extension, especially since it may be listed multiple times.

Redemption is an Outlook Exchange extension used by a large number of Outlook developers so they can avoid the security prompts added by the Outlook 2000 pre-SP2 object model guard and attachment security patch and built into all versions and builds of Outlook released since. Written by Extended MAPI expert Dmitry Streblechenko, Redemption provides a common interface developers can use to bypass the security features in Outlook, enabling your favorite add-ins to 'just work" - without prompting you to click a button to allow access to your address book or approving each item in a mail merge.

Does that mean that when you install an application that uses Redemption, that any other software (including a virus or trojan) could use it to bypass security? No, not at all. There's a security key in Redemption so that only the software that installs Redemption can unlock it and use the Redemption objects that allow applications to avoid triggering Outlook's security prompts. The key created by each developer only works with the customized version of Redemption they install, so no other program can use it.

Because many add-ins use Redemption, if you have a lot of add-ins installed you might see multiple instances of that Redemption Outlook Helper Exchange extension listed in Add-in Manager. This is nothing to worry about - each instance is required for a specific add-in to work correctly and avoid presenting you with the various security prompts for add-ins you trust enough to install.

To the best of anyone's knowledge, no virus has used Redemption to bypass Outlook's security and send email or harvest email address from an address book. There's really no reason for a virus to use Redemption to get at Outlook because it's so easy to hijack computers using other methods and scan files on the hard drive for new addresses.

Disabling Redemption Helper won't increase your level of security in Outlook and using anti-virus and anti-spam software to remove threats from your email will provide a greater level of security from all threats.

Developers can learn more about Redemption:
http://www.dimastr.com/redemption/

Outlook "Object Model Guard" Security Issues for Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/d/sec.htm

Preparing mass mailings doesn't have to be a chore or obviously impersonal, thanks to mail merge. While you do need to send all merge items using the same method - envelopes, to the printer, or by email - you can repeat the merge using a different set of contacts to send some letters by email and other to the printer for eventual delivery by the post office.

When the addresses you need to merge are in Outlook, it's easier if you start the mail merge from the contacts folder. This allows you to use Outlook's better filtering capabilities to control which contacts are used in the merge. If you only need specific fields in the merge, create a custom view that displays just those fields, because it's usually less confusing when you only see the fields you need, not every field in the contact form.

Begin by selecting the contacts you want to use in the merge. If you use categories to determine who will be merged, you can do one of two things: create a custom view that shows only contacts in that category or use a group by category view then select the contacts in the category that you are merging. A custom view takes a few seconds to create, but if you have many contacts, a custom view is better than selecting the contacts. I prefer using a custom view because you can filter contacts and only include the necessary fields. For this reason, these instructions will include only the steps used when you use a custom views. If you need help creating custom views, there are several pages of information at Outlook Tips - see the URL at the end of this article.

After creating a view with the contacts you need, open the mail merge contacts dialog - you'll find it at Tools, Mail Merge. Select the Contacts options of All contacts in current view and in fields to merge sections, select Contact fields in current view. Unless you have a document prepared already, choose New document as the document file type. You may want to save the list of contacts for future reference, if so, check the Permanent file box and browse to enter the file name.

The final options to choose from are the Merge options - the document type you are creating and what you are merging to. Choose from form letters, labels, envelopes, or a catalog. The merge to document type (new document, email or file) is easily changed before finalizing the merge.

Click Ok and Word opens. If you're comfortable with merging, use the Mail merge toolbar to insert the merge fields, otherwise open Word's Mail merge wizard on the Tools, Letters and Mailing, Mail merge menu and work your way through it. The wizard opens to Step 3 and if you change your mind about the document type you want to create, you can go back to Step 1 and select a different document type.

The final step is completing the merge. Choose the merge type - new document, email or file - and you're done. Keep in mind, if you are sending an email message you should use HTML formatting to avoid triggering Outlook's security warning. Also note, you cannot merge attachments to email, other than embedded images. If you need to include attachments, you'll need to use a mail merge utility or VBA code.

Mail merge is one area where Outlook doesn't care what version of Word you have installed, so anyone who has both Word and Outlook installed can use mail merge. However, unless both applications are the same version, you can't begin the merge in Outlook's contacts and will be limited to Word's filtering capabilities. In this situation, open Word's Tools, Letters and Mailings, Mail merge wizard and begin with Step 1. You may wish to create a custom view, then copy the contacts and paste into Notepad, then use the resulting text file as the data source so that you can avoid filtering the records during the merge.

Use Outlook's Contacts with Mail Merge
http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/mailmerge.htm

Use mail merge for mass mailings and more
http://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?AssetID=RC011205671033&ofcresset=1

Mass Mail Tools & VBA
http://www.slipstick.com/addins/mail.htm#massmail 

Create a Custom View
http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/custom_views.htm

For months after the release of Outlook 2003, we saw many requests from users of the public newsgroups to tighten the junk email folder capabilities by restricting the junk folder to plain text messages. It makes sense, since you are unlikely to be reading junk email anyway. So Microsoft did just that in Outlook 2003's Service pack 2.

Now we're seeing a ground swell of complaints that links in junk email don't work and that messages are forced into plain text. It's junk email for Pete's sake. Why are dead links such a big issue? Why is it so hard to determine if the message is not junk when it's rendered only in plain text?

I think we finally have the answer: It turns out people are using the "safe lists only" junk mail setting then browsing the junk email folder for messages from people not in their address book or on the safe list. While this option might work if you don't get a lot spam, going through the spam defeats the purpose of using a spam filter.

The solution? Set the junk mail setting on High then create a folder that moves all mail to a folder called "Less Important" except if the sender's address is in your address book. Because the junk filter runs first, all obvious junk email will be placed in the junk folder and the rule will move messages not identified as junk into another folder while messages from people you already correspond with stay in the Inbox. You'll be able to easily find messages from your friends, have the questionable messages out of the Inbox but not mixed with the real junk, and have mostly all junk in the junk email folder.

As you review the messages in the Less Important folder, you can add the sender's addresses to your address book by right clicking on the From field and selecting Add to Contacts - the next time they send you an email, the message will remain in the Inbox. If you notice messages in the junk folder that are not junk, click the Not Junk button to add the sender to your safe list and move the message to the Inbox. In the future, messages from these senders will go into the Less Important folder unless you add their address to Contacts too.

Problem solved: you'll spend less time looking at junk email and can benefit from the additional security Outlook 2003's new anti-phishing and junk mail features provide.

Get the latest Outlook 2003 Junk email filter:
Description of the Outlook 2003 Junk E-mail Filter update: November 2005
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=907492

In most case, an Exchange administrator will need to mail-enable public folders from Exchange System Manager, but the folder can easily be created in Outlook by anyone with the necessary permissions. (note: if the Exchange server is using the default settings any user can create the public folders.)

In Outlook, right click on a folder to open the New Folder dialog. Enter the name for the public folder, select the appropriate folder type, then select the location where you want to create the folder. For a Public folder, this would be somewhere under Public Folders, All Public Folders hierarchy.

Once the folder is created, an Exchange administrator will need to browse for the Public folder in the ESM, right click on it and choose All Tasks, Mail Enable. That's all there is to it.

When you need to send something to the public folder, select the folder from the GAL or add it to the contact folder by right clicking on the folder in Outlook and choosing Properties, then Administration tab and clicking the Add to contacts button. When the folder is enabled for email, this action creates a contact using the folder display name and SMTP address. If the contact does not use the display name and a SMTP address format (name@domain.com), the folder is not email-enabled.