All About UH Profiles

What is a user profile?

The profile is a hierarchical database that contains information about and settings for your domain account. The profile is stored on a server and is copied to the local computer when you log on, records any changes you make to it, and is copied back to the server when you log off. The profile keeps track of mapped network drives, printers, your Windows desktop settings (and any files you have stored on your desktop), e-mail settings for Outlook and Outlook Express, Internet Explorer settings, and a variety of other things that may be transparent to you, until the profile is corrupted.

Causes for corruption

Because the profiles contain so much information in one file, that file can tend to get pretty large. When there is a lot of network traffic, it can take quite a while to log on or log off, and sometimes the computer will tell you that a slow network connection was detected and ask you if you'd like to use the "locally stored" profile. That profile is saved there from the last time you logged on to that particular computer (the profile is copied back to the server when you log off, but it is not deleted from the local computer), and it's best not to use that if you can wait for the profile to download.

Most of the time, the profile gets corrupted when it is unable to copy back to the server when you log off (because of network traffic. Other reasons could be that you tried to log off when the server was not running (which is rare) and that you've logged in at two computers at the same time. That causes unpredictable results.

Another common problem is that you may be over your quota on COUGARNET.UH.EDU. All profiles are stored along with the H: drive on COUGARNET.UH.EDU and all have a 200MB quota (I think "limit" would be the appropriate term here -- you don't have to use all 200MB, but Microsoft calls it a "quota" anyway). To see how much space you're using, open "My Computer" and double-click on your H: drive. In that window, press Control-A to select all files and folders (if you get a message about hidden files, click yes), then click on "File" in the menu bar and click on "Properties." It will start adding up the size of your files, and may take a couple minutes. You'll see two numbers there. One says "Size," the other says "Size on disk." If either of these is over 200MB (million bytes) then you're over your quota and will not be able to save anything to the H: drive. This means that your profile cannot be saved back to the server when you log off, and any changes you make to it will not be recorded.

Keeping it small

There are two good reasons to try to keep your profile small. One is that it'll be quicker logging in and out, and the other is that it's less likely to get corrupted. Here are some ways to make keep the size to a minimum:

If you're using Outlook or Outlook Express, delete any attachments you don't need anymore, and empty your trash regularly. Eudora's information and attachments aren't stored with the profile, so if you don't have any particular reason for using Outlook or Outlook Express, it's better to use Eudora.

Don't store files or folders on your desktop. Everything on your desktop is copied across the network when you log on or off. If there's a file or folder you use a lot, create a shortcut on the desktop. Find the file or folder you want to create a shortcut for, right-click on it, and select "Create Shortcut." It will make a new file called "Shortcut to" whatever the name of the file or folder is that you're creating the shortcut for. Copy that shortcut to the desktop.

Internet Explorer saves copies of every page you visit with your profile. This includes all images and any other thing you view with IE. You can change this setting so it will take up less space. In Internet Explorer, click on Tools -> Internet Options. The middle pane of that window says "Temporary Internet Files." Click on the button there that says "Settings." The "Settings" window shows the amount of space used for temporary internet files. Keep that between 5 and 10MB. Click "OK" to close that window. Back in the "Internet Options" window, the bottom pane says "History" and lists the number of days that pages are stored. Keep that around 5 days (I think 20 is the default.) Click OK to exit that.

Other problems

If you get a message saying that a slow network connection was detected and it asks if you'd like to use your locally stored profile when you're logging on, click "No" to make it download your roaming profile. In some cases you may not have that option, in which case it will force you to use your locally stored profile, but keep in mind any changes you make (adding printers, mapping network drives, etc.) may not be recorded for the next time you log in.

If Eudora is telling you it cannot open the log file for writing, and that the file may be read-only, then you may be over your quota. Use the instructions above to check.

If Eudora tells you that your table of contents is corrupted, tell it to create a new one. I'm not sure what causes it to become corrupted, but making a new one usually fixes it.

If Eudora tells you that there is another instance of Eudora running, tell it to "Terminate Remote Instance." When Eudora starts up, it creates a file called owner.lok. When that file is present, it won't let anyone else start Eudora with your settings (it cannot allow two people to write to your mailbox files.) This may happen because someone else is logged in with your profile (which you shouldn't let people do, and if that is the case, then they're trying to read your mail, and you definitely shouldn't let them do that) or, more commonly, because Eudora fails to exit properly and delete the owner.lok file.

Send questions to PsychService@UH.EDU