Exchange Messaging Outlook
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Greetings! Welcome to Vol. 8, No. 22, 4
March 2004 of Exchange
Messaging Outlook, a biweekly newsletter about Microsoft Exchange
and Microsoft Outlook.
Today's highlights:
Regular features:
OUTLOOK 2003 AND FORMS CACHE CORRUPTIONAs many custom form users have discovered, Outlook 2003 causes corruption to the forms cache. A hotfix is now available from Microsoft to fix some of the forms cache problems, specifically the issue addressed in KB 831586: when the form is published to a folder in Public Folder Favorites accessing the custom form can cause Outlook to hang. Microsoft recommends using the Folder list, not Public Folder Favorites, to access the folder and prevent problems until you are able to install the hotfix. Should the forms cache become corrupt, you can use the Manage Forms dialog to clear it. You can also use a script or batch file to delete the forms cache (frmcache.dat) on a regular basis. This hotfix is in the Outlook 2003 Hotfix Package released January 20, 2004, along with fixes for three additional problems not previously addressed by a KB article. They are:
For more information about these issues and the hotfixes, see the
following KB articles: MORE CUSTOM FORM ISSUESA second hotfix package, dated January 17, 2004, is available
which addresses other problems with Outlook 2003 and custom forms.
When you check the spelling of Spanish text in an e-mail message in Outlook 2003, you may receive an error message. As with all hotfixes, you'll need to contact Microsoft Support to get the fix. If you report a problem that the hotfix addresses, there is no support incident fee. For more information about this issue and the hotfix, see the following KB article: OUTLOOK WON'T QUITA common complaint heard in Outlook newsgroups and forums is
"Outlook 2003 won't exit" and the user needs to use Task Manger to
end it. This isn't a problem new to Outlook, we've seen it with
every version, especially in Corporate/Workgroup mode, but it's new
to many people who used Outlook 2000 in Internet Mail Only mode and
recently upgraded.
Any application that accesses Outlook data will keep outlook.exe loaded in memory after you close Outlook unless you close that application as well. With past versions of Outlook, the problem application was usually WinFax or ActiveSync, however there are a number of programs that will keep Outlook loaded in memory, including Stamps.com and Franklin Covey Plan Plus. There are two applications available that will make it easier to see if Outlook closed properly and to insure it closes when you choose Exit. The first is Knockout. Written by a former Outlook PM, Knockout sits in the system tray and is yellow when Outlook is loaded; click on it to open a menu and terminate Outlook. A second application is Outlook Shutdown Addin. This is a COM add-in which enables Outlook to shutdown completely when a user exits from the application, eliminating the need to open Task Manager to end OUTLOOK.EXE. For a list of applications known to cause problems and links to Knockout and Outlook Shutdown, visit http://www.slipstick.com/problems/close.htm. IS IT TIME TO BLOCK ZIPS?I promised myself I wasn't going to discuss viruses this week.
Unfortunately the latest virus family is annoying enough to make me
forget any and all promises. Beagle (a.k.a. Bagle) sends messages
purporting to be from your email administrator, using common staff
or administrative aliases, informing you there is a problem with
your email account. It goes on to say that you need to run the file
inside the password protected zip to fix it. Spelling errors and bad
grammar aside, since it's supposedly sent from addresses in your own
domain it can easily fool enough users into opening it. If nothing else, this latest virus demonstrates the need to include *.zip in the list of file types blocked at the firewall. I know it's not going to be easy to convince users that it's for the best, even I routinely send zipped files by email, but it's clear the virus writers discovered zips are blocked at very few companies. If recent news reports that virus authors are waging a war against each other are to be believed, it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better and removing zips from the mailbox is one way to fight back. Standalone Outlook users can increase their security by adding the zip extension to the Level1Remove registry key, forcing users to save zips before opening them, on the premise that when it's too much work, users will only save and open important attachments. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security and add .zip to the Level1Remove string to force users to save zips before opening. Adding the Level1Add string for the zip extension treats *.zip like *.exe and *.scr files, preventing users from accessing them at all. For more information on adding these keys to the registry, see http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/esecup/getexe.htm. On a related note, it's amazing how much attitudes can change over the course of a year or two or four. I was reminded recently of a discussion in May 2000 concerning the pending release of the Outlook security patch that blocked attachments and secured the object model. In looking back over the past couple of years, it's clear that the security features power users hate so much are working very well, so well that the virus writers found new ways to collect email addresses and propagate their payloads. The days of "it's an Outlook virus" are long gone. |
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New Utilities |
ADD CONTACTS FOR MICROSOFT OUTLOOK http://www.mapilab.com/outlook/add_contacts/ New from Mapilab, Add Contacts automatically adds e-mail addresses to the contact folder when you reply to a message and/or send a new message. When you use Outlook 2003's Safe sender list and trust addresses in your contacts or use Rules Wizard to move messages from contacts to a new folder, this add-in helps you keep your contact list up-to-date. ATTACHVIEW FOR OWA DUPLICATES REMOVER FOR OUTLOOK POCKETTHINKER RSOUTLOOK HIDE FAX SPAMMARSHALL TASKLYNX WEB ACTIVE DIRECTORYXCHARAPOSXS PEOPLESEARCH PHONEBOOK WEBDIR |
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Updated utilities |
PIMSHARE http://www.pagethink.com/pimshare.asp Successor to CalShare, PIMShare COM Add-in supports Contacts, Calendar and Tasks. Online repository and software for copying Outlook appointments and contacts that you want to share to that online site. Users with appropriate permission can import appointments and contacts shared by other PIMShare users. Currently Free. POCKETKNIFE PEEK |
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Other resources |
AELITA COLLABORATION SERVICES FOR EXCHANGE http://www.aelita.com/products/collaborationservicesexchange/ Synchronize GALs and free/busy times securely between organizations. Administrators no longer need to duplicate contacts between several address books and it eliminates the need for users to maintain complex personal address lists. Because it uses the existing Outlook client, no user training is required. EXCHANGE SERVER 2003 SECURITY HARDENING GUIDE THE EXPERT'S GUIDE FOR EXCHANGE 2003: PREPARING FOR, MOVING TO,
AND SUPPORTING EXCHANGE SERVER 2003 |
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More Information |
ISSN 1523-7990 |
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Updated Sep 14 2007
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