Frequently Asked Questions

Q.   What is P.I. Protector?

A.   P.I. Protector is a software program that provides an innovative approach to Internet privacy and email portability using the flash drive. P.I. Protector protects a Windows 2000 or Windows XP user's privacy and their sensitive P.I. Protector information by diverting all tracking of a user's Internet and Outlook Express or Outlook email activities to a Flash drive, thereby prohibiting the storage of any P.I. Protector information on the user's hard drive, and offering the added convenience of "Internet Portability." It also provides portable Outlook Express and Outlook email and a profile-based file synchronization feature.

Q.   Where can I purchase P.I. Protector?

A.   You can purchase P.I. Protector direct from imagine LAN Inc., simply click here and select either software download or CD delivery.

Q.   What kind of system can I use P.I. Protector on?

A.   You can use P.I. Protector on systems with Windows 2000 or Windows XP operating systems, however the versions of Internet Explorer and Outlook Express installed on the system must be version 5.5 or higher. For Outlook, the versions must be Outlook 2000 (Corporate/Workgroup mode), Outlook 2002, or Outlook 2003.

Q.   What is the smallest size Portable Storage Device I can use?

A.   The P.I. Protector program takes up less than 3 MB. More space is required depending on how much storage you need for your Outlook, Outlook Express, Internet Explorer and/or File Sync data on the Portable Storage Device. We recommend at least 16 MB of free space on the device.

License

Q.   How many Portable Storage Devices can I install P.I. Protector Software to?

A.   P.I. Protector is licensed for use on 1 Portable Storage Device at a time.

Installation

Q.   How do I install P.I. Protector?

A.   First install the Portable Storage Device per the manufactures instructions, and then run install.exe from the install media or unzipped install directory. Select the portable storage device's drive letter as the installation location. P.I. Protector should only be installed to the portable device (flash drive, iPod, etc.) not to the PC's hard drive.

Q.   I purchased a larger Portable Storage Device how do I move P.I. Protector to my new device?

A.   You must reinstall the P.I. Protector software from the original source, downloaded file or CD, do not copy any files from the PIP installation directory on the original device to the new device. You may copy the My Settings folder and My Email folder from the original device to the new device, or you may re-export from your PC hard drive.

Q.   What kind of Portable Storage Devices can I install P.I. Protector to?

A.   P.I. Protector will work from any storage device, firewire, USB 1.1, USB 2.0,PCMCIA Card, USB flash drive, Flash Drive based MP3 Player, iPod, Mini Hard Drive, or flash memory card.

Q.   How do I upgrade P.I. Protector to the newest version?

A.   You can install your upgrade right over your existing version. P.I. Protector will replace it's files that need updating leaving your data in tact.

Q.   If the system that I originally used to install P.I. Protector on my Portable Storage Device is XP, can I only use P.I. Protector on XP systems?

A.   No, it does not matter what operating system was on the system you used to install P.I. Protector to your Portable Storage Device, you may still use P.I. Protector on any Windows XP or 2000 system that supports your Portable Storage Device.

Q.   How do I transfer the contents of my Portable Storage Device to a new one?

A.   Install P.I. Protector to your new device. Then copy all of the files from your existing device to the new device, except for the PIP directory. If you use file sync you will want to copy the two .xml files from the PIP directory on the old device to the PIP directory on the new device.

Q.   What do I do if I try to install P.I. Protector and get a write protect error?

A.   Check to make sure the write protect switch is turned off on your Portable Storage Device.

Q.   If I have more than one Portable Storage device how do I specify which device I want P.I. Protector to install to?

A.   You can select the drive letter of the target device from the browse window during the install process.

Q.   How can I remove P.I. Protector from my Portable Storage Device?

A.   You can simply delete it or reformat the Portable Storage Device.

Operations

Q.   How do I check the version number of P.I. Protector?

A.   Click Help and select Help About, the next screen will tell you your version number and serial number.

Q.   I am getting a Windows Delayed Write Failed Error for \My Settings\History\History.IE5\index.dat, what causes this?

A.    This error occurs when you remove the Portable Storage Device before P.I. Protector is finished writing information to the key.

Q.   I mistakenly removed the Portable Storage Device before P.I. Protector finished processing, what do I do now.

A.    Immediately plug the Portable Storage Device back in and start P.I. Protector, start any applications (IE, OE, or File Sync) that were open when you removed the Portable Storage Device. You may have to rerun any transactions that were in progress when you removed the Portable Storage Device. Close P.I. Protector properly, then you may safely remove the device. Follow this process immediately after experiencing an improper shutdown. Do not use P.I. Protector on another computer until you follow the steps above!

If you follow the steps above but your original email or browser settings have not been restored, you can use System Restore on XP or ConfigSafe on XP/2000 (if you have it installed) to restore your Registry settings.

Outlook/Outlook Express/Internet Explorer

Q.   When I click the email icon I get a message that says there is no private email identity to activate, what does this mean?

A.    This means that you have not set up an email identity on the Portable Storage Device yet, select yes and P.I. Protector will take you to the screen to set up you email on the Portable Storage Device, you will only see this screen until you set up an email identity on the Portable Storage Device.

Q.   When I go to the Email Settings screen there are several identities or profiles to choose from, which one should I pick?

A.   You should choose the one that you most commonly use and want to make portable.

Q.   How many identities or profiles can I copy to the Portable Storage Device?

A.   You can only have 1 identity and 1 profile at a time on the Portable Storage Device.

Q.   When I export email folders from my local system to my portable storage device some of the non-exported folders display the number of read/unread messages when using portable email. Why is this?

A.   This is a known anomaly. The folders self-adjust to show 0 messages when they are clicked.

Q.   I have trouble receiving email at internet cafes when I have my Hotmail account set to the default mail account.

A.   This is a known anomaly. Change the default mail account to a non-hotmail account such as POP.

Q.   On some systems my portable Outlook Express does not work even though the system has Outlook Express installed

A.   This is a known anomaly. The installed Outlook Express application must have at least one local identity created to use portable Outlook Express on that system.

Q.   On some systems I get a "MAPI FAILURE" error message when I try to export my Outlook profile. Why does this happen?

A.   The MAPI error is likely to occur when exporting from a system that has Microsoft's Business Contact Manager installed. Uninstalling BCM should resolve the problem.

Q.   How can I export my Outlook Rules and Alerts to use with P.I. Protector's portable Outlook?

A.   P.I. Protector does not currently support the transfer of Outlook Rules and Alerts when it exports email.  The following existing Outlook feature can be used to transfer Rules and Alerts to your portable Outlook profile:

From your local Outlook installation, choose Tools | Rules Wizard, and then click Options.

In the Options dialog box, click Export Rules, and choose a file location.

Reverse the process to import your saved rules by starting your portable Outlook profile from P.I. Protector and import the rules file (.rwz) that your previously exported. Always check all the imported rules to make sure they're still active. Sometimes they're deactivated -- especially move or copy to folder rules -- because Outlook can't be sure that the destination folder is the same as in your original rule.

Q.   Once I have exported email to my portable storage device, how do I make a backup copy of my message store and address book?

A.   Copy the My Email folder on the portable storage device to a location on your hard drive or other backup media.

Q.   Why doesn't my exported Outlook profile include an OST file?

A.   The use of OST files is disabled by default in P.I. Protector because the format of OST files has changed between the major releases of Outlook. For example the format of an OST file used by Outlook 2003 is unreadable by Outlook 2000 or Outlook XP. Using an OST file having a format other than that expected by the local Outlook installation can cause Outlook to fail to run. In addition, OST files can utilize large amounts of disk space, which may be greater than the capacity of your flash drive.

If you are only going to be using P.I. Protector with a specific release of Outlook it is possible to enable the use of OST files within P.I. Protector. To enable the use of OST files with P.I. Protector the line:

DisableOST=0

can be added to the ilipi.ini file in the P.I. Protector directory. P.I. Protector disables the use of OST files during the initial export of the profile, in addition to verifying it is disabled when P.I. Protector exits. If you wish to re-disable the use of OST files it is necessary to remove the DisableOST line from the ilipi.ini file and then run portable outlook on a system which supports the format of the OST file currently on your portable device. Upon exit from P.I. Protector OST support will be disabled.

If you enable OST usage you must first insure that you have sufficient capacity on your flash drive for the OST to synchronize with your Exchange mailbox.

Q.   What is the difference in starting Internet Explorer from my system and starting it from P.I. Protector?

A.   If you start Internet Explorer from your system you will not be in private browsing mode, for private browsing you must first start Internet Explorer from the P.I. Protector GUI. After that, you may start additional IE windows from your desktop. IE will remain in Private Browsing mode until you close the P.I. Protector application.

File Sync

Q.   When I browse for a folder from the File Sync Profile Editor and expand the MY DOCUMENTS entry why doesn't it show me all the folders and files I expect to see?

A.   If you have activated Private Browsing by running Internet Explorer from the P.I. Protector interface and have a MY DOCUMENTS folder on your portable storage device, the Profile Editor browse screen will display the MY DOCUMENTS folder on your portable storage device instead of your MY DOCUMENTS folder on your hard drive. To avoid this problem, start P.I. Protector and edit your file sync profile before you activate Private Browsing.

Security

Q.   How do I install to the Private Zone on a Portable Storage device?

A.   Run the software that came with your device to activate the Private Zone. Now run the install and install into the now accessible private zone. You will need to enter the private zone each time you wish to use P.I. Protector

Q.   Why doesn't Auto Pop work when I am installed to the Private Zone on a Portable Storage Device?

A.   Auto Pop detects P.I. Protector when the device is first located by the operating system. Since the Private Zone is not available when the device is first located, Auto Pop can not access and start the P.I. Protector program.