File in use

Make sure that you have the necessary user rights to run the desired applications. Are you a member of the local administrators or power users group? If you're leaving the PC for some time, you may be disconnecting from the Win2K server by default and would need to set the workstation as a workstation and not a server. See these (no spaces in the 2 URLS):

http://www.wown.info/j_helmig/autodscn.htm

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q128167
Server Service Configuration and Tuning (Q128167)

Second, delete all temp files by running Disk Cleanup or search for all files "~*.*" and delete. Run Scandisk and then Defragment.

By opening and closing your programs over and over in the same session, you are fragmenting your hard drive. Why not just leave the program(s) open and close documents, minimize Outlook, and go about your business? If you are leaving the workstation for extended periods of time, you should just shut down anyway so that your cache is cleaned out and refreshed. Since you have WinXP Pro, your system should be a fairly new one, meaning that booting the system should be rather quick and not slow, so having the PC on always would not be necessary or booting the pc would not be a hardship.

If you need to leave the PC on, but are worried about someone accessing your programs, closing them out when you're not there won't help. You would, again, need to shut down the PC or lock it, log off, or use a screen saver with a password. Still, when leaving the pc on, you're better off not closing and opening the same programs over and over--fragmentation again.

Hope this helps.