i have outlook 2003 on desktop and laptop and go back and forth as per the original thread. don't have too many problems, no rules problems so far. only problem has been with the bcm add-on, which hasn't synched up too well. when i talked with microsoft about synching early on, they said it wasn't really meant for it without exchange server. but it works good enough, and the functionality of outlook makes it worth it. before leaving for a trip, i also get my isp's web mail cleaned up, so that should i have any outlook problems, i can always use that. technology sure isn't perfect.