Windows Client Update--What's in Your Inbox?

1. Commentary
- What's in Your Inbox?

2. News & Views
- RIM Receives Serious Legal Blow

3. Resources
- Tip: Directory Synchronization on a Small Scale
- Featured Thread: Internet Explorer Issue

4. New and Improved
- A New Approach to Registry Problems
- Tell Us About a Hot Product and Get a T-Shirt!

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==== 1. Commentary: What's in Your Inbox? ====
by David Chernicoff, [email protected]

I get a lot of email--about 25,000 messages per month. Not surprisingly, the bulk of the messages are spam. Because Windows IT Pro has made my email address public for years, I receive most every spam message and email virus that makes the rounds. As such, I have a pretty stringent filtering system on my main email client computer. I use Microsoft Office Outlook 2003's Junk E-mail Filter and a third-party mail-filtering tool, along with a series of rules that sort my mail into various folders. Over time, I've fine tuned the system so that I no longer check the Junk folder, which contains the most egregious junk mail, and check my Spam folder daily, which is split about 50/50 between more clever spam and informational messages from various services or marketing people but rarely has more than 25 messages on any given day. My Inbox almost never contains anything that doesn't belong.

You can imagine my surprise last week when I checked my Inbox and found more than 900 messages that my junk mail filters should have caught. After spending about an hour separating the wheat from the chaff, I was able to devote my attention to determining what had caused the breakdown in my carefully crafted junk email defenses.

I looked at my email rules and found no problems, so I checked the third-party spam-filtering application. I was running the most recent version, and when I sent myself mail to that account from an account identified as a spam sender, the application dealt with the message appropriately.

This left only Outlook's Junk E-mail Filter as the possible culprit. A quick check of the Office Update Web site confirmed that I was running the most recent version of Outlook with all applicable patches applied. It was time to look for more subtle problems.

A glance at Outlook's folder view of my email provided the answer: My Junk folder contained 65,536 messages. Every now and then I scan the headers of the messages in the Junk folder to make sure I haven't filtered out anything important before I manually empty the folder. It had been about 10 weeks since I last cleared out the Junk folder, and the fact that the number of messages in the folder was exactly 65,536 assured me that I had found the problem.

I emptied the Junk folder and voila; my junk filters began working again. So how did I know that the number of messages was the problem? The number 65,536 is 1024 x 64 or 64K. Whoever coded the junk filter feature in Outlook determined that the Junk folder would never contain more than 65,536 junk messages, and as a result, once the emails in the folder reached that number, the filters stopped working.

It's unfortunate that a filtering service isn't safe with a limit of 65,000 junk messages, from both the perspective of the amount of junk mail being sent across the Internet and of the development choice to allow only that many messages in the folder; However, the problem is unlikely to be concern with typical email Inboxes.

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==== 2. News & Views ====
by Paul Thurrott, [email protected]

RIM Receives Serious Legal Blow
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) now faces a serious interruption in its business, thanks to a denied stay from the US Supreme Court. RIM, which is being sued by NTP for violating its patent on wireless email delivery, could be forced to stop selling its BlackBerry devices and services in the US market. In 2002, NTP sued RIM for patent infringement, winning that case in 2003. RIM is attempting to appeal that ruling and prevent the injunction NTP is seeking. Read the entire story at the following URL: http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/48279/48279.html

==== Events and Resources ====
( A complete Web and live events directory brought to you by Windows IT Pro: http://www.windowsitpro.com/events )

Get Ready for the SQL Server 2005 Roadshow in Europe - Get the facts about migrating to SQL Server 2005!
SQL Server experts will present real-world information about administration, development, and business intelligence to help you implement a best-practices migration to SQL Server 2005 and improve your database-computing environment. Receive a one-year membership to PASS and one-year subscription to SQL Server Magazine. Register now.
http://www.windowsitpro.com/roadshows/sqlservereurope/index.cfm?code=1026emailannc

Exploit the Opportunities of a Wireless Fleet
With the endless array of mobile and wireless devices and applications, it's hard to decide what you can do with the devices beyond providing mobile email access. It's even tougher to know how to keep it all secure. Join industry guru Randy Franklin Smith in this free Web seminar and discover what you should do to leverage your mobile and wireless infrastructure, how to pick devices that are right for you, and more!
http://www.windowsitpro.com/go/seminars/mobileandwireless/?partnerref=1026emailannc

Get the Most from Your Infrastructure By Consolidating Servers and Storage
Improved utilization of existing networking resources and server hardware enable allocation of scarce financial and time resources where they're needed most. In this free Web seminar, learn to optimize your existing infrastructure with the addition of server and storage consolidation software and techniques. You'll get the jumpstart you need to evaluate the suitability and potential of your computing environments for the added benefits that consolidation technology can provide.
http://www.windowsitpro.com/go/seminars/serverconsolidation?partnerref=1026emailannc

Deploy VoIP and FoIP Technologies - Win A Starbuck's Gift Card
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the future of telecommunications and many companies are already enjoying the benefits of using Voice over IP networks to significantly reduce telephone and facsimile costs. Join industry expert David Chernicoff for this free Web seminar to learn the 'ins and outs' of boardless fax in IP environments, tips for rolling out fax, integrating fax with telephony technologies, and more! Attend and you could win a Starbuck's gift card!
http://www.windowsitpro.com/go/seminars/voip/?partnerref=1026emailannc

What Does it Mean to Be Compliant?
We've all heard about legal and regulatory requirements, but there are other types of compliance that may affect you - specifically email compliance. In this free Web seminar you'll get the insights into compliance and policy issues that you need to know about, as well as suggestions on what to look for when implementing your compliance strategy and more! Register Today!
http://www.windowsitpro.com/go/seminars/compliance/?partnerref=1026emailannc

All High Availability Solutions Are Not Created Equal – How Does Yours Measure Up?
In this free, on-demand Web seminar you'll get the tools you need to ensure your systems aren't going down. You'll learn what solutions help you take preemptive, corrective action without resorting to a full system failover, or in extreme cases, that perform a non-disruptive, automatic switchover to a secondary server.
http://www.windowsitpro.com/seminars/truehighavailability/index.cfm?code=1026emailannc

==== Featured White Papers ====

Dashboard Development and Deployment - A Methodology for Success
Business information carries little value unless it reaches the right person at the right time. In this free white paper find out what you need to know to remain competitive – while improving the speed and quality of decision-making. Get the tools you need for providing critical information to decision makers, and enable them to monitor the daily health of your organization through successful implementation of a dashboard.
http://www.windowsitpro.com/go/whitepapers/noetix/dashboard?code=1026emailannc

==== 3. Peer to Peer ====

Tip: Directory Synchronization on a Small Scale
(contributed by David Chernicoff, [email protected])

I often receive requests for recommendations for software that can synchronize the content of multiple directories. None of the tools I've suggested over the years are free, and many of the requests are from people who don't need to synch a complex set of data--just a few basic files or folders. For those users, I can now suggest a free Microsoft PowerToy--the SyncToy. Offering a decent, easy-to-use folder synchronization method, the SyncToy will solve the problem for those users looking to maintain directory synchronization on a small scale. You can find more details about SyncToy at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e0fc1154-c975-4814-9649-cce41af06eb7&displaylang=en

Featured Thread: Internet Explorer Issue
Forum user steverpayne can't figure out why five of his company's computers won't allow scripts or ActiveX to run. He's checked Internet options and tried to reset the browser settings but can't figure out the problem. To learn more or offer advice, visit the following URL:
http://forums.windowsitpro.com/web/forum/messageview.aspx?catid=36&threadid=44074&enterthread=y

==== Announcements ====
(from Windows IT Pro and its partners)

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==== 4. New and Improved ====
by Gayle Rodcay, [email protected]

A New Approach to Registry Problems
Maxion Software has released RegRestore PC TuneUp 5.0, a new approach to registry problems. RegRestore PC TuneUp is an advanced Windows registry scanner, cleaner, and repair tool that, when used regularly can keep corporate or personal PCs more stable and optimized for performance. RegRestore PC TuneUp introduces two new features--Compact and Optimize. The Compact feature scans the registry for gaps and wasted space, then rebuilds the registry to improve performance. Optimize applies tweaks and patches to the registry to speed PC performance. Other features include a new speed scan option, automatic run/repair at Windows startup, system restore point, and the ability to maintain multiple registry backups by date. You can find more information or download a free trial version at the company's Web site.
http://www.registryrestore.com

Tell Us About a Hot Product and Get a T-Shirt!
Have you used a product that changed your IT experience by saving you time or easing your daily burden? Tell us about the product, and we'll send you a Windows IT Pro T-shirt if we write about the product in a future Windows IT Pro What's Hot column. Send your product suggestions with information about how the product has helped you to [email protected].

==== Contact Us ====

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