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Exchange Messaging Outlook Volume 9, Number 6

Greetings! Welcome to Vol. 9, No. 6, 23 June 2004, of Exchange Messaging Outlook, a biweekly newsletter about Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook.

Today's highlights:

Regular features:

  • New utilities
  • Updated utilities
  • Other Resources

 

SLIPSTICK.COM RATINGS RAFFLE

Did you remember to vote for your favorite utilities in the Slipstick Systems Ratings Raffle? We're drawing five winners each week until our prize box is empty and once entered, you are entered into each weekly drawing.

During the contest, you're limited to one entry per person and voting is restricted to one utility category, but you can vote for as many of your favorite utilities in that category as you want. When the prizes are gone later this summer, you'll be able to come back and rate the utilities in the other categories. For a list of prizes and rules, see http://www.slipstick.com/books/contest.htm 
To vote for your favorite utilities, go to http://www.slipstick.com/contest/default.aspx 
Complete winners list: http://www.slipstick.com/contest/winners.htm 

EMBARRASSING MOMENTS IN E-MAIL

After my embarrassing approval of spam last week, I received enough "embarrassing moments in e-mail" replies to fill several newsletters. While I won't bore you with the details, I'll share some of the lessons learned and maybe it'll prevent you from making the same mistake.

We've all heard embarrassing stories about sending personal e-mail to huge internal distribution lists. Some of our readers were on the DLs, a few were the ones sending it. Some blamed Outlook 2002/2003's autocomplete feature. Autocomplete makes it easy to send messages to frequent contacts, but if you aren't paying attention when you select the address you can easily choose the wrong David or Jill. Others said they typed names in the To field and had autoresolution disabled, so the names didn't resolve immediately. When they hit Send, Outlook picked what it thought was the correct address. Unfortunately Outlook was wrong.

Other readers reported they copied text from another message or document, with the intention of updating it before sending. Some people reported working with templates containing fields they needed to complete, marked with "[enter recipients name here]" and sending it without completing the fields. Others started to update a message, but forget to change the subject line or other details. .

During the Office 2003 beta test, one beta tester requested a dialog be added to Outlook that asked "Are you sure you want to send this message to <e-mail address>?" after he mistakenly sent a message to the wrong person. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be much help as most people would disable the dialog after the first "Are you sure?". SSW's LookOut! For Outlook: http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/lookOut/

RECALLING SENT MESSAGES

Bob writes "I wrote a reply to a co-worker in anger and left it open on my desktop. Later I accidentally sent it. Thankfully, this is one time Message Recall worked. Moral of my story? I learned to close messages and save them to Drafts instead of leaving them open on the Task bar."

Unfortunately, Bob's story is all to common, but most of the time it's not a happy ending as Recall has a history of failing more often than it works. The major problems are that it only works with Exchange server accounts in the same domain as your account and the message you are recalling needs to be unread. However, even allowing for those limitations, recall still has a high failure rate.

In many cases, it takes a couple of minutes before Outlook processes the recall and human nature being what it is, most people will read the original message to see why it's being recalled. In other cases, message recall is not automatic and the recipient needs to open the Recall in order for it to process.

Since Recall is one of the most useless features in Exchange, make it a habit type random letters into the CC field before you begin your reply. If you hit Send accidentally, the message will try to resolve the letters to a contact and fail, giving you a chance to cancel the send and avoid embarrassment. Along with saving messages to drafts and closing them, the Always check spelling before sending option can help prevent some people from accidentally sending messages.

TEACHING E-MAIL ETIQUETTE

Many embarrassing moments are the result of lack of knowledge of netiquette and "newbie mistakes". Few users need trained on how to open an e-mail client, type a message and send it, but if no one takes the time to teach users the finer points of using e-mail, how will they know that typing in all caps (because it's easier for the sender to read on the screen) means you are screaming at the recipient? Other common mistakes, like forwarding every hoax or virus alert to everyone in the address book, are easily avoided with proper training.

If your company doesn't have e-mail training and usage guidelines in place, or even if they do, download the "Commander's Guide to Managing E-mail". Not only does it include many useful do's and don'ts, it also has some great tips for managing your e-mail and avoiding information overload. It's full of ideas for any company writing their own guidelines and recommended reading for individual users.

"Commander's Guide to Managing E-mail"  

Help Users Take Command of E-mail, by Sue Mosher 

SPOOFED BY SPAMMERS

My accident was more embarrassing to me because I spent most of the previous evening fighting a losing battle against a trojan army of computers controlled by spammers who are using my cdolive domain name in their spam. I was reviewing NDRs for messages sent by zombies and reporting the infected computers to the owner's ISP, often cable and DSL providers. I know it won't make a dent in the sea of spam, but if the owners are notified, it's a valuable lesson, one I hope they learn from.

As a result of various policies in place to prevent spamming or make it more costly, spammers began installing trojans on other people's computers and using them to send the spam. To help escape detection, they use false From addresses, spoofing the address in one of several formats from random letters to names appended with letters: vfcdregt@cdolive.com or mary.whitevb@cdolive.com. They often also use the domain name in the header and a quick glance at the header makes it appears the domain is the true sender: "cdolive.com (pcp01337659pcs.kensgt01.pa.comcast.net [68.81.122.253])".

The zombies are distributed using the same techniques used for viruses, usually via e-mail, but chats and websites are also used. Once installed, the spammers have control of the infected computer and personal and financial data is at risk.

By limiting the number of messages they send from each computer, the spammers can avoid detection, and because they have hundreds or thousands of infected computers to work with, they can easily send 100,000 messages within minutes without causing an unusual spike in bandwidth usage. If the owner of the machine discovers they're infected and cleans up the machine, the spammer easily replaces it with another computer under their control. If your computer is infected, the best method of cleaning it up is with a reformat and reinstall. It's a lot of work, but it's the only way you can be sure the computer is clean. And finally, if your computer is infected with a zombie, virus, or Trojan, remember to change all of your passwords and account numbers.

Spybot Search & Destroy
How to clean up an infected computer

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New Utilities

DTSEARCH DESKTOP
http://www.dtsearch.com/PLF_desktop_2.html
dtSearch Desktop provides instant searching of desktop-accessible files, including Outlook message stores and Eudora message files. It features automatic support for "Office," HTML, PDF, XML, ZIP, etc., attachments, including all hit-highlighted display features. dtSearch Desktop has clipboard options, file launching, and other tools for working with retrieved data. You can export of search results in various data formats to use with other programs. Also available is dtSearch Web (http://www.dtsearch.com/PLF_web_2.html), a search utility for web servers which can convert other file types ("Office," Unicode, ZIP, etc.) to HTML for browser display with search keywords highlighted.

EASY MAPI
http://www.rapware.nl/prod_easymapi_page1.asp
Easy MAPI now offers over 30 examples that should make it very easy for beginning MAPI developers to start working with MAPI or WAB. Some of the features include HTML support in MAPI messages, MAPI forms support (non modal forms), Appointment Invitations, Full MAPI restrictions support, and Exchange Manage store support. Version 3.

GALTODB
http://www.essentialmethods.com/GALtoDB 
A Super fast NT/2000/XP Service that copies Global Address List information to a database, using Extended MAPI, not ADSI or CDO. GALtoDB supports Microsoft Access, Oracle, Microsoft SQL, and most other database systems. It includes the ability to create a new distribution list based on information from the Global Address List, while excluding email addresses that match criteria that you define, perfect for creating or recreating an up-to-date distribution list that does not contain unwanted accounts, such as Service Accounts, opt'ed out accounts, VIP accounts, etc.

IMF ARCHIVE MANAGER
http://hellomate.typepad.com/exchange/2004/06/imf_archive_man.html
Another IMF Archive Manager is now available, this one uses a webpage to list the messages caught by the IMF filter. Use this viewer when you want to review the subject, sender, and recipient then resubmit a few messages and delete the rest, while the IMF Archive Manager from http://weblogs.asp.net/exchange/archive/2004/05/26/142366.aspx is better if you plan to report spammers.

INOX
http://www.vmoon.com.pl/inox/
POP3 connector for Exchange. Runs as service to collect mail from POP mailboxes and forward to Exchange via SMTP.

JEYO MOBILE EXTENDER FOR OUTLOOK
http://www.jeyo.com/products/JeyoMobileExtenderForOutlook.asp
Jeyo Mobile Extender for Outlook adds mobile SMS messaging capabilities to Outlook by connecting Outlook with a Windows Mobile Smartphone or Pocket PC Phone Edition device. It allows you to exchange text messages with other mobile phone users anywhere around the world directly from your Outlook and manage your SMS data with ease.

MAIL ATTENDER ENTERPRISE EDITION
http://www.sherpasoftware.com/MAEEnterpriseoverview.shtml
Mail Attender Enterprise provides comprehensive content management in PST files on desktops/servers, mailboxes and public folders. With MA Enterprise, administrators can enforce common policies, archive data and search content in multiple information stores from a central web interface. Also, can track statistical information such as total message/attachment count, size and type while tracking usage of individual users. Works with Exchange 5.5, 2000 or 2003.

MODBLOGGER ADDIN
http://workspaces.gotdotnet.com/modblogger
ModBlogger Addin is an Outlook 2003 managed addin that will automatically upload an image attached to an email, and create a weblog entry pointing to that image.

ORFILTER
http://martijnjongen.com/eng/orfilter/ 
Free Exchange 2000/2003 or Windows 2000/2003 SMTP event sink to check senders' mail server IP addresses against an open relay list. Version 4.

OUTNOTE
http://www.totalidea.com/frameset-outnote.htm
Attach notes to messages and contacts using OutNote. Manage your notes from a central OutNote window, including reply and forwarding the message with or without the note. Available options include reminders (pro version), display a small window reminding you a note is attached when a message is selected or display the note when a message is selected.

OUTSOURCE-XP
http://www.totalidea.com/frameset-outsource.htm
OutSource-XP automatically collects all important Outlook 2002/2003 files and lists them so you can choose the files (and settings) you want to backup. The unregistered version of OutSource-XP v2 saves the files into a pre-selected backup-folder, but does not compress the files. The registered version compresses the backup into one single file, and offers a Quick-Backup feature which creates a backup just with a single mouse-click. Version 2.

PEOPLESEARCH
http://www.webactivedirectory.com
Allow authorized users inside and outside your company access to information stored in the Active Directory. PeopleSearch uses a web browser to retrieve information stored in the directory, such as telephone number, location, title, and manager. Administrators can customize PeopleSearch to set up searches for any object or attribute in the Active Directory, as well as configure how search results are displayed in the browser. Version 1.6.

PST POLICY ADMINISTRATOR
http://www.sherpasoftware.com/pstpolicyoverview.shtml
Automatically compacts PST files to recover deleted PST storage space and reduce the risk of corrupted PST files. PST Policy Admin keeps PST storage in check by deleting aged or large attachments and messages. Once it has cleaned up the files, it can automatically compact the data and free up additional storage to complete the storage reclamation process.

PUT ANNIVERSARY / BIRTHDAY IN CALENDAR
http://www.rsoutlook.com/us/rspacc.htm
While Outlook normally creates Birthdays and Anniversaries automatically, it doesn't always create them when you import a .pst file or synchronize with a PDA. Use Put Anniversary / Birthday automatically put all anniversary's or birthday's where they belong (in the Calendar) so you won't miss this important events. Works with any Contact folder - personal or public folder, and has an extremely simple user interface

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Updated Utilities

ORF ENTERPRISE EDITION
http://www.vamsoft.com/orf/default.asp
New features added to ORFEE version 1.5 include Dual filtering points, allowing you to filter emails on arrival, which allows delivery path analysis, keyword and attachment filtering and Attachment and keyword filtering so you can drop emails with malicious attachments or replace the attachments with a customizable warning text. Both the keyword and the attachment filtering support using Perl-compatible regular expressions and are Unicode-aware. E-mails caught by the On Arrival filtering point can be dropped, redirected or tagged (header or subject). ORFEE includes a built-in log viewer which allows easy browsing, searching and filtering the logs.

OUTLOOK CONTACTS SCRUBBER
http://www.teamscope.com/otherpro/utilities.asp#scrubber
Outlook Contacts Scrubber provides a means of easily eliminating duplicate records from your Outlook Contacts, by scanning your contacts and looking for possible duplicate items. As it finds duplicates, it displays a field-by-field comparison of the data and offers a logical way of merging the data into one item. You can opt to use the program's proposed merge or override it with personal own choices, on a field-by-field basis. The free version of Outlook Contacts Scrubber gives you all of the basic capabilities you need to eliminate duplicates from your Outlook Contacts, and can process up to 1000 items. The Registered version provides you with the ability to process an unlimited number of items, create user-defined duplicate definitions, auto-process duplicates without user intervention, and works across two Contacts folders. Version 3

PST ATTENDER
http://www.sherpasoftware.com/PSTOverview.shtml
Central management tool for Personal Folders (PST files) on network drives. Uses rules and scheduling to enforce corporate mail policies, compress attachments, search content, compact PST files, clean up virus infections and archive data. Provides detailed reports on PST files contents and space reclaimed.

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Other Resources

COMMANDER'S GUIDE TO MANAGING E-MAIL
http://www2.acc.af.mil/library/commander's%20guide%20to%20managing%20%20e-mail.doc
An excellent guide on the basics of e-mail management and usage, a must read for any organization developing e-mail usage policies and training materials.

OUTLOOK VBA CODE SAMPLES
http://www.slovaktech.com/code_samples.htm
These Outlook VBA code samples are great for users who need a feature but can't write code as well as budding Outlook developers to learn from. Included in the available code samples are VBA procedures to remove attachments from selected messages, insert the date and time in a message, get the senders e-mail address, get internet headers, create a toolbar button that contains a hyperlink to a website, add a disclaimer to e-mail, extract a distribution list to a Word document, sort the Outlook address book, change the FileAs setting for contacts, and a FolderInspector Wrapper. All samples were written by Outlook developer Ken Slovak.

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