Exchange Messaging Outlook Volume 7, Number 15

Greetings! Welcome to Vol. 7, No. 15, 9 Jan 2003, of Exchange Messaging Outlook, a biweekly newsletter about Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook.

Since the last EMO issue was nearly a month ago, this issue is devoted largely to getting caught up on the 30 new and updated utilities and other resources from the past month.

If you need updates faster than this newsletter can provide, our What's New page at http://www.slipstick.com/whatsnew.htm includes an option in the navigation panel on the left side where you can sign up to get a notification whenever we update the What's New page with a new tool.

• "Titanium" and Outlook 11 betas go public
• ISA Server Feature Pack targets Exchange and Outlook
• New holidays list from Microsoft
• Fix for Outlook 2000 SP3 CPU spikes

Regular features:

• New utilities
• Updated utilities
• Other new resources

"Titanium" and Outlook 11 betas go public

If you've been itching to get your hands on Outlook 11, you might want to order the CD for the public beta of the next version of Exchange, formerly codenamed "Titanium" and now officially known as Exchange 2003. New features in Exchange 2003 include integrated secure mobile access and an updated version of Outlook Web Access with an interface and mail management features similar to Outlook 11. Visit http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/evaluation/ti/beta.asp to download just the Exchange Server 2003 Beta 2 (184 mb, no Outlook 11 download) or to order the CD, which includes Office 11 Beta 1, Windows .NET Server 2003 RC2, and a resource CD. The information on Microsoft's web site indicates that the CDs will ship in late January at the earliest.

Microsoft has scheduled an Exchange Server 2003 Overview webcast for Fri., Jan. 10, 11:30am Eastern, to demonstrate this new version and explain its features and benefits. To enroll, visit http://www.microsoft.com/usa/webcasts/upcoming/1460.asp.

ISA Server Feature Pack targets Exchange and Outlook

A new "feature pack" for Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000 is aimed squarely at Exchange and Outlook. This update for Microsoft's firewall server adds support for two-factor RSA SecurID authentication for OWA and enforces 128-bit encrypted RPC for MAPI clients without the need for a virtual private network. It also improves filtering on port 25 for incoming SMTP traffic, allowing you to create rules to block mail from particular domains, with certain attachments, etc. before it ever reaches the Exchange server. (And if you don't have Exchange, it should work nicely with whatever mail server you are using behind port 25.) The feature pack also adds an RPC Filter Configuration Wizard to set up granular access to specific RPC services, such as the Exchange store. You can download the feature pack from http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/featurepack1/.

To learn more, you can participate in a live "New ISA Server Product Enhancements for Exchange and IIS" webcast, Jan. 22, 1:30p Eastern time. Visit http://www.microsoft.com/usa/webcasts/upcoming/1501.asp to enroll.

New holidays list from Microsoft

Microsoft has released an updated list of holidays for 2003-2007, just in time for users of Outlook 2000, whose holiday list goes only through 2002. Get the download from http://microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7d4d9017-8d4e-4963-8ba7-d2e91d491f5e&DisplayLang=en  and then follow the instructions provided on the web page.

Slipstick.com visitor Leo Whitman alerted us to a couple of errors in the updated holiday list:

• December 26, 2003, claims to be both the 7th AND 8th day of Hanukkah.
• May 5, 2005, is listed as the observed U.S. Independence Day with July 4, 2005, as the actual Independence Day.

In the past, Microsoft has published knowledgebase articles on errors in the Outlook.txt and Outlook.hol holiday date files, so perhaps one will be forthcoming to cover these and any other errors.

If you want to use this update with Outlook 98, which may have run out of holiday entries depending on just how you installed Outlook 98, locate your old Outlook.txt file, rename it, then use WinZip to extract the new Outlook.txt file from the download to the same folder. You can then import with the Tools | Options | Calendar Options | Add Holidays command.

Outlook 2002's holiday list runs through 2005, so it won't need a refresh for a few years.

FYI, we are working on an update to our ever-popular holiday distribution form for Outlook and hope to have that ready at http://www.slipstick.com/dev/olforms/holiday.htm by the end of the week. The new version will add support for the Location field and work better with non-English installations of Outlook.

Fix for Outlook 2000 SP3 CPU spikes

After applying Service Pack 3 to Outlook 2000 configured in Internet Mail Only mode, you may see CPU usage by Outlook go as high as 100% or you might notice some erratic reminder behavior. Microsoft identified the cause as a timing issue related to reminders and released a public fix last month -- see http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811167. Note that this update does not change the version number of Outlook that you see on the Help | About Microsoft Outlook dialog. The only way to tell if it's installed would be to check the date on the Omi9.dll or Omint.dll file. The Omi9.dll date apparently should be 5.5.3186.0, but we're hoping that Microsoft will update the KB article with more definitive information on the file dates.

New Utilities

CALLATTENDANT OFFICE
http://www.objectworld.com/products/caoffice/index.html
Voice mail and fax server with Exchange integration to deliver messages to Outlook Inbox. Also provides text-to-speech telephone access to Inbox email messages. Outlook users can add text annotations to voice and fax messages. Many other auto-attendant and voice mail features.

CLEARVIEW
http://www.nextword.com/ClearViewProd.htm
Provides a unified view of Outlook folders, plus a toolbar for creating, prioritizing, and categorizing Outlook items. Shows you all activities related to a contact.

COMMON WORSHIP: LECTIONARY 2002 TO 2003
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/commonworship/resources/csvfile.html
This page explains how to send an email message to an autoresponder that will send you the Church of England's Bible readings for each day, suitable for import into Outlook. Non-European users may need to temporarily change their date format to dd/mm/yyyy before importing to ensure that dates are handled correctly.

EMAIL FILING WIZARD
http://www.nextword.com/emailfilingwizardprod.htm
Create rules to refile messages in your Inbox either on demand or at regular intervals. Useful if you want to move messages from the Inbox to other folders after you read them.

EMAIL RESPONSE MANAGER
http://www.nextword.com/EmailResponseManagerProd.htm
Manages automatic message processing across multiple mailboxes, sending replies and forward and refiling messages into designated folders.

FAX4OUTLOOK
http://fax4outlook.4team.biz/
Improves integration between Outlook/Office and the fax service in Windows XP, making it possible to receive faxes in the Inbox, fax Office documents easily, and use custom cover pages.

GROUPCALENDAR
http://www.outlookforms.nl/Outlook%20Group%20Calendar.htm
Collates appointments from individuals into a group calendar either with or without Exchange Server. With Exchange, you can use a public folder as the group calendar and it will update automatically. Without Exchange, users will need to click a button to copy their appointments to the group calendar.

INFUZER 5-DAY WEATHER FEED
http://www.infuzer.com/IDC/firstinfuzion/infuzer/3/weather_intro_1.jsp
Keeps your Outlook calendar updated with 5 days of weather data for as many locations as you need.

INSTANT TEAMMESSENGER
http://www.instant-tech.com/instant.nsf/root/index.htm
Provides Outlook integration with Lotus' SameTime instant messaging application, showing presence information in mail messages, contacts, and appointments. Archives chats to the Outlook Journal folder.

KEYCONTACTS
http://www.chapura.com/keycontacts.php
Address book program for Palm to handle more Outlook contact fields and up to 250 categories. Synchronizes an unlimited number of private and public Outlook contacts folders.

MAILNTERCEPT
http://www.mintercept.com/
Redirects internal and/or external Exchange 2000 messages to the SMTP content security tool of your choice. Converts TNEF content to RFC822 content as needed.

MICROSOFT OUTLOOK 2002 CONNECTOR
http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/xp/journ/Outxpcon.htm
Provides access to an IBM Lotus Domino R5 server for email, scheduling, address book, and task items. Download includes a PABImport.exe file to import the Lotus address book into the Connector. You must install the Lotus Notes client first and configure it to access the same server that you want the Connector to use. Cannot be used in the same profile as Exchange Server. Outlook 2002 only.

OUTLOOK CLEANER
http://www.personalcrm.com/Outlook_Cleaner.htm
Filters, moves, deletes, and performs other cleanup operations through one interface showing all your folders. Outlook 2000 SR-1 or later.

PSTSIZE
http://www.jsiinc.com/subk/tip5100/rh5120.htm
Free program to check the size of all .pst files in use on your system and warn you if any exceed a specified size. Probably doesn't work in Outlook 98 or 2000 in Internet Mail Only mode, because it gets its information from the Outlook profile information in the Windows registry.

SEND PERSONALLY
http://www.mailutilities.com/outlook/spe/
Mass mail tool that expands Outlook distribution lists and sends an individual message to each member of the list. Can exclude certain names from the DL. Has some mail merge capability for inserting personalized text in the body of messages. Outlook 2000 or later.

SMTP DISCLAIMER
http://www.ssgtechnology.com/solutions/smtpdisclaimer.asp
Adds disclaimer or other notice to the bottom of outgoing mail messages. For Exchange 2000 or the SMTP service included with IIS 5.0.

SWIFTSMS OUTLOOK
http://www.swiftsms.co.za/
Service and software that allows you to send SMS messages from within Outlook, use rules to forward incoming email messages to SMS with optional text compression, and send reminders to SMS. Tracks sent SMS messages in the Journal folder. Also available in a 2-way version that allows you to read SMS replies from your desktop.

TASKCONTROLLER
http://www.diditbetter.com/TaskController.asp
Automatically converts incoming mail messages into Outlook tasks in a public folder with customizable fields.Turns completed tasks into knowledgebase entries.

TRUST FILTER FOR MS OUTLOOK
http://www.benziegler.com/TrustFilter/
Adds "white list" spam filtering to Outlook 2000 or later, building a trusted senders list from unread items in your Inbox. The trusted senders list is a text file, so you probably could also build it by exporting from your Contacts folder. Free. Delphi source code available.

VIRALOCK
http://www.viralock.com/products/index.htm
Encrypts addresses in Outlook or Outlook Express address books and incoming messages to prevent viruses from spreading themselves, then decrypts the address in outgoing messages. After installation, users will need to enter a password when Outlook starts. Adds a security prompt for outgoing messages with attachments that could contain viruses. Works only with POP accounts and will probably cause problems with applications that use Outlook addresses.

Updated utilities

ISA SERVER FEATURE PACK 1
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/featurepack1/
This update for Microsoft ISA Server adds support for two-factor RSA SecurID authentication for OWA and enforces 128-bit encrypted RPC for MAPI clients without a VPN. It also improves filtering on port 25 for incoming SMTP traffic, so you can create rules to block mail from particular domains, with certain attachments, etc. before it ever reaches the Exchange server. Adds an RPC Filter Configuration Wizard to set up granular access to specific RPC services, such as the Exchange store.

OUTLOOK 2000 UPDATE DECEMBER 18, 2002
http://microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=
1E252CCF-452A-4313-A402-B50C4405580A&displaylang=en
Fixes the problem in Outlook 2000 SP3 configured in Internet Mail Only mode where you may see CPU usage by Outlook go as high as 100% or get erratic reminder behavior. Does not update the version number because it fixes only Omi9.dll and Omint.dll.

POPCONNECT
http://www.ppedv.com/us/popconnect.asp
Version 5 of this tool for downloading mail from POP accounts into Exchange mailboxes improves speed and moves all configuration details into a single XML file.

PROFILE MAKER
http://www.desktopstandard.com/pm_product_info.html
Version 7.5 of this tool for deploying Windows and Outlook profiles supports network drive mappings and printer connections, settings for Office XP and earlier versions, and many global policy options.

WN MAILKEEPER
http://www.wickett.net/WNMailKeeper/
Version 2.3 of this Outlook archiving tool writes errors to an optional log file and adds new selection criteria.

Other new resources

EXCHANGE SDK DOCUMENTATION AND SAMPLES DECEMBER 2002
http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/sample.asp?url=/MSDN-FILES/027/001/834/msdncompositedoc.xml
Updated SDK for Exchange 2000 featuring a new Move Mailbox sample application, new information on working with .NET and Exchange, plus other new documentation. The docs are all available online, too, at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wss/wss/_ exch2k_welcome_to_exchange.asp

GUIDE TO THE SECURE CONFIGURATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF MICROSOFT EXCHANGE 2000
http://www.nsa.gov/snac/win2k/guides/w2k-21.pdf
Detailed 173-page guide from the Systems and Network Attack Center of the NSA, based on Exchange security recommendations from the Mitre Corporation. Covers OWA, custom applications, Internet access, and many other issues.

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