I give away a few hours a week helping people use Outlook more
effectively by answering questions on the Microsoft Public
Newsgroups. These are free resources that anybody can access.
Answering user and IT support people’s questions can be challenging
- mostly due to their inability to clearly explain what they are
doing and what’s not happening that they want to have happen. It’s
frustrating as well at times! But there’s a sense of achievement
and of community that’s very powerful. And that’s what brings the
MVPs back to the newsgroups week after week. Not sure what an MVP
is? Read this: http://www.microsoft.com/mvp.

Basically, they are awarded expert status by Microsoft and thanked
for their community support efforts. Never been to a newsgroup? Try
it right now. http://www.groups.google.com
Searching on “Word”, “Excel” or “Outlook” will give you a feel for
how many groups there are! Open one and have a read. Before you ask
a question make sure to read the articles about how to post a
question so you can follow correct etiquette.