Source: http://maximumpcguides.com 

Stop a Program from Gaining Unsolicited Internet Access

1. Open Control Panel in the Start menu.
2. Open Windows Firewall in the Control Panel. 
    

   
   

3. Note: If Windows Firewall is not available, change View by to Large icons at the top right of the Control Panel.

4. Select Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall in the left column of the Windows Firewall window.

   

    

5. Click the Change settings button in the Allowed Programs window.

   
   

    

6. Uncheck the program or feature and then click OK to save the changes.

   
   

    

Stop an Unlisted Program from Gaining Unsolicited Internet Access

What if the program I want to block using the Windows 7 firewall is not listed?

1. Follow the steps above.
2. When you get to the last step (above) click the Allow another program button.
3. Select the program from the Add a Program list or click Browse to find it and then click Add.

   

4. Uncheck the program and then click OK to save the settings.

   

Backup your Email data – Microsoft Outlook 2007

1. The data is saved in a Personal Folder File (.pst) only if you are not using Microsoft Exchange account or Windows Live Mail account. For Microsoft Exchange Account or Windows Live Mail account your backup data is saved locally on your computer instead of the e-mail server.          

There are two .pst files, one is the personal folder file which includes all of your Outlook folders, such as the Inbox, Calendar, tasks and Contacts and the other is the Archive Folder which includes archive messages of your Outlook.

2. You can easily locate the data files in outlook 2007 using the following steps.

Go to Main Menu of Outlook 2007, Click File and select Data File Management and Account setting window will pop up. The other way is to click on Tools menu and select Account settings from the drop down menu.

3. Click on the Data Files tab. You may have a single data file or multiple data files. These are the Data Files, wherein you store your email messages, tasks, calendar, tasks and other items. 

4. Click on the Open Folder icon. Windows Explorer will be opened automatically and will take you to the location where this data file is stored. Now select the outlook.pst and archive.pst file you want to backup.

5. Now you can copy this file to any backup storage device. Make sure that your Outlook is closed before you backup these files.

Restore your Email data – Outlook 2007

Restoring is as simple as to backup your data.  All you have to do is copy the backup PST files into the folder that you located when you backed up your work initially.

Backup/Export Account Settings – Outlook 2007

1. Start > Run > type ‘regedit’
2. Locate the following path in your ‘Registry Editor’
3. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\Outlook

Now right click on the key outlook and select option: Export and save .pst files to your desired location. You can run the same file while restoring your outlook. This will restore your old outlook profile with all your email accounts settings and rules. You will need to enter your password as Password is not stored into .pst file.

It is difficult to locate the Personal folder files in the previous versions of Outlook; however it’s much simpler in Outlook 2007. Backing up and restoring data is easier, faster with the new outlook 2007.

The following is a list of locations where Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 saves information.

Some of the folders might be hidden folders. To display hidden folders, do the following:

• Windows Vista
  1. In Windows, click the Start button, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Click Appearance and Personalization.

Note   If you are using Control Panel Classic View, double-click Folder Options, and then continue with step 4.

1. Click Folder Options.
2. On the View tab, under Advanced settings, under Files and Folders, under Hidden files and folders, select Show hidden files and folders.
• Microsoft Windows XP
  1. Click the Start button, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Click Folder Options.

1. Click the View tab, and then click the Show hidden files and folders option.

Your configuration may not include all of the following files. Some files are created only when you customize Outlook features.

Personal Folders file (.pst)

Personal Folders files (.pst) contain your e-mail messages, calendars, contacts, tasks, and notes. You must use Outlook to work with the items in a .pst file.

When you archive Outlook information, items are saved in a .pst files.

Note   Microsoft Exchange Server accounts store your information on the mail server. For Cached Exchange Mode or to work offline, copies of your items are saved in an Offline Folders file (.ost). See the Offline Folders file (.ost) section for more information. Also, some organizations allow you to export or archive your items to a .pst file.

Windows Vista drive:\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Microsoft Windows XP or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Offline Folders file (.ost)

The .ost file is synchronized with the items on the server running Microsoft Exchange. Because your data remains on the Exchange server, you can recreate this .ost file on your new computer without having to back up the .ost file.

Windows Vista drive:\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Personal Address Book (.pab)

Windows Vista drive:\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Note   Personal Address Books (.pab) are no longer supported by Office Outlook 2007. When you upgrade to Office Outlook 2007, you are prompted to import any .pab file into Contacts. If you choose not to import the .pab file, you can import it later by using the Import and Export command on the File menu.

Offline Address Book (.oab)

The Office Address Book (.oab) is used by Microsoft Exchange Server accounts. The Offline Address Book contains the properties of a user, such as e-mail addresses, that Outlook requires in order to send an e-mail message and display information about the user. By using the Offline Address Book, Outlook does not have to connect to Exchange in order to resolve names or open the records for each user. This reduces network traffic and improves performance.

You do not need to back up or restore this file. This is file is created and updated by Outlook.

Windows Vista drive:\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Command bar and menu customizations (.dat)

Windows Vista drive:\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook\outcmd.dat

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\outcmd.dat

Navigation Pane settings (.xml)

Windows Vista drive:\user\AppData\Roaming\Outlook\profile name.xml

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\profile name.xml

This file includes Shortcuts, Calendar, and Contact links.

Registered Microsoft Exchange extensions (.dat)

Windows Vista drive:\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Outlook Contacts AutoComplete (.nk2)

AutoComplete is a feature which displays suggestions for names and e-mail addresses as you begin to type them. These suggestions are possible matches from a list of names and e-mail addresses that you have typed before, known as the AutoComplete name list.

Windows Vista drive:\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Rules (.rwz)

Windows Vista drive:\<user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Note   If you upgraded to Office Outlook 2007 from a version of Outlook earlier than Microsoft Outlook 2002, you might have an .rwz file on your computer’s hard disk drive. The .rwz file is no longer needed, and the information about rules is now kept on the server running Microsoft Exchange, and in the Personal Folders file (.pst) (Personal Folders file (.pst): Data file that stores your messages and other items on your computer. You can assign a .pst file to be the default delivery location for e-mail messages. You can use a .pst to organize and back up items for safekeeping.) for POP3 (POP3: A common protocol that is used to retrieve e-mail messages from an Internet e-mail server.) and IMAP (IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol): Unlike Internet e-mail protocols such as POP3, IMAP creates folders on a server to store/organize messages for retrieval by other computers. You can read message headers only and select which messages to download.) e-mail accounts. So you can delete the file.

If you use the Rules Import and Export feature, the default location for .rwz files is drive:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents.

Print styles (Outlprnt with no extension)

Windows Vista drive:\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Signatures (.rtf, .txt, .htm)

Windows Vista drive:\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Signatures

Stationery (.htm)

Windows Vista drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery

Custom forms

Windows Vista drive:\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Forms

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Forms

Dictionary (.dic)

Windows Vista drive:\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\UProof

Templates (.oft)

Windows Vista drive:\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates

Send/Receive settings (.srs)

Windows Vista drive:\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Message (.msg, .htm, .rtf)

Windows Vista drive:\user\Documents

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 drive:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents

Source: http://chris123nt.com/2009/01/18/sqm-client-causing-crashing-in-windows-7

Many users have started experiencing random crashing of explorer and msiexec.exe when trying to start Windows Update or install anything that uses an MSI based installer.  This issue is bad enough that some people have even formatted because of it, only to have it come back again.

Rafael has discovered that the fault lies with the SQM Client which is part of the Customer Experience Improvement Program.  It seems that ANY process that calls WinSqmStartSession in ntdll.dll will start crashing when MachineThrottling is enabled in the registry, which seems to happen as a result of CEIP running.

Use the following to fix the issue.

1. Open a Command Prompt as Administrator
2. Type reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows\DisabledSessions /va /f and press enter.
3. That’s it, no further action is necessary

Source: http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/r21766633-Windows-7-Windows-Installer-has-stopped-working 

I’ve been banging my head against the wall for a day or so because of this.
Apparently there’s a bug in Microsoft’s Customer Experience Improvement Program that’s causing msiexec to crash.
It can be fixed by turning off Customer Experience Improvement Program or by editing the registry.
Turning off CEIP:
»chris123nt.com/2009/01/18/sqm-cl···ndows-7/
regedit:
navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows\DisabledSessions
rename MachineThrottling to _MachineThrottling
»social.technet.microsoft.com/For···/#page:3