note: this is not a technical issue-- there is nothing wrong... I didn't forget to plug in any cables... I'm asking theoretically how to do something... so, wierd question... maybe... ok, so there's two computers each behind the same router with addresses 192.168.2.1, and 192.168.2.2. one has windows XP, and the other has windows 98. the computers can "see" eachother -- all file sharing and netbios blah blah is set up properly. how do you make it so you can access the same email account from both computers using outlook? now.. I KNOW how to simply get access to the same account (just setup the servers and passwords the some on both computers), but how do you make the local files identical... like mirroring... because you wouldn't want to have your old emails divided up between the computers, which is what would happen normally... you would want to be able to see ALL mail from either computer at any given time. so anyone done this? thanks for any help, Adam.

Hi- Option 1: You may want to try using a third-party syncronization tool like "Network Unplugged" (www.mobiliti.com) or "No-Hands Backup (http://hem.spray.se/anders.peterson/nhb.html) These tools allow you to keep files snycronized between two systems, though you need to keep in mind that most mailbox files (especially Outlook .PST...default file name for the main Personal strorage file is "outlook.pst") files cannot be modified while Outlook is open, since Outlook has the file locked for use. In short, this means that you'll have to have your mail client closed on both mahines before you enable the synchronization from one Pc to another. Don't forget that one box will be the master, which gets all the current mail from your ISPs mail server. Option 2: Using a file synch tool may be ok, but if you just want to pull the same mail to 2 differnet machines and/or mail clients, you can turn on the function to keep mail on the server for x days (x being the variable here). Example: You can tell Outlook or Outlook express to do this by modifying your account settings (this is turned of by default in both Outlook and OE). In OE6, click on Tools > Accounts > select your mail properties to get to the account "mail Properties" page, then click on the advanced tab. Under the "delivery" section, check the "leave a copy of message on server". This function will leave it on your server indefinitely, which is obviously not optimail, as your mailbox at your ISP will fill up quickly. When you pull down your mail using a POP client, it is immediately removed from the server and stored on your machine (locally). Enabling to leave a copy of message on the server leaves it on your ISPs server, unless you tell your mail client to only do this for a limited amount of days (highly recommended). I suggest not leaving it on your server for more than 7 days. I hope either of these options will work for you. Also remember that OE uses a totally different type of file than Outlook. OE uses .dbx files which you can find doing a file search in your OS. I hope this helps, and good luck! Cheers, Brian G.