Thank you Peaksnplains for your contributions and research. I have followed your instructions and I have been testing the system since you posted your message. (which was a week ago) I am happy to say that it seems to be working fine.
I do close Outlook before I start Smartware, as I do with all files. Even if I backup twice per day, it seems to be backing up the pst file without the 24 hours delay.
Essential in the process to my mind is the un-installing of the Smartware after which then to update Flash Player and Java. I ran a registry clean up program just for the sake of cleaning up all the bits and pieces.
For now, I recommend this solution.
My laptop is running under Windows XP SP3.
I hope that it will work for everybody.
Thanks again Peaksnplains, and all others who have been working hard to get this annoying problem out of the way.
