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Greetings! Welcome to Vol. 8, No. 11, 17 Sep 2003, of Exchange Messaging
Outlook, a biweekly newsletter about Microsoft Exchange and
Microsoft Outlook.
Today's highlights:
- Latest Exchange 2000 rollup affects OWA tools
- Office 2003 available in limited download
- Patch for broad WordMail vulnerability
- TIP: Keep Outlook 2003 minimized
- Back-to-back Exchange chats!
- TIP: Selected items in the Outlook View Control
- Small Business Server 2003 released to manufacturing
- TIP: Use OWA for stubborn deletion chores
Regular features:
Latest Exchange 2000 rollup affects OWA tools
Microsoft finally posted the items fixed in the September 2003
Exchange 2000 Server Post-Service Pack 3 Rollup (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=824282),
also known as patch 6487.1. To resolve a few issues with Outlook Web
Access, among the files replaced are some of the OWA script files:
- Ctrl_calendarview20.js
- Ctrl_view20.js
- Frm_attach20.js
- Frm_composeappt20.js
- Frm_composecontact20.js
- Util_owa20.js
- Util_view20.js
Mark Rotman from OWA tools vendor MessageWare Incorporated (http://www.messageware.com)
reminded us that in-house and third-party applications may have
customized these files. There's a double danger there: If the files
aren't rolled back to the originals that came with Exchange 2000 (or
the latest SP or hotfix you've installed), the rollup might not
update all the necessary OWA files. On the other hand, installing
the rollup could wipe out your modifications. Best practice,
according to Rotman, is to remove any OWA customizations before
applying any rollup or service pack, then restore them afterwards.
Office 2003 available in limited download
The big news this week for MSDN Universal subscribers and
Microsoft volume license customers with update protection contracts
is that Office 2003 Professional Enterprise Edition is now available
for download. This is the version that includes Outlook, Word,
Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, and the new InfoPath program.
Other Office System downloads, including the new version of
SharePoint Portal Service, should become available Oct. 1. The
official launch date for Office 2003 is Oct. 21, and you can sign up
for a free launch event in many U.S. locations at
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/launch/default.asp. I'll
be at the big one in New York.
Patch for broad WordMail vulnerability
The final release of Office 2003 includes a patch for a security
flaw that could allow malicious code to execute when the user
forwards or replies to a message created in a particular way. All
earlier versions of Outlook from Office 97 through Office 2003 Beta
2 Technical Refresh are potentially vulnerable.
As explained in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-037 (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-037.asp),
the flaw is not in Outlook itself but in the Visual Basic for
Applications engine and Word. A recent issue of Woody's Office Watch
(http://www.woodyswatch.com/office/archtemplate.asp?v8-n35)
revealed interesting details on how the flaw can affect Outlook,
even though Outlook VBA is not involved.
Microsoft has issued a critical patch for this flaw, as well as
patches for several other vulnerabilities affecting Office programs
besides Outlook. For Office 2000 and Office XP, the easiest way to
install these patches is to visit Office Update at
http://office.microsoft.com/productupdates/mainCatalog.aspx and
scan your system. Office 97 users will need to contact Microsoft
Support to obtain the Word 97 Security Hotfix September 3, 2003 (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=827647)
and other patches; you shouldn't be charged any fee.
The Beta 2 Technical Refresh for Office 2003 has all the fixes
except for the VBA patch, which is the one that affects Outlook via
WordMail.
TIP: Keep Outlook 2003 minimized
Once you install Outlook 2003, get in the habit of minimizing it
rather than just using Alt-Tab or a Windows task bar button to
switch to another program. If you leave the full Outlook 2003 window
active, it may use so much memory that it stops responding,
especially on machines that have a lot of RAM. My main machine has
1gb and Outlook may have 80mb or more at any given moment unless
I've minimized, in which case Outlook is using 10mb or less. The
Microsoft Knowledgebase article at
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=827310 explains how Outlook
2003 uses memory and causes this problem.
Back-to-back Exchange chats!
Mark your calendar for next Tuesday, Sept. 23, when you'll get to
quiz the Exchange MVPs in a live chat at 1 p.m. Eastern time, 10
a.m. Pacific. We had a great Outlook MVPs chat this week with
detailed discussions of specific, often tricky, issues. You can
expect the Exchange chat to be equally informative.
Immediately following the Exchange MVPs chat, in the same chat
room, will be a session for you to give Microsoft your feedback on
the Exchange web site.
There are quite a few other chats and webcasts coming up the next
couple of weeks, especially for Exchange 2003, so be sure to check
the schedule.
TIP: Selected items in the Outlook View Control
Outlook 2002 and later versions of the Outlook View Control (OVC)
include a Selection collection that represents all items selected in
the OVC, so you can write code to process the user's selection.
Outlook 2000 has no Selection property, but there are a couple of
workarounds. If the OVC is being used in an Outlook folder home page
that is displaying that same folder, you can use
ActiveExplorer.Selection.
The latest solution, clever in the best Outlook tradition but
potentially messy, was posted this week at our OutlookCode.com site
for Outlook programmers. At
http://www.outlookcode.com/threads.aspx?forumid=4&messageid=760,
Rennie Govenderr shows how to use the Open method to open all the
items selected and then loop through the resulting Inspector objects
to get the CurrentItem from each one.
Small Business Server 2003 released to manufacturing
Microsoft has released Microsoft Windows Small Business Server
2003 (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/default.mspx)
to manufacturing. SBS includes not just Windows Server 2003, but
also Windows SharePoint Services (WSS), Exchange 2003, and Microsoft
Shared Fax Service. A premium edition adds SQL Server, FrontPage
2003, and ISA Server (shipping later). Prices start at $599,
including 5 client access licenses, with packages that include the
server hardware available for less than $1,000. The top limit for
the number of clients will increase from 50 to 75.
I'll be interested to see if this new version catches on and if
organizations find the Outlook+WSS features useful. Those include
shared meeting spaces, shared calendars and contacts (read-only in
Outlook), and document collaboration spaces.
TIP: Use OWA for stubborn deletion chores
Slipstick.com visitor Toby Considine writes that he had a
calendar item that couldn't be deleted, viewed, or edited in Outlook
2002 Service Pack 2. Every attempt to access it resulted in an
"Unknown Error" message.
The solution he found was to switch clients and delete the
stubborn appointment with Outlook Web Access. Thanks for the very
practical tip, Toby! |
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