Exchange Messaging Outlook
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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:
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:
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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New Utilities |
ACCUCARD FOR OUTLOOK http://www.corex.com/accucard_main.asp Keeps your Outlook contacts updated through a centralized database of all contacts from all AccuCard users, sending a quarterly message asking contacts to send in their updated information. ADVANCED FOLDERS WATCH ATTACHMENTS ZIP COMPRESSOR CONTACTS4OUTLOOK MAIL STORAGE GUARD MAILING LIST SERVICE MOBILE4YOU NATIVE POP3 CONNECTOR OUTCLASS OUTLOOKDISCLAIMER QUICK TEXT HOTKEYS REPLY TO ALL MONITOR SCHEDULES4TEAM SENDLATER |
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Updated utilities |
EXCHANGE SERVER 2003 TOOLS AND UPDATES http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/tools/2003.asp The basic Exchange tools have been updated for Exchange 2003. Load Simulator 2003 can test Outlook 2003 cached Exchange mode. GFI MAILESSENTIALS FOR EXCHANGE/SMTP PLUS PACK FOR OUTLOOK WEB ACCESS 2000 PUBLIC OUTLOOK ZIPOUT |
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Other resources |
DOCMESSAGECLASS http://www.outlookstore.com/DocMessageClass.html Free tool to update the message class of existing items in any folder. Should work in any Outlook version. EXCHANGE SERVER 2003 PUBLIC FOLDER ADMINISTRATION IMPROVEMENTS
MOVE MAILBOX IMPROVEMENTS IN EXCHANGE 2003 New code samples at http://www.outlookcode.com:
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More Information |
ISSN 1523-7990 |
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Updated Jul 30 2006
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