Added Content: Open link from Outlook in new window (Oct 7)
Ever had that when you are reading a webpage a new mail arrives that has a link in it and when you click on it it opens in the window you were just reading? Very annoying if you ask me. Follow the instructions in the “How To” to change this behaviour and let the link open in a new window.
View: Open link from Outlook in new window
Added Content: Minimize Outlook to the Notification Area (Oct 7)
This is probably already known by most of you but now it is in my FAQ as well.
View: Minimize Outlook to the Notification Area
Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003 Database Compatibility Scripts for Microsoft Project Server 2002 (Oct 7)
Due to the addition of new features in Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003, it cannot save projects to an existing Microsoft Project Server 2002 installation without first making some minor modifications to the database schema. You can load and view projects from an unmodified Microsoft Project Server 2002 database in Project Professional 2003, but if you want to make changes or create new projects in Project Professional 2003 and save them back to Project Server 2002, you must download and run the four SQL scripts provided here. These scripts will add some additional fields to the database tables that are required by Project Professional 2003, but will be ignored by earlier versions, so users of Microsoft Project Professional 2002 or Microsoft Project Standard 2002 can continue to connect as normal to the upgraded Microsoft Project Server 2002.
Office 2003 Add-in: Web Parts and Components (Oct 7)
Microsoft Office Web Parts and Components is a collection of Web Parts, Web Part Page solutions, templates, and data retrieval services that work closely with Microsoft Office 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 2.0 from Microsoft. These added features are particularly useful for large enterprises who have deployed Microsoft Office throughout their organization and who want to take advantage of the enhanced functionality and efficiencies these Web Parts and components provide for their sites.
Download: Office 2003 Add-in: Web Parts and Components (English)
Download: Office 2003 Add-in: Web Parts and Components (different language)
Microsoft reboots Office, giving reasons to upgrade (Oct 6)
InfoWorld posted a good review about the new Microsoft Office 2003 family.
Microsoft reboots Office
XML capabilities in Word, Excel, and InfoPath help bridge the gap between desktop documents and databases, and give enterprises a reason to upgrade
InfoPath makes Office shine
Office 2003 offers little to individual users, but XML features should wow IT shops
OneNote makes tablet sing
Microsoft’s audio and digital note-taking tool is useful even to sloppy scribblers
Microsoft’s Office ‘system’ attacks collaboration from all sides
Office, Exchange, SharePoint, and Live Communications Server cover the bases, but present a patchwork to users and IT
SPS 2003 offers tight Office integration, easy personalization
SharePoint Portal Server 2003 has many collaboration advantages, but issues such as pricey licensing keep it from being everything it claims
Live Communications Server 2003 limits instant messaging to authorized users
Microsoft’s release offers strong usability features with an eye to security
Download: Full review as in PDF-format
Security Update for Windows Media Player 9 Series for 2000, Windows XP, and Server 2003 (Oct 4)
A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to execute commands on a computer running Windows Media Player. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft.
Download: Secrity Update for Windows Media Player 9 Series for Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003
Download: Security Update for Windows Media Player 6.4, 7.1 or 9 for Windows Millennium Edition
Download: Security Update for Windows Media Player 6.4 for NT 4.0 Server
View: Security Update for Windows Media Player 9 Series for 2000, Windows XP, and Server 2003
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-040 (Oct 4)
A number of security issues have been identified in Microsoft® Internet Explorer that could allow an attacker to compromise your Microsoft Windows®-based systems and then take a variety of actions. For example, an attacker could run programs on a computer used to view the attacker’s Web site. This vulnerability affects computers that have Microsoft® Internet Explorer installed. (You do not have to be using Internet Explorer as your Web browser to be affected by this issue.) You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Who should read this bulletin: Users running Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Impact of vulnerability: Run code of attacker’s choice.
Maximum Severity Rating: Critical
Recommendation: Customers should apply the patch immediately.
End User Bulletin: An end user version of this bulletin is available at: http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/ms03-040.asp
Affected Software:
Internet Explorer 5.01
Internet Explorer 5.5
Internet Explorer 6.0
Internet Explorer 6.0 for Windows Server 2003
View: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-040
Microsoft Patches Exchange Glitch (Oct 3)
Microsoft released a patch Thursday for a newly discovered incompatibility between the new version of the company’s Outlook e-mail client and an older version of the Exchange mail server program.
Brian Holdsworth, senior product manager for Exchange marketing at Microsoft, said the company had received four reports of problems among customers running version 5.5 of Exchange in combination with a beta version of Outlook 2003.
In each case, the Exchange server had to execute a complex set of message-handling rules that eventually caused the server to choke, affecting message processing and server availability.
Microsoft created an Exchange 5.5 patch on Thursday to fix the problem, and engineers were working on an article describing the issue for the company’s Knowledge Base support site, Holdsworth said.
Outlook 2003 will be part of Office 2003, the update of the productivity software set for release later this month. Hundreds of thousands of beta versions of the software were distributed earlier this year.
Holdsworth said the issue appears to be rare, but customers experiencing problems with a combination of Exchange 5.5 and Outlook 2003 should contact Microsoft customer support to receive the patch.
“Right now, we think it’s a pretty small amount of customers that have this complex set of rules built up,” Holdsworth said. “As customers have an issue, they can apply that patch.”
View: article at Cnet
Storage Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server (Oct 3)
This article discusses the principles of designing an Exchange 2000 storage solution. It does not, however, provide a procedure for configuring and deploying Exchange 2000 storage solutions, nor does it discuss storage from a clustering perspective, although the principles outlined in this article are applicable to a clustered version of Exchange. This article focuses mainly on mailbox storage, but the principles and concepts apply to public folder storage as well.
Download: Storage Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server
SalesCart Express (Oct 2)
Instantly add E-commerce/Shopping cart capabilities with unlimited products on unlimited web sites. Configurable checkout with auto-calculation of items, shipping and taxes, optional real-time processing. Easy to use with step-by-step Wizard and toolbar.
Works with any ISP that supports FrontPage Database connectivity. No other monthly or yearly service fees.
Compatible with FrontPage 2000, FrontPage version 2002, and FrontPage 2003.
Download: SalesCart Express trial
Excel White Paper: OLAP PivotTable Considerations (Oct 2)
Microsoft® Excel 2002 and Microsoft Office Excel 2003 provide more OLAP PivotTable® functionality than earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, but the extra functionality may have a performance cost when you are using large data sets. This white paper describes these performance issues and some ways to minimize them.
Download: Excel White Paper: OLAP PivotTable Considerations
Duplicate Email Remover (Oct 2)
I came across a nice tool to remove duplicate e-mails. It looks quite flexible to me and does its work correctly. This can be very handy when imports or synchronisation goes wrong or when you recover bulk mail into the original folder. It gives you the options to mark messages with a flag, copy it, move it or even delete it (for the brave ones among us). Also you can let it apply to every message or just the ones you received the last couple of days. The tool is a 30 day demo and functional, registration is $15.
Download: Duplicate Email Remover
View: Screenshot
View: MAPIStore website
Three in five emails will be spam in 2004 (Oct 2)
Around half of emails sent are spam, and this figure is set to rise to 60 per cent by mid-2004, industry experts have predicted.
Analyst Gartner has warned marketing firms to take immediate steps to differentiate their marketing messages from spam if they want to be succesful with email campaigns.
Gartner said that by 2005, content managers, rule-based software and ISPs will effectively blacklist 80 per cent of all email marketing campaigns, including permission-based email.
But for marketers the pressure to cut costs outweighs consideration for the email’s usefulness to customers, said Gartner industry analyst Adam Sarner.
“Before customers ignore this valuable medium, marketers must start again by clearly identifying their customer base, surveying their customers as to the types of email they would like to receive, and then deliver on the feedback and give customers a way to update their preferences frequently,” he said in a statement.
According to Gartner, email marketing can be an effective communication tool, with a well-crafted email receiving a response rate of as high as 15 per cent, compared with less than one per cent for banner ads.
“Because email can be effective and is less expensive than traditional marketing methods, by the end of 2004 more than 80 per cent of companies engaged in direct marketing will conduct at least one email marketing campaign,” added Sarner.
View: Three in five emails will be spam in 2004 at VNUnet
PowerPoint 2003 Add-in: Presentation Broadcast (Oct 2)
Presentation Broadcast for PowerPoint 2003 is an add-in for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 that makes it easy to synchronize the audio and video delivery of your PowerPoint presentations. Use this download to record presentations for playback and to record a presentation during delivery in person or to a remote audience.
Download: PowerPoint 2003 Add-in: Presentation Broadcast (English)
Download: PowerPoint 2003 Add-in: Presentation Broadcast (different language)
MSN Messenger Beta (Oct 1)
It’s version 6.1.0.128. Still a BETA but works for me. For the people addicted to the MSN6 games mess.be has developed some custom games and have updated their patch for this release. Next to the default games from MSN you’ll have; Chess, Nine Men’s Morris, Reversi, Sea Battle, Yahtzee and Tetris (new!) as extra games available from the Launch Site button. You need to have your MSN6 closed before you apply the patch.
Download: MSN Messenger BETA 6.1.0.128
Download: Mess.be Games Patch
View: Mess.be games site
