Actual Contacts for Outlook (April 21)
MAPILab team is glad to present a new add-in for Microsoft Outlook – Actual Contacts.
Get the powerful tool for your address book management! Actual Contacts is intended for:
updating your contacts;
collecting any additional contact’s information (age, occupation, hobby, etc);
creating simple surveys for getting necessary information;
updating your contact information in address books of your respondents through VCard.
View: Actual Contacts for Outlook (also holds a link to a 30 day functional trial)
Don’t forget! If you decide to order use “4PM76A8” to get a discount
Free Download! QuickMail (April 19)
Are you an e-mail fanatic and need to be able to create new Outlook items without loosing precious time by going to Outlook first? Then QuickMail is the tool for you.
With QuickMail you can create new Outlook items from anywhere in Windows with a single click!
See the products page for screenshots and the download link.
Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool (April 19)
Configuration, rule and help updates for the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer 2.0.
Download: Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool
Microsoft Exchange Server User Monitor (April 19)
Use the Microsoft Exchange Server User Monitor to gather real-time data to better understand current client usage patterns, and to plan for future work. Administrators can view several items, including IP addresses used by clients, versions and modes of Microsoft Office Outlook, and resources such as CPU usage, server-side processor latency, and total latency for network and processing with Outlook 2003 version MAPI.
Download: Microsoft Exchange Server User Monitor
New Microsoft Exchange due out in 2006 (April 19)
The next version of Microsoft’s Exchange Server–software used to manage e-mail, contact lists and calendars–will arrive in 2006, according to a company executive.
Andy Lees, corporate vice president of marketing for Microsoft’s server and tools business, revealed the ship date Tuesday. Previously, the Redmond, Wash.-based software company had said the software would arrive in 2006 or 2007. The software, currently called Exchange Server 12, will incorporate new features to handle voice mail and faxes.
Exchange Server 12 will support both the 64-bit extensions and the dual-core technology, according to Lees’ presentation.
Other server software coming in 2006 and supporting the new processor features will be Commerce Server 2006, Host Integration Server 2006, BizTalk Server 2006 and a new of version 2 of Virtual Server. Microsoft Operations Manager also will support the new processor features in 2006.
Read full article: New Microsoft Exchange due out in 2006
Update for Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB892236) (Mar 9)
This optional update provides the Junk E-mail Filter in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 with a more current definition of which e-mail messages should be considered junk e-mail. This update was released in March 2005.
Download: Update for Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB892236)
Exchange Server 2003 Security Hardening Guide (Mar 9)
This guide is designed to provide you with essential information about how to harden your Exchange Server 2003 environment. In addition to practical, hands-on configuration recommendations, this guide includes strategies for combating spam, viruses, and other external threats to your Exchange 2003 messaging system. Important: Since the previous version of this guide was released, the following new topics have been added and are available only online:
• Running Exchange Server 2003 Clusters in a Security-Hardened Environment
• How to Run Exchange Server 2003 Clusters in a Security-Hardened Environment
Download: Exchange Server 2003 Security Hardening Guide
Sender ID Framework Demonstrates Positive Results for E-Mail Authentication (Mar 9)
Microsoft Corp. today released initial results gathered from its implementation of the Sender ID Framework (SIDF), an e-mail authentication technology protocol that helps address the problem of domain spoofing (a tactic commonly used in spam and phishing scams) by verifying the domain name from which e-mail is sent.
Based on more than two months of deployment on the MSN® Hotmail® Web-based e-mail service and data gathered from hundreds of thousands of customers participating in the Hotmail Feedback Loop program, Microsoft has validated that the use of SIDF to check incoming e-mail enhances spam filtering and helps better protect customers’ inboxes from spam while helping ensure that legitimate e-mail gets through.
View full article: Sender ID Framework Demonstrates Positive Results for E-Mail Authentication
View: Send ID homepage
Download: Sender ID Overview
Download: Sender ID- Tips for Creating Your SPF Record
ActiveSync 3.8 available in more languages (Mar 3)
Microsoft ActiveSync 3.8 is the latest synchronization software for Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs and Smartphones. ActiveSync 3.8 contains a set of security enhancements that provide a more secure syncing experience with a Windows PC
Download your localized version: ActiveSync 3.8
And here are some Exchange 12 answers! (Mar 3)
Question #1: Lots of people asked about the 32k rules limitation: “As someone else mentioned how about improvements to server side rules (32k limit)”, “Since I ask this every time I talk to Microsoft developers :), any news on when will the 32k server side rule limitation be resolved”.
Answer #1: I’m happy that I get to be the one to tell you that the 32k rules limit is gone… It’s now 64k! Just kidding!! We are still determining what the default will be (there’s a tradeoff in performance of course, the more processing you ask the server to do on inbound mail, so we want to choose a smart default), but the administrator will be able to change the limit.
Question #2: I’d like to see a unified messaging function in E12 (facsimile, voice,…).
Answer #2: UM is absolutely an area we are investing in, as you can see from some of the articles about it, such as this one from eWeek. If you call me at Microsoft today and leave me a voicemail, it gets routed to my inbox using only Microsoft technology.
View full article: And here are some Exchange 12 answers!
Exchange 12 To Ride a Faster JET (Mar 3)
Microsoft’s long silence on Exchange is over. In January, Microsoft publicly laid out plans for the next release of Exchange. Microsoft is calling the next version “Exchange 12” or “E12.” The code-names emphasize the close ties to the next version of Office, code-named “Office 12.”
For years the company has been toying with the idea of taking the data store from SQL Server and porting it to Exchange, replacing the JET storage engine that the messaging server currently uses. The effort was code-named “Kodiak,” a vaguely defined future version of Exchange that would use the new data store. The design goal reflected a wider, long-standing effort within Microsoft to standardize the data store across major products. Microsoft had ambitious plans to use the SQL Server storage engine in the next version of Windows, code-named “Longhorn,” and Exchange. Cracks in that plan emerged in June, when Microsoft said Kodiak was off the table. A few months later, unified storage, known as WinFS, was pulled from Longhorn, too.
The JET storage engine will power Exchange 12 just as it did Exchange 2000 and Exchange Server 2003. A Microsoft spokesperson downplayed the technological role in JET’s survival. “The decision to ship the next version of Exchange with JET was based on many factors, but the primary reason was customers. Staying with JET will mean customers will not be faced with the migration work associated with moving to a new store.”
View full article: Exchange 12 To Ride a Faster JET
Creating a Permanent New Mail Desktop Alert in Outlook 2003 (Feb 24)
I thought it was one of the most excessive options in previous versions of Outlook and I was happy to see it got a huge functional and cosmetic overhaul in Outlook 2003. Strangely enough it is now one of the most criticised options as well; the New Mail Desktop Alert.
Fortunately the criticism is mainly based on only 2 things;
“It only works on the Inbox folder”
“It cannot be configured to stay longer than 30 seconds; I WANT IT TO STAY PERMANENT!”
Yes, I said “fortunately” as both issues can be solved. The article comes with a free tool to easily calculate for you how long the New Mail Desktop Alert will stay.
View: Creating a Permanent New Mail Desktop Alert in Outlook 2003
Download: OutlookTools
New MAPILab Addins! (Feb 14)
The Add-Ins section has been updated with some new MAPILab add-ins. While most add-ins are for Outlook some add-ins will enhance Exchange Server functionality.
As a visitor of www.howto-outlook.com you can get all add-ins from MAPILab with a discount by using “4PM76A8” as the coupon code.
For more add-ins see the Add-Ins section. Expect some new add-ins listings soon!
Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool (Feb 14)
This download contains the latest ExBPA.Config.xml and ExBPA.chm files. Use this package to update your existing installation of the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer. NOTE: If Internet connectivity is available, the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer will attempt to automatically update itself from the Internet. Where updates are being applied automatically, there is no need to download the Web Update Pack.
Download: Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool
Exchange 2000 Server Online Help File Archive (Feb 14)
Welcome to the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server online documentation archive. This documentation is designed to assist you in day-to-day administration of Exchange 2000 Server.
Each section contains a How To… book and a Concepts book. The How To… book consists of procedural information to help you accomplish individual tasks. The Concepts book provides the background information necessary to understand what each component does and why you want to perform specific tasks.
