Just open the app, click on your Profile section on the bottom right. From there, click the three lines at the top right, then Settings and Privacy, followed by Account. At the bottom there is Deactivateordelete account. A few onscreen messages will allow you to download your TikTok data and finally confirm your choice.
After deactivating or deleting an account, your profile won’t show up and people can’t see your videos. Some DMs may not delete entirely, and users have reported still being able to find accounts and videos through search services outside of TikTok.
Even though your account is now deactivated, your data is not fully deleted for 30 days, and logging in again might reactivate the account. If you really want to leave, delete the app from your phone and stay away for at least 30 days.
If you want to download your data before nuking your profile, go into your profile and tap the three-line hamburger menu. Go into Settings and privacy, then Account, then Download your data (it’s right above the delete option.) From there you can choose what you want and then hit Request Data. Once your data is ready, it will be available for you to download for four days, so snap it up quick.
X
Since Elon Musk bought Twitter, gutted its workforce, and renamed the site to X, users have made a grand exodus to other social sites. Despite the steep drop in user numbers, millions remain on the platform as it has become a gleeful stomping ground for Musk and his sexy and antisemetic AI bots. (Yes, really.)
If X no longer marks the spot, you can deactivate your account in a matter of clicks.
From the Home page on the desktop, tap into the More option. On mobile, tap your profile picture. Then go to Settings and Privacy. There you’ll find the option to Deactivate your account. Just above that, there is a Download an archive of your data option, which will let you save a copy of all your tweets (Posts? X’s?) before you deactivate. Both downloading and deactivation will require your password and a final confirmation to do the deed. If you want to salt the Earth after your emigration, you can also delete all your old Tweets using third party apps like TweetDelete. (Some of these services are free, some offer free and paid tiers.)
Your data isn’t actually deleted for at least another 30 days once you deactivated your account. This window gives you the opportunity to revive your account within that period if you choose. Once the reactivation period is up, X will begin deleting your account. According to the company’s current Privacy Policy, this could take a few weeks and certain information is still preserved even after your deletion. The company says it will retain communications like emails with the company, cookies it collects, and information shared by ads or business partners for anywhere between 12 and 18 months.
Bluesky
Maybe the professional posters on Bluesky just aren’t funny enough for you. Maybe it doesn’t quite hit the same when you aren’t inundated by crypto bros and chatbots all day.
If you want to delete your Bluesky account there are a couple quick steps. In a desktop browser, look for Settings in the sidebar to the left of your feed. On mobile, from the home page, go to the hamburger menu at the top left and tap that. Go to Settings. Go to Account. There, in bright red text, will be options for Deactivate account and Delete account.
The video game disc is dead, and Sony’s been planning to kill it for some time, according to a report out of Austria. The man who leads Sony’s discmaking operations, Sony DADC president Dietmar Tanzer, told ORF Salzburg that the company’s Thalgau plant produces 600,000 discs every day, half of which are for PlayStation. But since it’ll only be making 10 percent of that volume in 2028, it’s planning to retrain all 300 employees to work on optical microlenses instead.
Thalgau isn’t just one of Sony’s disc plants. It’s where the disc-making division is headquartered, and appears to be its only remaining wholly owned disc manufacturing facility. Sony made discs in the United States for decades, originally in Terre Haute, Indiana and later in New Jersey, but it closed the latter plant in 2011 and moved all manufacturing from Indiana to Thalgau in 2022. Today, the Indiana facility markets itself to automakers who need help packaging and assembling headlights and the like instead.
This transition didn’t happen overnight. A behind-the-scenes video from December 2024 shows that the Thalgau plant was already working on microlenses as of then:
Those lenses, too, are created using discs:
ORF Salzburg writes that Sony has now invested €30 million to manufacture these microlenses, and that mass production may begin “as early as next year.”
Microlenses are theoretically used in all kinds of emerging applications where you might want to bend light, including headsets, but it appears that Sony may cater to automakers here, too. The head of Sony’s micro optics division gave ORF Salzburg the example of “a car turn signal that is projected onto asphalt.”
All of this is to say: Sony didn’t make this decision in a hurry, and it isn’t likely to change its mind despite the predictable backlash. It’s been winding down disc manufacturing for decades, and it’s ripping off one last band-aid with PlayStation.
According to Sony DADC’s website, it has produced over 26.4 billion discs to date — the vast majority, 23 billion of them, were made between 1983 and 2022 in Terre Haute, Indiana.
The video game disc is dead, and Sony’s been planning to kill it for some time, according to a report out of Austria. The man who leads Sony’s discmaking operations, Sony DADC president Dietmar Tanzer, told ORF Salzburg that the company’s Thalgau plant produces 600,000 discs every day, half of which are for PlayStation. But since it’ll only be making 10 percent of that volume in 2028, it’s planning to retrain all 300 employees to work on optical microlenses instead.
Thalgau isn’t just one of Sony’s disc plants. It’s where the disc-making division is headquartered, and appears to be its only remaining wholly owned disc manufacturing facility. Sony made discs in the United States for decades, originally in Terre Haute, Indiana and later in New Jersey, but it closed the latter plant in 2011 and moved all manufacturing from Indiana to Thalgau in 2022. Today, the Indiana facility markets itself to automakers who need help packaging and assembling headlights and the like instead.
This transition didn’t happen overnight. A behind-the-scenes video from December 2024 shows that the Thalgau plant was already working on microlenses as of then:
Those lenses, too, are created using discs:
ORF Salzburg writes that Sony has now invested €30 million to manufacture these microlenses, and that mass production may begin “as early as next year.”
Microlenses are theoretically used in all kinds of emerging applications where you might want to bend light, including headsets, but it appears that Sony may cater to automakers here, too. The head of Sony’s micro optics division gave ORF Salzburg the example of “a car turn signal that is projected onto asphalt.”
All of this is to say: Sony didn’t make this decision in a hurry, and it isn’t likely to change its mind despite the predictable backlash. It’s been winding down disc manufacturing for decades, and it’s ripping off one last band-aid with PlayStation.
According to Sony DADC’s website, it has produced over 26.4 billion discs to date — the vast majority, 23 billion of them, were made between 1983 and 2022 in Terre Haute, Indiana.
#Sonys #PlayStation #disc #factory #repurposedGaming,News,PlayStation">Sony’s PlayStation disc factory is already being repurposed
The video game disc is dead, and Sony’s been planning to kill it for some time, according to a report out of Austria. The man who leads Sony’s discmaking operations, Sony DADC president Dietmar Tanzer, told ORF Salzburg that the company’s Thalgau plant produces 600,000 discs every day, half of which are for PlayStation. But since it’ll only be making 10 percent of that volume in 2028, it’s planning to retrain all 300 employees to work on optical microlenses instead.
Thalgau isn’t just one of Sony’s disc plants. It’s where the disc-making division is headquartered, and appears to be its only remaining wholly owned disc manufacturing facility. Sony made discs in the United States for decades, originally in Terre Haute, Indiana and later in New Jersey, but it closed the latter plant in 2011 and moved all manufacturing from Indiana to Thalgau in 2022. Today, the Indiana facility markets itself to automakers who need help packaging and assembling headlights and the like instead.
This transition didn’t happen overnight. A behind-the-scenes video from December 2024 shows that the Thalgau plant was already working on microlenses as of then:
Those lenses, too, are created using discs:
ORF Salzburg writes that Sony has now invested €30 million to manufacture these microlenses, and that mass production may begin “as early as next year.”
Microlenses are theoretically used in all kinds of emerging applications where you might want to bend light, including headsets, but it appears that Sony may cater to automakers here, too. The head of Sony’s micro optics division gave ORF Salzburg the example of “a car turn signal that is projected onto asphalt.”
All of this is to say: Sony didn’t make this decision in a hurry, and it isn’t likely to change its mind despite the predictable backlash. It’s been winding down disc manufacturing for decades, and it’s ripping off one last band-aid with PlayStation.
According to Sony DADC’s website, it has produced over 26.4 billion discs to date — the vast majority, 23 billion of them, were made between 1983 and 2022 in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Kouloglou told TechCrunch in a phone call that the deliberate compromise of his phone was “reckless.” One serving European lawmaker described the hacking of Kouloglou’s phone as a “direct attack on the rule of law,” and called on the European Commission to take concrete action by imposing strict limits on the use of spyware across the 27 member-state bloc.
While spyware attacks on lawmakers are rare, the timing and targeting of a committee investigator by way of the very spyware under his investigation suggests an intense focus on the committee’s inner workings ahead of a widely anticipated report detailing its findings. The hacks open fresh questions about how governments use spyware ostensibly needed for identifying serious crime, but then caught spying on the communications of journalists, lawmakers, and critics.
Citizen Lab’s researchers did not attribute the phone hacking to a specific country, but said that the government customer used the same Pegasus-loaded email address that was used in a previous campaign that hacked into the phones of journalists across Europe. The customer’s identity is not known, but the reuse of the same attacking email address implies that the customer had NSO Group’s authorization to use its Pegasus spyware to snoop on phones across multiple countries in Europe.
A spokesperson for the European Commission did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. NSO Group also did not respond to a request for comment about the Citizen Lab report prior to publication.
In its report out Friday, Citizen Lab said Kouloglou was hacked in October 2022 and at least twice during March 2023 using an exploit that compromised a security vulnerability in Apple’s iPhone software. This vulnerability had been patched but the fix was not yet installed on Kouloglou’s phone. The exploit was a “zero-click” bug, meaning the spyware broke in and stole his data without needing any interaction on his part.
The bug abused a previously discovered flaw in Apple’s smart home software used in iPhones. It allowed the spyware to grab private data from Kouloglou’s phone without his knowledge, such as his text messages and other correspondence, location data, and photos.
The timing of the October 2022 hack coincides with intense discussions over email and text message throughout October and November 2022, ahead of the delivery of a first draft describing spyware abuses focusing in Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Spain.
The hack also lines up at the exact time that Kouloglou was in the hospital at the time for a pre-scheduled surgery, which may have allowed the spyware operators to listen in to ambient audio discussing his healthcare or other conversations he had with visitors at the time.
Months later on March 6 and 7, Citizen Lab said Kouloglou’s phone was hacked again by the same Pegasus operator while Kouloglou traveled from Athens to Brussels, during a period of committee hearings and months prior to the committee finalizing and adopting their written draft report.
In a call, Kouloglou told TechCrunch that he didn’t know why he was specifically targeted but that he believes it was due to his work on the European Parliament’s committee investigating Pegasus abuses.
He described anger when he learned that his phone had been hacked.
“You realize that all of your personal data [was taken] — not all the professional exchanges or messages with ministers — but also the very private things, like the happy moments and the sad moments,” he told TechCrunch.
Kouloglou said he plans to sue NSO Group, the Israeli-headquartered spyware maker. NSO remains largely banned from use in the United States following a Biden-era executive order that outlawed the government’s use of spyware that could violate people’s human rights.
Kouloglou told TechCrunch in a phone call that the deliberate compromise of his phone was “reckless.” One serving European lawmaker described the hacking of Kouloglou’s phone as a “direct attack on the rule of law,” and called on the European Commission to take concrete action by imposing strict limits on the use of spyware across the 27 member-state bloc.
While spyware attacks on lawmakers are rare, the timing and targeting of a committee investigator by way of the very spyware under his investigation suggests an intense focus on the committee’s inner workings ahead of a widely anticipated report detailing its findings. The hacks open fresh questions about how governments use spyware ostensibly needed for identifying serious crime, but then caught spying on the communications of journalists, lawmakers, and critics.
Citizen Lab’s researchers did not attribute the phone hacking to a specific country, but said that the government customer used the same Pegasus-loaded email address that was used in a previous campaign that hacked into the phones of journalists across Europe. The customer’s identity is not known, but the reuse of the same attacking email address implies that the customer had NSO Group’s authorization to use its Pegasus spyware to snoop on phones across multiple countries in Europe.
A spokesperson for the European Commission did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. NSO Group also did not respond to a request for comment about the Citizen Lab report prior to publication.
In its report out Friday, Citizen Lab said Kouloglou was hacked in October 2022 and at least twice during March 2023 using an exploit that compromised a security vulnerability in Apple’s iPhone software. This vulnerability had been patched but the fix was not yet installed on Kouloglou’s phone. The exploit was a “zero-click” bug, meaning the spyware broke in and stole his data without needing any interaction on his part.
The bug abused a previously discovered flaw in Apple’s smart home software used in iPhones. It allowed the spyware to grab private data from Kouloglou’s phone without his knowledge, such as his text messages and other correspondence, location data, and photos.
The timing of the October 2022 hack coincides with intense discussions over email and text message throughout October and November 2022, ahead of the delivery of a first draft describing spyware abuses focusing in Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Spain.
The hack also lines up at the exact time that Kouloglou was in the hospital at the time for a pre-scheduled surgery, which may have allowed the spyware operators to listen in to ambient audio discussing his healthcare or other conversations he had with visitors at the time.
Months later on March 6 and 7, Citizen Lab said Kouloglou’s phone was hacked again by the same Pegasus operator while Kouloglou traveled from Athens to Brussels, during a period of committee hearings and months prior to the committee finalizing and adopting their written draft report.
In a call, Kouloglou told TechCrunch that he didn’t know why he was specifically targeted but that he believes it was due to his work on the European Parliament’s committee investigating Pegasus abuses.
He described anger when he learned that his phone had been hacked.
“You realize that all of your personal data [was taken] — not all the professional exchanges or messages with ministers — but also the very private things, like the happy moments and the sad moments,” he told TechCrunch.
Kouloglou said he plans to sue NSO Group, the Israeli-headquartered spyware maker. NSO remains largely banned from use in the United States following a Biden-era executive order that outlawed the government’s use of spyware that could violate people’s human rights.
Kouloglou said he was going public with his story “for democracy, human rights, and the fight against corruption.”
“Corruption concerns everybody,” he said.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
#Politician #investigated #spyware #abuses #phone #hacked #Pegasus #spyware #TechCrunchSpyware,Pegasus,cybersecurity,NSO Group">Politician who investigated spyware abuses had his phone hacked with Pegasus spyware | TechCrunch
Security researchers have confirmed that a European politician had his phone hacked with the Pegasus spyware while serving on an investigatory committee probing abuses of the notorious surveillance tool. This has reigniting fresh controversy over governments abusing spyware to collect information about their critics.
The researchers at the University of Toronto’s digital rights unit The Citizen Lab say the confirmed phone hacking of Greek journalist and former politician Stelios Kouloglou during 2022 and 2023 marks the first time that a member of the European Parliament’s PEGA committee, tasked with investigating phone spyware attacks by European governments, has been publicly identified as a victim of spyware.
Kouloglou told TechCrunch in a phone call that the deliberate compromise of his phone was “reckless.” One serving European lawmaker described the hacking of Kouloglou’s phone as a “direct attack on the rule of law,” and called on the European Commission to take concrete action by imposing strict limits on the use of spyware across the 27 member-state bloc.
While spyware attacks on lawmakers are rare, the timing and targeting of a committee investigator by way of the very spyware under his investigation suggests an intense focus on the committee’s inner workings ahead of a widely anticipated report detailing its findings. The hacks open fresh questions about how governments use spyware ostensibly needed for identifying serious crime, but then caught spying on the communications of journalists, lawmakers, and critics.
Citizen Lab’s researchers did not attribute the phone hacking to a specific country, but said that the government customer used the same Pegasus-loaded email address that was used in a previous campaign that hacked into the phones of journalists across Europe. The customer’s identity is not known, but the reuse of the same attacking email address implies that the customer had NSO Group’s authorization to use its Pegasus spyware to snoop on phones across multiple countries in Europe.
A spokesperson for the European Commission did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. NSO Group also did not respond to a request for comment about the Citizen Lab report prior to publication.
In its report out Friday, Citizen Lab said Kouloglou was hacked in October 2022 and at least twice during March 2023 using an exploit that compromised a security vulnerability in Apple’s iPhone software. This vulnerability had been patched but the fix was not yet installed on Kouloglou’s phone. The exploit was a “zero-click” bug, meaning the spyware broke in and stole his data without needing any interaction on his part.
The bug abused a previously discovered flaw in Apple’s smart home software used in iPhones. It allowed the spyware to grab private data from Kouloglou’s phone without his knowledge, such as his text messages and other correspondence, location data, and photos.
The timing of the October 2022 hack coincides with intense discussions over email and text message throughout October and November 2022, ahead of the delivery of a first draft describing spyware abuses focusing in Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Spain.
The hack also lines up at the exact time that Kouloglou was in the hospital at the time for a pre-scheduled surgery, which may have allowed the spyware operators to listen in to ambient audio discussing his healthcare or other conversations he had with visitors at the time.
Months later on March 6 and 7, Citizen Lab said Kouloglou’s phone was hacked again by the same Pegasus operator while Kouloglou traveled from Athens to Brussels, during a period of committee hearings and months prior to the committee finalizing and adopting their written draft report.
In a call, Kouloglou told TechCrunch that he didn’t know why he was specifically targeted but that he believes it was due to his work on the European Parliament’s committee investigating Pegasus abuses.
He described anger when he learned that his phone had been hacked.
“You realize that all of your personal data [was taken] — not all the professional exchanges or messages with ministers — but also the very private things, like the happy moments and the sad moments,” he told TechCrunch.
Kouloglou said he plans to sue NSO Group, the Israeli-headquartered spyware maker. NSO remains largely banned from use in the United States following a Biden-era executive order that outlawed the government’s use of spyware that could violate people’s human rights.
Kouloglou said he was going public with his story “for democracy, human rights, and the fight against corruption.”
“Corruption concerns everybody,” he said.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
#Politician #investigated #spyware #abuses #phone #hacked #Pegasus #spyware #TechCrunchSpyware,Pegasus,cybersecurity,NSO Group
ScanPST. Since it ships with Outlook, it’s usually the first recommendation you’ll find. And to be fair, it does work in some situations. But a lot of times, it either simply refuses to repair the file, gets stuck midway through the process, or successfully repairs the mailbox only for important emails and folders to go missing afterward. That’s because the tool was made to fix minor errors, not to recover severely corrupted mailboxes. That’s why several third-party Outlook PST repair tools now exist that claim to mend Outlook for you. Before looking at these alternatives, though, it’s better to know why PST files become corrupted in the first place.
Why a PST File Gets Corrupted & Reasons
For the uninitiated, a PST file is essentially a database containing all your emails and important attachments. Whenever you ask POP3-configured Outlook for a particular document, it retrieves it from a local saved PST file, making it a fundamental component. Like any database, these files rely on their internal structure remaining intact. If that structure is damaged, Outlook cannot access your information, and there can be plenty of reasons for that.
Large PST files: Bigger Outlook data files are more likely to become corrupted, especially as they approach Microsoft’s recommended size limits.
Unexpected shutdowns: Power outages, system crashes, or force-closing Outlook while it’s saving data can damage the PST file.
Storage drive issues: Failing hard drives, bad sectors, or insufficient disk space can lead to file corruption.
Using network drives: Microsoft advises against storing PST files on network locations, as unstable connections can interrupt read/write operations.
Faulty add-ins or malware: Buggy Outlook add-ins, malware, or third-party utilities can also corrupt PST files over time.
Why ScanPST Fails to Restore PST Data?
The reasons are plenty, and that’s exactly why Microsoft bundles its own repair tool, ScanPST, with Outlook. In theory, it scans the internal structure and attempts to repair damaged indexes and references so Outlook can open the file again.
However, there is a problem. If ScanPST encounters mailbox items it can’t validate, it often removes them instead of rebuilding them.
How To Repair A Corrupt PST File Without ScanPST
Since we all would dearly love to get important files and attachments back, the first thing you should do is create a copy of the original PST file. Working directly on the only copy of your mailbox is risky because every repair attempt changes the database. So keep the original intact. Next, if you’re dealing with smaller PST files or working on managed office computers where software installation isn’t possible, an online PST repair service would be your best bet. One of the safer options is the Stellar Online PST Repair service. It works online, and Outlook itself doesn’t even need to be present on the system. It supports PST files from Outlook 2003 through Outlook 2024, including both ANSI and Unicode formats, and lets you preview mailbox folders and recovered item counts before downloading the repaired file.
Unlike ScanPST, the service’s main purpose is to repair and recover your files. And if your PST file is less than 500MB, you don’t even have to pay anything. The premium version increases that limit to 5GB. The only requirement is a stable connection, which shouldn’t be a problem in a corporate office.
Repair A Corrupt PST File Using Stellar Online PST Repair
Before we begin, it’s really important to back up your original PST file. No matter how great a tool is, Microsoft recommends keeping a copy before attempting any repair, as the recovery process modifies the mailbox structure. Once done:
Close Microsoft Outlook completely. Even if you’ve closed the Outlook window, it can continue running in the background, keeping the PST file locked.
Open Stellar Online PST Repair. Since the tool runs entirely in your browser, there’s nothing to install, and Outlook doesn’t even need to be present on your PC.
Upload your corrupt PST file. Select the mailbox you want to repair and upload it to the service.
Preview the recovered mailbox. Before downloading anything, browse through your recovered data. Check important folders like Inbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items, Archive, Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, and any custom folders you created.
Download the repaired PST file. Once you’re satisfied with the preview, download the repaired mailbox.
Open the repaired PST in Outlook. In Outlook, head to File → Open & Export → Open Outlook Data File, then select the repaired PST. Verify all information.
When to Use a Desktop PST Repair Tool Instead
As good as browser-based repair services are, they can only be used for quick fixes. Large mailboxes containing years’ worth of emails can take a long time to upload, and severe corruption is often beyond what an online service is designed to handle. In that case, the Stellar Repair for Outlook app makes much more sense. It has the same bells and whistles, like the ability to preview recoverable emails in detail, such as emails, attachments, contacts, calendars, and other important information, but processes everything locally, so your mailbox never leaves your computer.
It also doesn’t impose practical file-size limitations, supports encrypted and password-protected PST files, and allows recovered data to be saved not only as a new PST but also in formats like MSG, EML, HTML, PDF, and others. For businesses or IT administrators, the Technician edition can even export recovered mailboxes directly to Microsoft 365 or Exchange, making it easier to restore users without additional migration steps.
ScanPST vs Stellar Online PST Repair vs Desktop Recovery
Feature
ScanPST
Stellar Online PST Repair
Stellar Repair for Outlook (Desktop)
Installation required
No (Inbuilt)
No
Yes
Handles severe corruption
Limited
Moderate
Yes
Supports large PST files
Limited
Up to 5GB
Unlimited file size
Preview before recovery
No
Yes (Only folder structure)
Yes (Complete Mailbox data in details)
Recovery approach
Repairs the structure, may remove invalid items
Recovers mailbox
Recovers mailbox
Export options
None
PST
PST, MSG, EML, HTML, PDF, Microsoft 365, live Exchange
Processing location
Local
Cloud
Local
Conclusion
ScanPST remains a useful first step whenever Outlook reports a damaged PST file. It’s free, already installed alongside Outlook, and can often repair minor hiccups. However, it’s not the golden child. It fails to retain your precious files. If you don’t want that to happen, it makes sense to consider alternatives that focus on recovering mailbox data. An online repair service is often enough for smaller files and one-time repairs, while a dedicated desktop recovery tool offers more flexibility for larger or business-critical mailboxes.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Where is ScanPST.exe located?
The exact location depends on your Outlook version and installation method, but ScanPST is typically stored inside the Microsoft Office installation folder under Program Files.
Does ScanPST delete emails?
Yes. If ScanPST comes across mailbox items that it cannot validate during the repair process, those items may be removed from the repaired PST file.
Can ScanPST repair large PST files?
In theory, yes. But performance tends to decline as file sizes grow. Severe corruption or very large mailboxes often require more specialized recovery software.
How do I repair a PST file without losing data?
Always create a copy of the original PST before attempting repairs. If ScanPST doesn’t resolve the issue, using a recovery tool that rebuilds mailbox data rather than deleting damaged items is a safer approach.
Can I repair a PST file without installing software?
Absolutely. Browser-based repair services allow you to upload supported PST files, preview recoverable mailbox data, and download the repaired file without installing Outlook or additional software.
ScanPST. Since it ships with Outlook, it’s usually the first recommendation you’ll find. And to be fair, it does work in some situations. But a lot of times, it either simply refuses to repair the file, gets stuck midway through the process, or successfully repairs the mailbox only for important emails and folders to go missing afterward. That’s because the tool was made to fix minor errors, not to recover severely corrupted mailboxes. That’s why several third-party Outlook PST repair tools now exist that claim to mend Outlook for you. Before looking at these alternatives, though, it’s better to know why PST files become corrupted in the first place.
Why a PST File Gets Corrupted & Reasons
For the uninitiated, a PST file is essentially a database containing all your emails and important attachments. Whenever you ask POP3-configured Outlook for a particular document, it retrieves it from a local saved PST file, making it a fundamental component. Like any database, these files rely on their internal structure remaining intact. If that structure is damaged, Outlook cannot access your information, and there can be plenty of reasons for that.
Large PST files: Bigger Outlook data files are more likely to become corrupted, especially as they approach Microsoft’s recommended size limits.
Unexpected shutdowns: Power outages, system crashes, or force-closing Outlook while it’s saving data can damage the PST file.
Storage drive issues: Failing hard drives, bad sectors, or insufficient disk space can lead to file corruption.
Using network drives: Microsoft advises against storing PST files on network locations, as unstable connections can interrupt read/write operations.
Faulty add-ins or malware: Buggy Outlook add-ins, malware, or third-party utilities can also corrupt PST files over time.
Why ScanPST Fails to Restore PST Data?
The reasons are plenty, and that’s exactly why Microsoft bundles its own repair tool, ScanPST, with Outlook. In theory, it scans the internal structure and attempts to repair damaged indexes and references so Outlook can open the file again.
However, there is a problem. If ScanPST encounters mailbox items it can’t validate, it often removes them instead of rebuilding them.
How To Repair A Corrupt PST File Without ScanPST
Since we all would dearly love to get important files and attachments back, the first thing you should do is create a copy of the original PST file. Working directly on the only copy of your mailbox is risky because every repair attempt changes the database. So keep the original intact. Next, if you’re dealing with smaller PST files or working on managed office computers where software installation isn’t possible, an online PST repair service would be your best bet. One of the safer options is the Stellar Online PST Repair service. It works online, and Outlook itself doesn’t even need to be present on the system. It supports PST files from Outlook 2003 through Outlook 2024, including both ANSI and Unicode formats, and lets you preview mailbox folders and recovered item counts before downloading the repaired file.
Unlike ScanPST, the service’s main purpose is to repair and recover your files. And if your PST file is less than 500MB, you don’t even have to pay anything. The premium version increases that limit to 5GB. The only requirement is a stable connection, which shouldn’t be a problem in a corporate office.
Repair A Corrupt PST File Using Stellar Online PST Repair
Before we begin, it’s really important to back up your original PST file. No matter how great a tool is, Microsoft recommends keeping a copy before attempting any repair, as the recovery process modifies the mailbox structure. Once done:
Close Microsoft Outlook completely. Even if you’ve closed the Outlook window, it can continue running in the background, keeping the PST file locked.
Open Stellar Online PST Repair. Since the tool runs entirely in your browser, there’s nothing to install, and Outlook doesn’t even need to be present on your PC.
Upload your corrupt PST file. Select the mailbox you want to repair and upload it to the service.
Preview the recovered mailbox. Before downloading anything, browse through your recovered data. Check important folders like Inbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items, Archive, Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, and any custom folders you created.
Download the repaired PST file. Once you’re satisfied with the preview, download the repaired mailbox.
Open the repaired PST in Outlook. In Outlook, head to File → Open & Export → Open Outlook Data File, then select the repaired PST. Verify all information.
When to Use a Desktop PST Repair Tool Instead
As good as browser-based repair services are, they can only be used for quick fixes. Large mailboxes containing years’ worth of emails can take a long time to upload, and severe corruption is often beyond what an online service is designed to handle. In that case, the Stellar Repair for Outlook app makes much more sense. It has the same bells and whistles, like the ability to preview recoverable emails in detail, such as emails, attachments, contacts, calendars, and other important information, but processes everything locally, so your mailbox never leaves your computer.
It also doesn’t impose practical file-size limitations, supports encrypted and password-protected PST files, and allows recovered data to be saved not only as a new PST but also in formats like MSG, EML, HTML, PDF, and others. For businesses or IT administrators, the Technician edition can even export recovered mailboxes directly to Microsoft 365 or Exchange, making it easier to restore users without additional migration steps.
ScanPST vs Stellar Online PST Repair vs Desktop Recovery
Feature
ScanPST
Stellar Online PST Repair
Stellar Repair for Outlook (Desktop)
Installation required
No (Inbuilt)
No
Yes
Handles severe corruption
Limited
Moderate
Yes
Supports large PST files
Limited
Up to 5GB
Unlimited file size
Preview before recovery
No
Yes (Only folder structure)
Yes (Complete Mailbox data in details)
Recovery approach
Repairs the structure, may remove invalid items
Recovers mailbox
Recovers mailbox
Export options
None
PST
PST, MSG, EML, HTML, PDF, Microsoft 365, live Exchange
Processing location
Local
Cloud
Local
Conclusion
ScanPST remains a useful first step whenever Outlook reports a damaged PST file. It’s free, already installed alongside Outlook, and can often repair minor hiccups. However, it’s not the golden child. It fails to retain your precious files. If you don’t want that to happen, it makes sense to consider alternatives that focus on recovering mailbox data. An online repair service is often enough for smaller files and one-time repairs, while a dedicated desktop recovery tool offers more flexibility for larger or business-critical mailboxes.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Where is ScanPST.exe located?
The exact location depends on your Outlook version and installation method, but ScanPST is typically stored inside the Microsoft Office installation folder under Program Files.
Does ScanPST delete emails?
Yes. If ScanPST comes across mailbox items that it cannot validate during the repair process, those items may be removed from the repaired PST file.
Can ScanPST repair large PST files?
In theory, yes. But performance tends to decline as file sizes grow. Severe corruption or very large mailboxes often require more specialized recovery software.
How do I repair a PST file without losing data?
Always create a copy of the original PST before attempting repairs. If ScanPST doesn’t resolve the issue, using a recovery tool that rebuilds mailbox data rather than deleting damaged items is a safer approach.
Can I repair a PST file without installing software?
Absolutely. Browser-based repair services allow you to upload supported PST files, preview recoverable mailbox data, and download the repaired file without installing Outlook or additional software.
#ScanPST #Fails #Repair #Corrupt #PST #Files #AlternativesOutlook">Why ScanPST Fails to Repair Corrupt PST Files — and the Best Alternatives
Whether you like using it or not, Microsoft Outlook is the lifeblood of almost every corporation in 2026. And there’s a good chance your work emails, meetings, and attachments all live inside the email client. Sadly, as with many of Microsoft’s worsening services these days, Outlook can also run into trouble, with the most common problem being an error that says your data file can’t be accessed. This frustrating issue has been around for a long time, and yet Microsoft still hasn’t completely fixed it.
Instead, Microsoft offers its own Inbox Repair Tool, better known as ScanPST. Since it ships with Outlook, it’s usually the first recommendation you’ll find. And to be fair, it does work in some situations. But a lot of times, it either simply refuses to repair the file, gets stuck midway through the process, or successfully repairs the mailbox only for important emails and folders to go missing afterward. That’s because the tool was made to fix minor errors, not to recover severely corrupted mailboxes. That’s why several third-party Outlook PST repair tools now exist that claim to mend Outlook for you. Before looking at these alternatives, though, it’s better to know why PST files become corrupted in the first place.
Why a PST File Gets Corrupted & Reasons
For the uninitiated, a PST file is essentially a database containing all your emails and important attachments. Whenever you ask POP3-configured Outlook for a particular document, it retrieves it from a local saved PST file, making it a fundamental component. Like any database, these files rely on their internal structure remaining intact. If that structure is damaged, Outlook cannot access your information, and there can be plenty of reasons for that.
Large PST files: Bigger Outlook data files are more likely to become corrupted, especially as they approach Microsoft’s recommended size limits.
Unexpected shutdowns: Power outages, system crashes, or force-closing Outlook while it’s saving data can damage the PST file.
Storage drive issues: Failing hard drives, bad sectors, or insufficient disk space can lead to file corruption.
Using network drives: Microsoft advises against storing PST files on network locations, as unstable connections can interrupt read/write operations.
Faulty add-ins or malware: Buggy Outlook add-ins, malware, or third-party utilities can also corrupt PST files over time.
Why ScanPST Fails to Restore PST Data?
The reasons are plenty, and that’s exactly why Microsoft bundles its own repair tool, ScanPST, with Outlook. In theory, it scans the internal structure and attempts to repair damaged indexes and references so Outlook can open the file again.
However, there is a problem. If ScanPST encounters mailbox items it can’t validate, it often removes them instead of rebuilding them.
How To Repair A Corrupt PST File Without ScanPST
Since we all would dearly love to get important files and attachments back, the first thing you should do is create a copy of the original PST file. Working directly on the only copy of your mailbox is risky because every repair attempt changes the database. So keep the original intact. Next, if you’re dealing with smaller PST files or working on managed office computers where software installation isn’t possible, an online PST repair service would be your best bet. One of the safer options is the Stellar Online PST Repair service. It works online, and Outlook itself doesn’t even need to be present on the system. It supports PST files from Outlook 2003 through Outlook 2024, including both ANSI and Unicode formats, and lets you preview mailbox folders and recovered item counts before downloading the repaired file.
Unlike ScanPST, the service’s main purpose is to repair and recover your files. And if your PST file is less than 500MB, you don’t even have to pay anything. The premium version increases that limit to 5GB. The only requirement is a stable connection, which shouldn’t be a problem in a corporate office.
Repair A Corrupt PST File Using Stellar Online PST Repair
Before we begin, it’s really important to back up your original PST file. No matter how great a tool is, Microsoft recommends keeping a copy before attempting any repair, as the recovery process modifies the mailbox structure. Once done:
Close Microsoft Outlook completely. Even if you’ve closed the Outlook window, it can continue running in the background, keeping the PST file locked.
Open Stellar Online PST Repair. Since the tool runs entirely in your browser, there’s nothing to install, and Outlook doesn’t even need to be present on your PC.
Upload your corrupt PST file. Select the mailbox you want to repair and upload it to the service.
Preview the recovered mailbox. Before downloading anything, browse through your recovered data. Check important folders like Inbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items, Archive, Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, and any custom folders you created.
Download the repaired PST file. Once you’re satisfied with the preview, download the repaired mailbox.
Open the repaired PST in Outlook. In Outlook, head to File → Open & Export → Open Outlook Data File, then select the repaired PST. Verify all information.
When to Use a Desktop PST Repair Tool Instead
As good as browser-based repair services are, they can only be used for quick fixes. Large mailboxes containing years’ worth of emails can take a long time to upload, and severe corruption is often beyond what an online service is designed to handle. In that case, the Stellar Repair for Outlook app makes much more sense. It has the same bells and whistles, like the ability to preview recoverable emails in detail, such as emails, attachments, contacts, calendars, and other important information, but processes everything locally, so your mailbox never leaves your computer.
It also doesn’t impose practical file-size limitations, supports encrypted and password-protected PST files, and allows recovered data to be saved not only as a new PST but also in formats like MSG, EML, HTML, PDF, and others. For businesses or IT administrators, the Technician edition can even export recovered mailboxes directly to Microsoft 365 or Exchange, making it easier to restore users without additional migration steps.
ScanPST vs Stellar Online PST Repair vs Desktop Recovery
Feature
ScanPST
Stellar Online PST Repair
Stellar Repair for Outlook (Desktop)
Installation required
No (Inbuilt)
No
Yes
Handles severe corruption
Limited
Moderate
Yes
Supports large PST files
Limited
Up to 5GB
Unlimited file size
Preview before recovery
No
Yes (Only folder structure)
Yes (Complete Mailbox data in details)
Recovery approach
Repairs the structure, may remove invalid items
Recovers mailbox
Recovers mailbox
Export options
None
PST
PST, MSG, EML, HTML, PDF, Microsoft 365, live Exchange
Processing location
Local
Cloud
Local
Conclusion
ScanPST remains a useful first step whenever Outlook reports a damaged PST file. It’s free, already installed alongside Outlook, and can often repair minor hiccups. However, it’s not the golden child. It fails to retain your precious files. If you don’t want that to happen, it makes sense to consider alternatives that focus on recovering mailbox data. An online repair service is often enough for smaller files and one-time repairs, while a dedicated desktop recovery tool offers more flexibility for larger or business-critical mailboxes.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Where is ScanPST.exe located?
The exact location depends on your Outlook version and installation method, but ScanPST is typically stored inside the Microsoft Office installation folder under Program Files.
Does ScanPST delete emails?
Yes. If ScanPST comes across mailbox items that it cannot validate during the repair process, those items may be removed from the repaired PST file.
Can ScanPST repair large PST files?
In theory, yes. But performance tends to decline as file sizes grow. Severe corruption or very large mailboxes often require more specialized recovery software.
How do I repair a PST file without losing data?
Always create a copy of the original PST before attempting repairs. If ScanPST doesn’t resolve the issue, using a recovery tool that rebuilds mailbox data rather than deleting damaged items is a safer approach.
Can I repair a PST file without installing software?
Absolutely. Browser-based repair services allow you to upload supported PST files, preview recoverable mailbox data, and download the repaired file without installing Outlook or additional software.
![Politician who investigated spyware abuses had his phone hacked with Pegasus spyware | TechCrunch
Security researchers have confirmed that a European politician had his phone hacked with the Pegasus spyware while serving on an investigatory committee probing abuses of the notorious surveillance tool. This has reigniting fresh controversy over governments abusing spyware to collect information about their critics.
The researchers at the University of Toronto’s digital rights unit The Citizen Lab say the confirmed phone hacking of Greek journalist and former politician Stelios Kouloglou during 2022 and 2023 marks the first time that a member of the European Parliament’s PEGA committee, tasked with investigating phone spyware attacks by European governments, has been publicly identified as a victim of spyware.
Kouloglou told TechCrunch in a phone call that the deliberate compromise of his phone was “reckless.” One serving European lawmaker described the hacking of Kouloglou’s phone as a “direct attack on the rule of law,” and called on the European Commission to take concrete action by imposing strict limits on the use of spyware across the 27 member-state bloc.
While spyware attacks on lawmakers are rare, the timing and targeting of a committee investigator by way of the very spyware under his investigation suggests an intense focus on the committee’s inner workings ahead of a widely anticipated report detailing its findings. The hacks open fresh questions about how governments use spyware ostensibly needed for identifying serious crime, but then caught spying on the communications of journalists, lawmakers, and critics.
Citizen Lab’s researchers did not attribute the phone hacking to a specific country, but said that the government customer used the same Pegasus-loaded email address that was used in a previous campaign that hacked into the phones of journalists across Europe. The customer’s identity is not known, but the reuse of the same attacking email address implies that the customer had NSO Group’s authorization to use its Pegasus spyware to snoop on phones across multiple countries in Europe.
A spokesperson for the European Commission did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. NSO Group also did not respond to a request for comment about the Citizen Lab report prior to publication.
In its report out Friday, Citizen Lab said Kouloglou was hacked in October 2022 and at least twice during March 2023 using an exploit that compromised a security vulnerability in Apple’s iPhone software. This vulnerability had been patched but the fix was not yet installed on Kouloglou’s phone. The exploit was a “zero-click” bug, meaning the spyware broke in and stole his data without needing any interaction on his part.
The bug abused a previously discovered flaw in Apple’s smart home software used in iPhones. It allowed the spyware to grab private data from Kouloglou’s phone without his knowledge, such as his text messages and other correspondence, location data, and photos.
The timing of the October 2022 hack coincides with intense discussions over email and text message throughout October and November 2022, ahead of the delivery of a first draft describing spyware abuses focusing in Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Spain.
The hack also lines up at the exact time that Kouloglou was in the hospital at the time for a pre-scheduled surgery, which may have allowed the spyware operators to listen in to ambient audio discussing his healthcare or other conversations he had with visitors at the time.
Months later on March 6 and 7, Citizen Lab said Kouloglou’s phone was hacked again by the same Pegasus operator while Kouloglou traveled from Athens to Brussels, during a period of committee hearings and months prior to the committee finalizing and adopting their written draft report.
In a call, Kouloglou told TechCrunch that he didn’t know why he was specifically targeted but that he believes it was due to his work on the European Parliament’s committee investigating Pegasus abuses.
He described anger when he learned that his phone had been hacked.
“You realize that all of your personal data [was taken] — not all the professional exchanges or messages with ministers — but also the very private things, like the happy moments and the sad moments,” he told TechCrunch.
Kouloglou said he plans to sue NSO Group, the Israeli-headquartered spyware maker. NSO remains largely banned from use in the United States following a Biden-era executive order that outlawed the government’s use of spyware that could violate people’s human rights.
Last year, the spyware maker confirmed an unnamed American investment group funneled tens of millions of dollars into the company, likely as part of an effort to rehabilitate NSO’s beleaguered brand associated with enabling human rights abuses.
Kouloglou said he was going public with his story “for democracy, human rights, and the fight against corruption.”
“Corruption concerns everybody,” he said.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Politician #investigated #spyware #abuses #phone #hacked #Pegasus #spyware #TechCrunchSpyware,Pegasus,cybersecurity,NSO Group](https://i0.wp.com/techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/stelios-1243041618.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 "Politician who investigated spyware abuses had his phone hacked with Pegasus spyware | TechCrunch
Security researchers have confirmed that a European politician had his phone hacked with the Pegasus spyware while serving on an investigatory committee probing abuses of the notorious surveillance tool. This has reigniting fresh controversy over governments abusing spyware to collect information about their critics.
The researchers at the University of Toronto’s digital rights unit The Citizen Lab say the confirmed phone hacking of Greek journalist and former politician Stelios Kouloglou during 2022 and 2023 marks the first time that a member of the European Parliament’s PEGA committee, tasked with investigating phone spyware attacks by European governments, has been publicly identified as a victim of spyware.
Kouloglou told TechCrunch in a phone call that the deliberate compromise of his phone was “reckless.” One serving European lawmaker described the hacking of Kouloglou’s phone as a “direct attack on the rule of law,” and called on the European Commission to take concrete action by imposing strict limits on the use of spyware across the 27 member-state bloc.
While spyware attacks on lawmakers are rare, the timing and targeting of a committee investigator by way of the very spyware under his investigation suggests an intense focus on the committee’s inner workings ahead of a widely anticipated report detailing its findings. The hacks open fresh questions about how governments use spyware ostensibly needed for identifying serious crime, but then caught spying on the communications of journalists, lawmakers, and critics.
Citizen Lab’s researchers did not attribute the phone hacking to a specific country, but said that the government customer used the same Pegasus-loaded email address that was used in a previous campaign that hacked into the phones of journalists across Europe. The customer’s identity is not known, but the reuse of the same attacking email address implies that the customer had NSO Group’s authorization to use its Pegasus spyware to snoop on phones across multiple countries in Europe.
A spokesperson for the European Commission did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. NSO Group also did not respond to a request for comment about the Citizen Lab report prior to publication.
In its report out Friday, Citizen Lab said Kouloglou was hacked in October 2022 and at least twice during March 2023 using an exploit that compromised a security vulnerability in Apple’s iPhone software. This vulnerability had been patched but the fix was not yet installed on Kouloglou’s phone. The exploit was a “zero-click” bug, meaning the spyware broke in and stole his data without needing any interaction on his part.
The bug abused a previously discovered flaw in Apple’s smart home software used in iPhones. It allowed the spyware to grab private data from Kouloglou’s phone without his knowledge, such as his text messages and other correspondence, location data, and photos.
The timing of the October 2022 hack coincides with intense discussions over email and text message throughout October and November 2022, ahead of the delivery of a first draft describing spyware abuses focusing in Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Spain.
The hack also lines up at the exact time that Kouloglou was in the hospital at the time for a pre-scheduled surgery, which may have allowed the spyware operators to listen in to ambient audio discussing his healthcare or other conversations he had with visitors at the time.
Months later on March 6 and 7, Citizen Lab said Kouloglou’s phone was hacked again by the same Pegasus operator while Kouloglou traveled from Athens to Brussels, during a period of committee hearings and months prior to the committee finalizing and adopting their written draft report.
In a call, Kouloglou told TechCrunch that he didn’t know why he was specifically targeted but that he believes it was due to his work on the European Parliament’s committee investigating Pegasus abuses.
He described anger when he learned that his phone had been hacked.
“You realize that all of your personal data [was taken] — not all the professional exchanges or messages with ministers — but also the very private things, like the happy moments and the sad moments,” he told TechCrunch.
Kouloglou said he plans to sue NSO Group, the Israeli-headquartered spyware maker. NSO remains largely banned from use in the United States following a Biden-era executive order that outlawed the government’s use of spyware that could violate people’s human rights.
Last year, the spyware maker confirmed an unnamed American investment group funneled tens of millions of dollars into the company, likely as part of an effort to rehabilitate NSO’s beleaguered brand associated with enabling human rights abuses.
Kouloglou said he was going public with his story “for democracy, human rights, and the fight against corruption.”
“Corruption concerns everybody,” he said.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Politician #investigated #spyware #abuses #phone #hacked #Pegasus #spyware #TechCrunchSpyware,Pegasus,cybersecurity,NSO Group")
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