Exchange and Outlook UPDATE, Outlook Edition—brought to you by Exchange & Outlook Administrator, the print newsletter with practical advice, how-to articles, tips, and techniques to help you do your job today.
http://www.exchangeadmin.com
THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY
Communigate Pro Groupware by Stalker Software
http://www.stalker.com/ads/exup.html
Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows
http://www.itprotoday.com
(below COMMENTARY)
SPONSOR: STALKER SOFTWARE
- Reliable - Scalable - Robust - Fast
- Lower the Total Cost of Ownership for Email
- Keep Outlook users happy with the Calendar functionality they know and love.
- Easy-to-maintain Email and Calendaring
- Flexible - Over 30 HW/OS combinations
- Scalable - Consolidate to one server
- Increase Security
- Reduce License, Upgrade and Maintenance
- Decrease Storage Requirements
- Transparent transition for end-users
- Gradual migration of accounts
- Lower Administrative costs
FREE TRIAL: http://www.stalker.com/ads/exup.html
October 22, 2002—In this issue:
1. COMMENTARY
- Outlook 11 Deployment Options
2. ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Subscribe to Windows & .NET Magazine and Receive an eBook Gift!
- Real-World Tips and Solutions Here for You
3. RESOURCE
- Tip: Locating Email Signatures in Outlook 2002
4. NEW AND IMPROVED
- Analyze and Monitor Your Email Traffic
5. CONTACT US
- See this section for a list of ways to contact us.
1. COMMENTARY
(contributed by Sue Mosher, News Editor, [email protected])
Administrators are starting to wonder what Outlook 11, due in mid-2003, will offer them in terms of deployment tools and new settings. A session at MEC earlier this month provided an overview of some new deployment options.
The primary deployment tools remain the Custom Installation Wizard and Custom Maintenance Wizard in the Microsoft Office Resource Kit. Not only can these tools create the files needed for initial deployments and subsequent updates of Outlook and other Office applications, but they also can create .prf files to create or update mail profiles.
Perhaps the key new option is the ability to instruct Outlook to create a local copy of the user's Exchange mailbox, enabling the new "cached Exchange" mode in which Outlook uses the local copy of the mailbox even when the user is working online. Microsoft presenters explained that even though cached Exchange improves client performance and reduces network traffic, users should continue to use the traditional online or offline connection mode in some situations. For example, cached Exchange is inappropriate for users who use roving profiles so that they can log on and get their mail from any machine in the building. These users should stick with a classic pure online connection, with no offline store.
Another case for which you probably shouldn't use the cached Exchange mode is a user with a 4GB mailbox. You probably don't want that user to create a full 4GB replica of the mailbox on a laptop. The user can continue to use a mail profile with an .ost file set up to synchronize only certain key folders for offline use. For users who work offline, Outlook 11 lets administrators configure default send/receive group settings to control how the default Exchange mailbox folders (such as Inbox, Calendar, and Contacts) synchronize with the .ost file. Another setting determines whether Outlook downloads the entire Offline Address Book or the OAB with just names and addresses and no details.
A new option in the Custom Installation Wizard and Custom Maintenance Wizard lets administrators limit the size of .pst files that the user creates. Outlook 11 sets no practical size limit for .pst files; it uses a new Unicode-compatible .pst format to support .pst files as large as about 33TB. The default maximum size in Outlook 11 for the new Unicode .pst files is 20GB. For older .pst files without Unicode support, the default maximum size is 1.8MB, the maximum physical size. Another new .pst-related setting in the Custom Installation Wizard and Custom Maintenance Wizard lets administrators set the default location for .pst files. Currently, new .pst files default to the \Local Settings\Application Data folder in the user's profile folder.
Outlook 11 supports remote procedure call (RPC) over HTTP connections to Exchange, letting users access their mailboxes over the Internet without the need for a VPN. The Custom Installation Wizard and Custom Maintenance Wizard contain corresponding options for adding an RPC over HTTP connection to the mail profile and setting the connection URL. (RPC over HTTP connections require the next version of Exchange, code-named Titanium, and a Windows update on the client to ensure that proper authentication occurs.)
Another new feature with support in the Custom Installation Wizard and Custom Maintenance Wizard is called HTML External Mail Content Control. This feature blocks HTML messages from loading images and other content directly from the Internet and stymies one of the spammers' most recent tricks to avoid detection—loading all the content into the page at viewing time, leaving nothing in the message that might trigger an antispam detection program. The feature also prevents a so-called "Web bug" from reporting back to its author that you've seen a particular message.
SPONSOR: PAUL THURROTT'S SUPERSITE FOR WINDOWS
DON'T MISS PAUL THURROTT'S SUPERSITE FOR WINDOWS!
If you're scrambling to keep up with important industry developments (and these days, who isn't?), then be sure to visit the SuperSite for Windows. You'll find product reviews, tips, FAQs, and more — all designed to help you figure out which version of Windows is right for you and your enterprise. Check it out!
http://www.itprotoday.com
2. ANNOUNCEMENTS
(brought to you by Windows & .NET Magazine and its partners)
Windows & .NET Magazine is a problem-solving manual designed to help systems administrators better manage their Windows 2000 and NT enterprise. Subscribe today and, with your paid subscription, you can choose from one of three eBooks about Active Directory, public key infrastructure, or automating tasks with VBScript. Subscribe now!
http://www.winnetmag.com/rd.cfm?code=ebei202jup
Last chance to register for Windows & .NET Magazine LIVE!—sign up today and you'll also receive access to sessions of concurrently run XML and Web Services Connections. Access more than 70 sessions and save $1395. Discover why more than half of our attendees choose to attend only our conferences each year. This conference is chock-full of "been there, done that" knowledge from people who use Microsoft technologies in the real world. Register today!
https://secure.win2000mag.com/events/windows_register.asp
3. RESOURCE
(contributed by Sue Mosher, [email protected])
Q: I just upgraded Microsoft Office 2000 to Office XP (including Outlook 2002) and can't find my email signatures. What happened to them?
A: From your question, I infer that you use Microsoft Word as your email editor (WordMail). In Office 2000, Outlook stores signatures for WordMail in the normal.dot Word template as AutoText items and signatures for the built-in Outlook editor as separate .txt, .rtf, and .htm files for the different message formats. In Office XP, both WordMail and the Outlook editor use signatures stored as separate .txt, .rtf, and .htm files. To find your old WordMail signatures, select Insert, AutoText and look under the E-mail Signature heading.
See the Exchange & Outlook Administrator Web site for more great tips from Sue Mosher.
http://www.exchangeadmin.com
4. NEW AND IMPROVED
(contributed by Carolyn Mader, [email protected])
DYS Analytics announced Email CONTROL! 4.0, a software suite that automates measuring, analyzing, and reporting of enterprise Exchange traffic. The suite comprises the Email Investigator and Email Reporter applications. Email Investigator optimizes your messaging networks to reduce costs and provide better performance. You can use the software to drill down and view metrics. Email Investigator's Report Assistant wizard guides you through building a report from predefined templates. Email Reporter monitors internal and external email flow and alerts you about possible problems, such as network bottlenecks or excessive email volume. Email CONTROL! 4.0 supports Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 5.5 and is priced on a per-seat basis. Contact DYS Analytics at 781-694-2200.
http://www.dysanalytics.com
5. CONTACT US
Here's how to reach us with your comments and questions:
- ABOUT THE COMMENTARY — [email protected]
- ABOUT THE NEWSLETTER IN GENERAL — [email protected]
(please mention the newsletter name in the subject line)
- TECHNICAL QUESTIONS — http://www.winnetmag.net/forums
- PRODUCT NEWS — [email protected]
- QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR EXCHANGE AND OUTLOOK UPDATE SUBSCRIPTION?
Customer Support — [email protected]
- WANT TO SPONSOR EXCHANGE AND OUTLOOK UPDATE?
[email protected]
Receive the latest information about the Windows and .NET topics of your choice. Subscribe to our other FREE email newsletters.
http://www.winnetmag.net/email
Thank you for reading Exchange and Outlook UPDATE.
